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COOPER WEBB
450 MX / 4TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / TILLS
>> When a rider bursts onto the scene with a charismatic flare, and results amounting to championships to back it up, many fans and critics set the bar extremely high for that competitor to maintain, in order to keep his standard
as “elite.” Throughout recent memory, this story can be played into the likes of Cooper Webb’s hands, as his reign as 250 champion captivated fans around the globe. And now that he’s stepped into the elder 450 division, things haven’t come as easy. Although now, living in the present, Unadilla marked a place for new beginnings. The first moto saw Webb, and his smaller stature, push off of the line near seventh place, looking to move. He would then joust with a fading Matt Bisceglia, Weston Peick, and the Kawasaki of Eli Tomac. Juking out com- petitors every way he went, he was absolutely floating through the back sec- tion rhythm lane, jumping the gap, almost tapped into 4th gear on the YZ450, all the while scoping out a giant lane to carve in the following right hander. He was happy with his riding, but it wasn’t translating into numerous gains like he’d imagined. By moto’s end, he found himself back in seventh, looking to move ahead for the following round. The second moto added a variable in his favor, that of mud. He’d grown up riding it plenty of times before, and as we all know, he’s willing to hang it out in any condition he’s placed in. Pushing through the mounds of saturated soil, his seventh place start quickly increased to sixth, fifth, and so on. Pulling tearoff’s with his patented quick swipe, every layer of vision was yanked with authority over the gravity cavity. Moving past Dean Wilson with just a few laps to go, he would volt into a podium position, one of his best rides of the year. He would stay here, enough for third in the moto, and fourth overall.
16 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 13, 2017