Page 68 - Issue-46
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COOPER WEBB
450 SX / 14TH
IMAGE / LANG WORDS / ECKERT DESIGN / WILSON
>> Fueled with fire and filled with grit, Cooper Webb has continued to keep up his repu- tation in the premier class despite his struggles with meeting expectations. The hard charging young gun still shows signs of his explosiveness with his speed but unable to post a finish that matches his qualifying time, Webb has been forced to be patient with his 450 steed so far this season. Since missing five rounds and making his return at Detroit, though, Webb has put his Yamaha inside the top ten the past two rounds leading up to East Rutherford and was looking to keep the streak alive when racing got underway in New Jersey.
When the gate dropped on Webb and heat two, the youngster got off the gate well by entering the race just outside of a qualifying spot. Sliding back to 7th, Webb was caught in the one-lined race behind the leaders until he battled by Justin Barcia to gain 6th. With the race winding down, it seemed Webb was going to run out of time but a collision between Josh Grant and Malcolm Stewart caused a ripple that put Webb up to 3rd. Cooper took the gift and ran the rest of the way home, transferring straight to the main.
With twenty minutes on the clock and a brutal course laid out in front of him, Webb, again, jumped out to a solid start, leading the majority of the pack around the first turn in 6th. Losing a couple spots early on, Webb battled with Reed as both riders were looking for
a top five spot. Now, only a few minutes into the race, Webb found himself just outside of 5th place when disaster struck. A mishap pushed the #2 all the way to 22nd place where he would ride the next 10 plus minutes. It almost appeared as if Webb wasn’t going to make any progress but with six minutes left, there was life in the blue bike. Over the remaining few minutes, Webb pushed his way into 16th and with just over a lap left, slid past Nick Schmidt and Cade Clason to reach 14th for the checkers. A strong recovery from a rather mysterious event but Webb will, no-doubt, look to bounce back at the final round in Vega next weekend. He’s sure to go all-in before the series concludes.
68 GRITMOTO • APRIL 30, 2017
