Motul Pirelli Suzuki’s Cody Cooper has pin-pointed starts as his key to better results ahead of this weekend’s Murray Bridge round of the Monster Energy MX Nationals in South Australia.

Cooper raced to a solid fifth place at Wanneroo last Sunday despite again suffering from his starts throughout the round, taking home ninth in moto one, fifth in moto two and fourth in moto three after progressively improving aboard the RM-Z450.

Cooper now sits fifth in the championship as it approaches the halfway mark, and he’s anticipating a strong result when the series continues this weekend at Murray Bridge.

“I’m always trying to go for a win and would definitely like to get on that podium this weekend in South Australia, so I’ll practice my starts this week and really work hard on them,” Cooper commented.

“Murray Bridge is a track I like and that loamy dirt suits me, so it should be good. Once I have my starts sorted then that should help out a lot.”

Reflecting on the Western Australian round, the Kiwi admitted that it was one of the toughest he’s experienced during his entire career.

“I felt good fitness-wise, but my strength let me down a bit at the end of the day,” he explained. “It definitely got rough, so gnarly and not event Southwick gets that rough – the sand was just so deep.

“In the first two motos people were going everywhere, I was getting roosted and it’s hard to pull tear-offs in those conditions.

“Everybody had the same problem, but in the final moto I managed to come through the field better after another bad start.

“I passed a lot of guys quickly early on in the moto and that helped, so we’ll keep working in that direction and hopefully it comes together for us.”

Murray Bridge will take place on Sunday, before the MXN series takes a six-week break from competition.