RUSHEN GOING FOR SGP3 GLORY

GREAT Britain’s current 250cc British Champion Cooper Rushen competes in this afternoon’s SGP3 Final (Youth World Championship) at the Marketa Stadium, Prague prior to tomorrow’s SGP at the same venue.

Rushen, who won his semi-final in Slovenia last Saturday, goes into the event high on confidence not only having topped last weekend’s qualifier but also in great form in the UK for his clubs Leicester and Kings Lynn in the WSRA NDL and NDT.

Ironically the Marketa Stadium brings back good memories for Rushen as at this venue only last September, along with William Cairns and Seth Norman, he secured the silver medal in the European 250cc Pairs.

This will be Rushen’s third appearance in a SGP3 Final, so he now knows what to expect having previously competed in Malila and Gorzow in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

The line up this afternoon includes riders from 10 different nations, of which none have currently won a World Title – so whatever happens in Prague later today a new World Champion will be crowned.   

Rushen said: “I saw the line-up and it’s definitely a very strong one. But that’s what makes it so exciting. 

“It’s always going to be tough when you’re riding against these boys, but we’ll give it a shot. I will give it all I’ve got; that’s all I can do. Hopefully everything goes to plan.

“A lot of things can happen, and we will just take the meeting as it goes and ride the rollercoaster. Hopefully I can get a medal. But just to be there is great and we will keep learning from that. We’ll take something out of it – that’s for sure.”