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COOPER WEBB
Honda is probably kicking their rear ends after letting Cooper Webb leave their program in the amateur ranks. Cooper was one of Honda’s major amateur riders at one point and then KTM picked Webb up out of nowhere and in a blink of an eye he was on Yamaha’s. In need of an overhaul, Yamaha started to work on a new program and it started with picking up top amateurs Webb, and Jeremy Martin. The risk worked out as both riders have won championships for their StarRacing Yamalube Yamaha team, Jeremy won two MX2 national championships and Cooper was able to get Yamaha their first title in supercross since 2008 when Jason Lawrence won the title, before Jlaw it was Chad Reed in 2002. It seems fitting that Webb and Reed will both race 450’s next year in the premier class together on the same team. Although Yamaha has rebuilt their program it wasn’t until the last minute of last year that Yamaha decided to field
a 450 factory effort after a few years in hiatus. Ultimately Yamaha didn’t want to loose Webb as a blue rider and they are supporting supercross legend Chad Reed until retirement, instantly making the team a favourite in the pits.
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