Photo by: Garth Milan / Ryne Swanberg
During qualifying at the 2018 Houston SX, Monster Energy / Star Racing / Yamaha’s Justin Cooper crashed and the severity of the crash caused a red flag during the session. Up until that point in the morning sessions, the rookie had the 4th fastest overall 250 time and looked well on his way to having a great night inside NRG Stadium. Unfortunately, the crash ended Justin’s day and his gnarly list of injuries will likely end his Freshman season early.
“P4 in first qualifying session,” Justin said from his @JustinCooper62_ Instagram account yesterday. “In the 2nd session, I suffered a concussion, broke 9 ribs (T2-T10) and broke 3 transverse processes [extensions on the side of vertebrae that the muscles & ligaments attach to] also. Bummer because I was really enjoying the track and piecing it together quite nicely. Just a simple small mistake that turned disastrous. Good news is I’m doing great and will be back soon. Quite surprised with how good I’m moving around”
Justin finished 9th in the opening round in Anaheim and looked on his way to having a stellar rookie campaign, but injuries are unfortunately a painful part of the learning curve in Monster Energy Supercross. We are hoping Justin can heal up from this both physically and mentally and get back after living the dream as soon as possible. We will bring you more updates as we hear them. Get well soon, Justin.
