Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing’s Justin Cooper and Mitchell Oldenburg recovered from early adversity at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville Tennessee, to score valuable points in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East title chase.
Cooper got off to a great start and grabbed the holeshot, but then tangled with a championship contender on the fifth corner of the first lap, causing the pair to go down. Cooper then had to try to play catch-up to recover championship points. In his fight to move back up to the front, he had another crash. The New Yorker refused to give up. He steadily made his way forward, and moved into the final spot on the podium with only seconds left on the clock.
Oldenburg also had early adversity in the main, the 24yr old came together with another rider, going down two corners before his teammate. Although he had his work cut out for him to try to overcome a big time gap, Oldenburg put his head down to score a sixth-place finish.
With two rounds remaining in the championship, Cooper sits third, seven points adrift of the 250SX East leader. Oldenburg’s efforts advanced him into the top five of the standings.
The Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing team’s 250SX East riders will take a one-week break while their West teammates Dylan Ferrandis and Colt Nichols return to action next Saturday, April 13, at Broncos Stadium at Mile High in Denver, Colorado.
Justin Cooper
Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing
“I struggled to find my flow throughout the day, but was able to put it together for the main, pull the holeshot and get out front. I had a battle on my hands quickly and had some first lap adrenaline pumping, went to make a pass and ended up going down with Chase [Sexton]. It definitely wasn’t my intention, but hey, you live and learn, that’s racing and not everything goes right all the time. It was frustrating that I had to come through the pack again after two falls, but I’m happy to be on the podium and leaving safely. Thanks to my team for all the help this weekend and making sure I was comfortable out there when it mattered.”
Mitchell Oldenburg
Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing
“It was a bit of a frustrating night for me. Obviously going down the first lap and getting connected with Martin [Davalos] was really a bummer. But I got up, put my head down and charged as hard as I could and we came out with a sixth. I really struggled with the whoops tonight, so that’s something we can definitely work on this week to try and get better at. Will go back to the drawing board, put in some more work and hopefully get this thing going here with two more races.”
2019 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East Nashville Results
1. Martin Davalos
2. Chase Sexton
3. Justin Cooper
4. Kyle Peters
5. Brandon Hartranft
6. Mitchell Oldenburg
7. Kyle Cunningham
8. Ryan Sipes
9. Mitchell Falk
10. Alex Martin
2019 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East Championship Standings
1. Austin Forkner 151
4. Chase Sexton 148
3. Justin Cooper 144
4. Martin Davalos 115
5. Mitchell Oldenburg 105
6. Alex Martin 105
7. Brandon Hartranft 100
8. Kyle Peters 98
9. Kyle Cunningham 97
10. Jordan Bailey 76
Wil Hahn
Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team Manager