BSB Superstock Championship Winning BMW S1000RR Stolen

British Superbike racer Richard Cooper’s BMW S1000RR racebike was stolen mere hours after winning the 2011 British national Superstock title.

Thieves reportedly broke into the Buildbase BMW race team’s truck after it returned to the team’s base in Leicestershire, England, from the series-clinching round at Britain’s Silverstone circuit. According to the team, thieves optained the keys to a van holding Cooper’s winning motorcycle and Superbike class racer John Laverty’s BMW S1000RR Superbike.

“This is an absolutely awful way to wake up. Yesterday we were at the top of the world having taken the title, today we’re at an all time low,” says Stuart Hicken, Buildbase BMW team principal. “Having things stolen is a terrible experience, but when it’s something as organized and planned, and extensive, as this, it shocks you to the core.”

The thieves allegedly drove off with the van, but not before loading it with various tools, parts and equipment including ten sets of wheels and three Arrow exhaust systems. The total value of the stolen goods including the two race bikes is 100,000 British pounds (US$155,600).

The van was later found abandoned and burned.

Buildbase BMW is offering a cash reward of 5,000 pounds (US$7,780) for information leading to the return of the missing motorcycles or the arrest of the thieves.

“It’s too early to say too much, especially with the final round of the season just two weeks away. I hope that the motorcycles haven’t been destroyed,” says Hicken. “There are so many parts which have been custom made that they can be easily identified. We’re just hoping that we’ll get them back – which is why I’m offering a £5,000 reward for their return or for information leading to a prosecution.”

[Source: Buildbase BMW]