Photo by: Devin Davis

It’s two wins down and six races to go for Star Racing/Yamaha’s Cooper Webb‘s 250SX Western Regional Championship title defense. The outspoken North Carolinian is in his final year as a 250 rider, and so far, he is making it count. Over the offseason, Webb put his 450 skills on display, and the word around the pits is that Factory Yamaha opened their wallets up wide and locked him down for their team with Chad Reed in ’17. Webb has garnered a lot of comparisons to Damon Bradshaw, and it’s looking like he will now follow the same path as history’s winningest North Carolinian to the premier class.

Heading into the 2016 Monster Energy Supercross season, everyone had Cooper as the odds on favorite in the West, and some of the preseason predictions we heard had the defending Champ running the table. While it definitely came to mind as a possibility, we thought Cooper’s inconsistent starts might throw a wrench in that possibility. Well, Cooper rounded the first turn in San Diego around mid-pack and carved through the pack like an ambulance in traffic. I even said to myself when I saw him buried in the pack behind all the top contenders, “If he wins this one, we might start talking about the possibilities of the #1 winning them all.” It’s still early, but in my mind, it’s now food for thought.

After Cooper’s come-from-behind win in San Diego, I had a short talk with him inside the Star Racing/Yamaha rig. That question does come up, and while he doesn’t say it he does admit they’re talking about it around him, and if you know Cooper’s mentality, you know that’s the goal at this point. Check out our interview with Cooper below.

Cooper currently leads by 14 points in the 250SX Western Regional Championship. Photo by: Hoppenworld
Cooper currently leads by 14 points in the 250SX Western Regional Championship. Photo by: Hoppenworld


Cooper, you’re even beginning to make the tough main event wins look easy. Another come-from-behind win for you tonight. Talk about your main event.

Yeah, it was a good main. I got a bad start, and I had to put my head down to come through the pack. I made some good passes on all the guys. It was cool to do that, but it was definitely a stressful one for me. I had to take it down to the end again, but I was glad to get it done.

 

You were pretty far back to start this one. I had you just outside the top ten around the first turn. Did you ever doubt that you were going to get to the front?

No, when you’re racing, you don’t think like that. I was looking at the board every lap, knowing what lap I wanted to make it happen, and I knew I wanted to make it happen as soon as I could. I didn’t want to wait until lap fourteen of fifteen. I got close, made it happen, and I was stoked.

 

In practice today you were third or fourth on the board, and at one point, I saw you look at the board, see #42 on top and you immediately went after it. The next lap you laid down a heater that ended up being the fastest lap of the day. Was that one of those deals where you were like, “No way is Mitchell [Oldenburg] beating me”?

Yeah, I saw the board, knew what I needed to do. I mean practice is practice, but it’s always nice to be out front. Everything we do nowadays—everyone is so fast and so good—it’s like a chess match. You have to figure out when and what time to do it.

Cooper told us in Anaheim that he hopes to ride the 450SX class when the series heads east. Photo by: Devin Davis
Cooper told us in Anaheim that he hopes to ride the 450SX class when the series heads east. Photo by: Devin Davis

This offseason, you basically moved up to a 450. You scored an MXGP podium, battled for a MXoN win, won the overall in Japan, won Supercrosses in Europe and even held off Chad Reed for a main event win in Australia. How big was this offseason for your confidence, and with all your 450 success, do you almost feel mentally ahead of everyone else on 250’s at this point?

Yeah, I think this offseason was huge, just with the experience and racing the top 450 guys in the world. We’re doing everything while thinking about the future and next year. Obviously, this year is important and we’re thinking about it, but everything we do is to prepare for when I’m on the 450. I think racing those guys and doing all that stuff was great experience, and I think it’s only made me stronger on the 250.

 

This week heading into San Diego, your number one competitor in the West, Jesse Nelson, went out injured. What are your thoughts on that?

Yeah, that’s really a bummer. It’s always tough when a guy gets hurt, but that’s one of the most unfortunate parts of this sport. Hopefully he heals up.

 

Coming into the season, we knew you were the favorite, but after two wins coming from behind, there’s talk of the #1 running the table. Is it too early to talk about that? (laughs)

(laughs) It’s definitely a little early, but it’s been thought about. We’ll just take it one race at a time like we did here today. After the bad heat race today, everyone was like, “Crap, he isn’t going to make it happen,” but we did it.

 

Well, congrats on tonight, and we’ll see you next week.

Alright, thanks

Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.