Page 24 - ISSUE78

JUSTIN COOPER
250 MX / 7TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Upon rolling into the grounds of Budd’s Creek this weekend, Justin Cooper felt a wave of calmness and certainty overcome him. This was his platform, and after visualizing the results he wanted throughout the week, it was time to perform and put his plan into action. It started with multiple reiterations of quali cation success, he knew he wanted to get out rst in practice. The dirt was deceivingly deep in places, and if he was the rst to take the green ag, there would be a period of time where he wouldn’t have to worry about downed riders as well. Soaring up the step-up just beyond the mechanics area, he would crest the landing and eye the checkered ag. Starching the eld with a nal blistering time, he knew he would be setting pretty as they loaded the gate. The eld would then takeoff fort he rst moto, as Aaron Plessinger would lead the eld around, after a fall from Cooper would leave him in the very back. With Colt Nichols on his tail and in hot pursuit, he knew the further up the leaderboard he would rise, the greater the bounty would be placed on his head. The track was somewhat greasy for these opening laps, as the maintenance crew had watered the hard-packed off cambered type terrain pretty heavily. Swap- ping lanes in erratic fashion, the eld was all over the place within the opening sequences. He would continue to stay put, near the 14th position. As the tearoff stack would begin to dwindle, he would begin to hear the number thirty-one behind him. It didn’t seem to effect his mentality however, as he continued to push forward as the laps would taper. Coming into the nal lap,
he would sit 14th. With only a mere minute left, he would begin to focus on the second moto, crossing the nish line in the same position. The sun would begin to blister the course, making the racing surface a bit crustier than lap number one. Emerging around the position, he would
be methodical about line selection. Crafting this particular layout as if it were an open canvas,
he could be found cutting, splitting, and axing turns consecutively. He was miraculously gaining time, leaving McElrath in the dust. The chassis of the bike really seemed to gel well through the series of chop, just prior to the “Big Gulp.” He would look onto the opposite side of the track, pac- ing himself on the leaders. Acting as a dangling carrot, it made him realize just what type of pace he could sustain. It would help him gravitate toward the nal ag, where he would place third, strong enough for seventh overall.
24 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 19, 2018