Cooper and Ferrandis Top 5 at Budds Creek

Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team’s Cooper Lands on the Podium for the Eighth Time This Season at Budds Creek

Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team battled the heat and humidity of Mechanicsville, Maryland with Justin Cooper coming away with his eighth podium of the season with a third overall (6-2). The track at Budds Creek Motocross Park proved challenging with Dylan Ferrandis overcoming issues to finish fourth overall (4-4). Ferrandis is 30 points back with one round remaining. Rookie Ty Masterpool grabbed the team’s 14th holeshot of the season and went on to score his third top-10 in eighth overall (7-11). Mitchell Oldenburg almost grabbed another holeshot in Moto 2 and led the field around the first lap before finishing the day 14th overall with a 16-10. Colt Nichols ended his day early with a crash in Moto 1 and was credited 41st.

After earning seven holeshots this season, Cooper was not happy with a sixth place start in Moto 1 at Budds Creek. It was tough to make passes without taking risks and after going back to eighth at one point, Cooper pushed and made it back to sixth by the end of the moto. He got the start he was looking for in Moto 2 and went from fourth to third in the first four laps of the race. With just three laps to go, Cooper was finally able to make a pass stick to get into second, earning third overall with his 6-2 score.

For Ferrandis it was a day to overcome adversity. He went off the track on the opening lap of the first moto and came around 16th after one completed lap, facing an uphill battle for the rest of the race. Never one to give up, the Frenchman pushed for the entire 30 minutes plus two laps and incredibly finished Moto 1 in fourth, one second behind third. The second moto was better though and he found himself in 11th. After being hit by another rider and going down he put his head down and was up to eighth by lap six. He got by his points rival two laps later and kept pushing to finish fourth for fourth overall.

The day started amazing for rookie Masterpool who led his first professional laps of his career in Moto 1. After pulling the holeshot, Masterpool held off advances for the first four laps from the eventual winner. He would keep pace for most of the moto from the class veterans, eventually earning his third-best moto result of the year in seventh. The second moto he didn’t get the same start and had to push through a 14th place start, coming across the finish in 11th for eighth overall.

Oldenburg had a good start going with a run just outside the top 10 but then had issues on lap two that pushed him all the way down to 29th. He let his speed push him through the pack and Oldenburg managed to make it all the way up to 16th by the end of the moto. He put in the start he was looking for and almost came away with the second moto holeshot and led the first lap of the moto. The Minnesotan ran in fourth for awhile before finishing the race in 10th.

The final race of the season will take the Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing team outside Indianapolis to Crawfordsville, Indiana for the Ironman National on August 24.