Page 48 - Issue_63

COOPER WEBB
450 SX / 8TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Cooper Webb stormed onto the 450 scene for his rookie season in 2017 with high expecta- tions from fans and people within the industry. Coming off back to back 250 SX West Coast Championships in which he showcased unrivaled speed, the expectations were rightly due. However, the transition to the bigger bike proved harder than anticipated for the North Carolina product. He showed flashes of his championship speed, like when he challenged Tomac for a
win in Oakland, but never really could stay consistent. That issue persisted during the motocross season, but injuries also influenced his lackluster rookie year in both supercross and motocross. After an offseason of rejuvenation and testing with his team, many thought we might get a stronger Cooper Webb, but those speculations have yet to pan out. Three rounds in and his best finish is a tenth and both his starts and speed have been slightly off the leaders. He was hoping that round four in Glendale would be the race to help jumpstart his sophomore year. Webb got out to a good start during the qualifying practice sessions. The Monster Energy Factory Yamaha rider had the seventh fastest lap time of the day and was just seven tenths of a second off Jason Anderson had the fastest lap time of the day. A good start would be all he needed to get things rolling as he had the speed to mix things up in the races. Webb got out to a decent start in his heat race coming out of lap one in fifth place. Weston Peick was there to spoil his good start and make a pass sending Webb back to sixth on lap two. Webb nested there behind Peick and tried running him back down. He stayed right there for most of the race until Blake Baggett, Cole Seely and Broc Tickle came knocking on his door. Tickle had been quietly creeping up on him for a few laps but the pressure he received from Baggett and Seely brought him right to Webb’s doorstep. Webb would end up getting gobbled up by the trio of riders in the final two laps and would finish the heat race in the final transfer spot, ninth place. Finishing that far back in a heat race without crashing had to sting a little bit and rile him up, fueling him with the intensity needed to rebound for the main event. Webb could not muster a good start in the main and would get involved in the mid-pack shuffle during the opening laps. Riders were moving back and forth and bouncing all over the place including Webb who started eleventh, fell back to twelfth, and then hopped up to tenth by the end of lap three. There he stabilized for a handful of laps until a charging Cole Seely swept by pushing him back to eleventh. Webb would duck in behind the Honda HRC rider and follow him around Malcolm Stewart to move back into tenth a few laps later. Webb would stay there throughout nearly the entire rest of the race. He had a nice view of a big battle between Peick, Brayton, Grant, and Seely but just could not get close enough to make a move on any
of them. But his persistence would pay off as he would manage to pick up two positions in the closing laps thanks to mistakes from Grant and Seely, so Webb would end up earning an eighth- place finish. The speed between the top riders has been so close this season so if Webb would like to get a better finish, he needs a better start because it appears like he is slowly beginning to find his speed again.
48 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 28, 2018