Joe Gibbs Racing, Motocross (JGRMX, titled as the Spike Hardcore Energy/Toyota/Yamaha Team) is pleased to announce that Josh Grant and Cody Cooper have joined the team to contest the 2009 AMA Supercross and FIM World Championship Series as well as the AMA Toyota National Motocross Championship.
Grant is a 22-year-old from Riverside, Calif., and Cooper is a 24-year-old from Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand. Both riders have relocated to Huntersville, home to the Joe Gibbs Racing Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series, and motocross team headquarters.
Competing professionally since 2004, Grant has finished inside the top 10 for final points in every series he has campaigned. In addition, he has visited the podium during every series. Grant has won four AMA Lites events, a U.S. Open of Supercross Lites title, and most recently, earned a Bronze Medal in Moto X at X Games 14.
Cody Cooper raced his first full AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Series in 2008 on a privateer motorcycle. He earned eight top-10 overall finishes, and two overall podium finishes. Cooper, who started riding at age four, has won two Lites titles in New Zealand (2003 and 2005), a Lites title in Australia (2004), and three Oceania titles in a row, two in the Lites class and one in the premier division prior to coming to the U.S. to race full-time.
“We had a very short list of riders who had all of the attributes we were looking for, so we are really excited that we were able to attract Josh and Cody,” said team owner Coy Gibbs. “We are unique to the sport of motocross in that every component of our effort is based out of a central location. Josh and Cody will be part of the Joe Gibbs Racing family, just minutes away from our gym, personal trainers, race shop, and our practice facility. We will support each of them with all of our resources.”
Grant and Cooper will make their Spike Hardcore Energy/Toyota/Yamaha debut January 5 at the opening round of the 2009 AMA Supercross and FIM World Championship Series in Anaheim, Calif.
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Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is one of the premier organizations in NASCAR, currently fielding three NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams, two NASCAR Busch Series teams and a driver development program. Its driver lineup consists of Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Bush in Nextel Cup; Hamlin, Stewart, Kevin Conway and Brad Coleman in Busch; and Marc Davis and Joey Logano in the NASCAR Busch East Series. Based in Huntersville, N.C., and owned by Joe Gibbs – a three-time Super Bowl-winning coach, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and current coach of the Washington Redskins – JGR has competed in NASCAR since 1992, winning three Cup Series championships and over 70 NASCAR races, including three Brickyard 400s and the 1993 Daytona 500.
