Suzuki Offers GSX1400 Wes Cooley Replica Motorcycle for Japan

Although he was best known in America as a winning Superbike roadracer (capturing seven Superbike races) and twice Superbike champion (1979 and 1980), in Japan, Wes Cooley Jr. is apparently remembered as the two-time winner of the Suzuka Eight Hour race aboard Yoshimura Suzuki GS1000s. In 1978 he teamed with Mike Baldwin to win the inagural event, and two years later, riding with Graeme Crosby, Cooley rode the Suzuki to victory for the 1980 crown, vanquishing entries from the other Japanese manufacturers.

Suzuki is now commemorating those victories with a Wes Cooley Replica version of the GSX1400. The 1400 is sold in European and other markets, but the limited-production WCR will only be sold in Japan. Hopefully at least one will come to America and end up in Cooley's garage.

The bike gets a handlebar fairing styled liked that of the late 1970s GS1000S (upon which Suzuki's Superbikes of the era were based) and its own paint scheme but is otherwise pretty similar to the standard GSX1400 at right.

You can see Cooley's 1980 Daytona-winning Yoshimura Suzuki Superbike on the American Motorcyclist Association website: AMA DirectLink