Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb showed grit and determination to score a top-five finish at yesterday’s penultimate round at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado. The North Carolina rider overcame adversity to score valuable points and remain in contention for the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450SX Championship. Rookie Justin Cooper put in a strong ride to finish sixth in the tricky conditions. Eli Tomac also overcame adversity to secure a top-10 finish and leave his home state of Colorado tied for third in the points standings. Words: Press Release
Riders were met with tricky, slick conditions inside Empower Field at Mile High, but despite the challenges, Webb had a solid qualifying in sixth. The North Carolina rider got a great start in his heat race, claimed the lead on the second lap, and rode his YZ450F to victory. Although he didn’t get off the gate as he had hoped in the main event, he put his head down and made his way from seventh to fifth by Lap 4. Towards the end of the race, the competition was on his heels, but Webb kept cool under pressure and rode his own race to secure a top-five finish and remain in the title fight. It was another gritty performance from the two-time 450SX Champion, who has been dealing with a thumb injury from a heat-race crash at Birmingham Supercross. He heads into next weekend’s season finale 20 points back from the points leader.
Cooper had a solid start to the day in the slick conditions, qualifying seventh and finishing sixth in his heat race. Despite a less-than-ideal gate pick for the main event, the New Yorker got a great start in third. He was passed by Tomac on the second lap and then shuffled to sixth on Lap 4. Riding behind his other teammate Webb, Cooper continued to run a strong race to finish sixth and advance to seventh in the points standings.
Unfortunately, it was a tough start to the day for Tomac in his home state of Colorado. He had a crash in the first practice session and tweaked his thumb, but qualified eighth despite feeling less than 100% and was fourth in his heat race. Tomac got a good start in the main event in the top five and moved to third on the second lap, but unfortunately had a tip-over on the following lap and rejoined in eighth. He rode on to cross the line 10th, salvaging points on a challenging night to head to the season finale tied for third in the 450SX Championship.
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing heads to Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, next weekend for the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship season finale and Round 17 of the SuperMotocross World Series on May 11.
Jeremy Coker – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 450 Team Manager
“Unfortunately, it was a rough night for us here in Denver, but we’ll recover. We never give up. The team will keep pushing. Justin Cooper had a really good main event and was a great teammate for us out there. Eli was riding phenomenally in the opening laps of the main event but, unfortunately had a little crash. Otherwise, I think he had the potential to win the race. We’ll go back and put our heads down this week and give it one last effort in Salt Lake.”
Cooper Webb – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing #2
“I gave it my best tonight, but it was a really challenging main event. I’ve been struggling with grip strength these past few weekends from a thumb injury sustained in my Birmingham heat-race crash. Despite the challenges, we’re not out of this yet and will continue to fight until the checkered flag waves in Salt Lake City.”
Justin Cooper – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing #32
“All in all, it was a good turnaround from how the day was. I started third in the main, which was really nice, and then I got shuffled back pretty quickly from third to fifth. I heard the Star Yamaha behind me and knew Coop was behind me, so my first instinct was to get out of the way. I feel like if I could’ve gotten away with the front two and not dropped back from third to fifth, I could’ve definitely hung in there with them. The pace wasn’t too hot tonight. It felt like it was pretty manageable, and that’s exactly what I think they were doing out front, just going as fast as they needed. It was a tough track. You couldn’t really go as fast as you’d like to with the conditions. It was pretty slippery.”
Eli Tomac – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing #3
“The main event started out well. I was in a good position off the start. I got up to third place, and then, unfortunately my hand came off the bars. Earlier in the day, I had a crash in practice, and I tweaked my thumb. I hate making excuses, but it did affect me tonight. Although it was enough to affect me tonight, I don’t think it’s going to be a problem for next week. We’ll do our best to recover and be stronger for Salt Lake. It was unfortunate, though, because I had good speed early in the main there.”
Image: AMA Supercross
