Page 56 - ISSUE-47

COOPER WEBB
450 SX / 10TH
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / WILSON
>> The sun beaming off the mountains to the West, the flats of the Vegas outskirts looking like a mirage through the blurry heat waves in which bounce off the scorching hot asphalt. It’s here, the beams of summer, along with the intensity of the final round of the Super- cross series. One last time around, one last chance for Cooper Webb to get off the stool. The bell chimes as the Monster girls prance around the stadium, the atmosphere appear- ing wondrous for all in attendance, except for a select few, who know that this may be their last time to clash for quite some time. He began to blitz the track with authority, hugging the hay bales in the consecutive whoop sections, if he could only keep this up for the remainder of the program, he would be in good shape. He knew the momentum he could carry around this track was well within the upper echelon of the top 40. Coming into the night show, his fifth place qualifying position had the team rallying behind him, and right- fully so, with his prior performance placing him with a solid gate pick for the main event. But he knew the races and practice sessions, qualifying times, and fast laps, meant noth- ing if he couldn’t put in a solid effort for the main event. As the thirty-second board went sideways, the crowd stood off their chairs, and onto their feet, beer spilling and Toyota pit- boards waving frantically. Surging at speeds well over 60 mph, he was looking on all sides of the straightaways, trying to get out of the way of this absurd amount of roost. His visor was getting absolutely pelted with bullets, the soil ricocheting off of his visor as he ducked his head, the throttle pinned the entire time. Working his way through the field, the pack began to separate themselves, yet he was in a battle within himself. If only he could mus- ter a the groove he had earlier in the day, he could rally and hopefully fight for a top five finish. However his effort seemed a bit counter intuitive, the harder he pushed, the greater the adversity he was being shown. Mistakes began to happen, a near washout in the left- hander prior to slingshotting into the straightaway before the finish line. A dab of the inside leg in a few corners here and there, every portion of mistake was configured into a pile of seconds lost. He would keep pushing on however, running down the ninth position as the laps went on, his mechanic knowing how hard he had worked. And although the end result could always be better, leaving the season with a tenth place wasn’t too bad after all.
56 GRITMOTO • MAY 7, 2017