As revealed by bikesportnews.com this morning, Co-ordit Yamaha's Richard Cooper will be standing in for the injured Ruben Xaus at the Nurburgring World Superbike race this weekend.

Xaus has been advised by his doctors not to race this coming weekend, so the team are giving a chance to young Briton Richard Cooper to ride with Troy Corser. Cooper is no stranger to BMW, having raced the BMW HP2 Sport in the World Endurance Championship last year and has also been a regular competitor in the BMW Boxer Cup.

"It’s a great honour to be asked by the team to ride in place of Ruben and I will do my very best for sure. This ride is like a dream come true, but I am under no illusions about the massive task waiting for me this weekend. I have never raced at the Nurburgring before, but at least I have tested the S1000RR racebike, so I have some knowledge of it before going out for my first laps," said Cooper.

"My first impressions of the bike were very good and I was surprised and pleased how smooth it felt and how good the power delivery was. I will be under no pressure from the team this weekend and all they want me to do is ride the bike and try and enjoy the experience.

"Ruben and I are very different physically - I am a lot shorter and weigh a lot less - so my first job is to get the bike set up for me. It’s not nice stepping into somebody else’s shoes, and I wish Ruben a speedy recovery, but this is a great opportunity for me and I will be giving it my best shot."