Photos by: Chase Yocom
Monster Energy / Yamaha’s Cooper Webb graduated into the 450 class with two regional 250SX Supercross titles and a 250MX AMA Motocross National Championship on his career resume. With that, Cooper was given a high dollar rookie 450 contract and the expectations that come with that money were lofty for the kid from North Carolina. Unfortunately, it’s now two years into his 450 career and we have written more about his injuries than we have his successes.
Cooper will be returning from his latest injury for the 2018 Southwick National and with a contract year looming he has the rest of 2018 to show teams that the potential is still there. Has Cooper’s injuries and somewhat lackluster 450 results taken him off the radar of 450 factory teams? No, we think Cooper will definitely be on a factory bike in 2019—hearing that is possibly a KTM—but the amount of zero’s on that contract will likely be much smaller if he doesn’t stay healthy and show some flashes of brilliance over the last seven rounds.
Nobody knows that better than Cooper and that is likely why it has taken the #2 this long to get back to the races. Cooper has been back on the bike for over a month, but just being okay to ride and train is much different than being ready to show you’re still worthy of a high dollar 450 factory contract. Hopefully that is where Cooper is now, because the kid definitely has the potential and the attitude to be an elite 450 guy both indoors and out.
Where will Cooper likely finish this weekend at Southwick? I will likely debut Cooper at 6th or 7th in our weekly 450 “Power Rankings,” although if he is anywhere close to 100%, nothing from 3rd to 7th overall will surprise me. Cooper won the overall at “The Wick” in the 250MX class back in 2016 and had one of his best races of his rookie 450 campaign there last season—going 3-6 for 4th overall. Cooper is really good at Southwick and that fact likely has something to do with why he chose this weekend to be his 2018 outdoor debut.
