Cooper Webb has done it again. Saturday's Arlington Supercross saw Webb and Chase Sexton both with red plates on their race bikes in a pivotal round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross. And on a night where the win was in hand for another rider, the North Carolina native somehow managed to pull out a win of his own.
Webb's 6-1-2 finishes had him setup for second overall in the three-race Triple Crown format, with Sexton 3-2-1 finishes. Then, Sexton made a mistake, stalling his bike. Still, the #4 was in the driver's seat for the overall win. Even with the overall win still in hand while in second place, Sexton went for it on the final lap...and went down. The #2 machine, like he has done in the past, positioned himself perfectly and took advantage when the opportunity opened.
Webb was able to take the race win AND the overall win AND the points lead. It is also the seventh win for Webb in the last nine 450SX races at AT&T Stadium! After the race, Webb spoke with media in the post-race press conference.
Cooper Webb: Obviously, yesterday was a bummer. I had that little crash, get off and a little sore wrist, but, you know, it's dirt bikes. You get back on it and you go from there. But yeah, overall it was a great day. There was a lot of noise this weekend with the red plate and the talks of how well I've done here. You're quickly reminded of all the hype you get when you put yourself in these positions, but that's what you thrive to do. Overall, as a weekend, it was great. I had some of my nieces and nephews here. Overall, yeah, we rode good all day. I base my weekends now on my overall riding and I felt like all day I rode really well. So I was happy with everything.
You've won two premier-class championships before, and I'm sure when you debrief from the season as a whole in both of those years, you can pinpoint a night where things maybe went your way, and that really helps towards the championship. Do you think that tonight could potentially be a night like you for that, or do you think maybe one of these last three weekends could kind of be one of those nights?
Cooper Webb: I mean you have highs and you start to think of the good side. Obviously I've been in a similar position before and you think of those years and you see the trend, but it's motorsports, right? I think yesterday in press day was like a quick reminder, you can get put back to reality really quick. So, I think staying in the moment is important, obviously, and tonight was huge for just overall, leaving with the red plate. After the first main event, I dug myself a big hole, so I didn't see that happening. But last weekend, I think was a good just getting the first one, get the confidence, have a good week, come in here, like, the ball's definitely rolling. I'm definitely in a in a great spot mentally, physically, everything, and definitely ready to charge for this championship.
What are your current thoughts on the championship point standings, and how does that affect your strategies for the upcoming races?
I'm pretty stoked on mine! [Laughs] I'm not gonna lie, but yeah, I love being in the championship hunt, right? That's what we thrive to do, so yeah, I'm gonna try to keep doing the same thing.
Can we dig into that sixth-place finish in race one just a little bit more? What were you going through at that time and did the winning race two change that momentum? Did you, did you think you were gonna get it up until the very end of race three?
The first one was honestly just a bad start. I rode great, just went way too wide in the first turn and got pushed and came out, I think to 11th or 12th and you just can't do that in a Triple Crown, especially the first one when everyone's really going for it and the track's fresh and there's not much time. So, I knew to get on the box tonight, I needed to have low scores in the last two. So that was my game plan was to ultimately try to win the last two and see where it put me. I mean, I even knew going into the last one, even if I won the race, I was likely to not win, so that's when all this craziness happened. It was like “Holy cow!” It swung a totally different way than I was anticipating.