Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Cooper Webb has always succeeded through steady improvement rather than immediate flashes of speed, and he used that building process when he needed it most at the Charlotte MXGP of the Americas on Saturday night. Webb came out on top of a much-anticipated showdown with now three-time MX2 Grand Prix Champion Jeffrey Herlings to take the overall win via a dramatic come-from-behind charge in the second moto. Herlings was faster in practice and moto one, but Webb found a way to make speed just in time to grab the victory.
The fact that it all happened in his home state of North Carolina made it that much sweeter. Here’s what he said in the post-race press conference.
Racer X: You had your home crowd here supporting you, so it must have felt pretty amazing to get the overall win.
Cooper Webb: It was a really cool experience to have the crowd behind me and everything like that. I had a bunch of friends and family here, so definitely a special moment being my last race ever on a 250. Overall it was a very special day.
Take us through that second moto. You were racing with Jeffrey [Herlings] there and then you made the pass.
It was not looking good at first, that’s for sure. I got a pretty bad start and I saw Austin [Forkner] was up front. I think Jeffrey… I don’t know if he was quite in second but I knew he was up there a little bit. So I had my work cut out. I was just worried about my lap times and going as fast as I could and giving everything I had. I made some quick passes. I was pretty surprised with I think the track was a little hard to pass. I was able to get some good passes and just really put my head down. Jeffrey I think about halfway he really stepped it up and we were really matching each other’s pace basically. We were able to catch Austin a little bit here and there and we all kind of were pretty close right there. I just somehow kept my lap times going and I think it was just the crowd. I could hear them every jump and turn. It’s pretty hard to quit. That’s definitely what got me through it.
How was the experience for you racing the MX2 guys and the MXGP series?
It was awesome. I was pretty nervous, to be honest, to come in here. Obviously I follow the series and I knew how fast Jeffrey is. I was pretty nervous. Just coming in I wanted to keep calm and do what I always did. After practice these guys were quite a bit faster than me and everything so I really had to study what they were doing and apply it to everything. Overall I think it was really cool. The first moto it was cool. I felt like it was going to be a really, really good race. Then Austin went down and Jeffrey got around him and obviously he pulled away. I haven’t really ever had somebody in the 250 class pass me and just kind of pull away. It was something that I had to learn and try to stick with him. I knew exactly what the race strategy was going to be. I knew as soon as he passed me he tried to put two or three fast laps to try to get that base. That’s exactly what he did. We yo-yo’d there back and forth at the end, but he had a comfortable lead. That second one I just learned from them and made a little bit of bike changes. Just felt like I was pretty consistent.
Take me through your perspective when Austin went down there in the first moto and then Jeffrey was right next to you when you were drag racing around the turn.
It was pretty wild. I saw he had went down. I was already pretty much committed to that rut. There wasn’t much place for me to go. I thought Jeffrey was doing that outside line. It was pretty cool. I felt that corner all day was kind of like a NASCAR style corner and we were two wide going through. It’s pretty sweet for sure. I think the crowd right there was definitely pumped. It was cool.
It wasn’t the hottest day or the roughest track ever, but it seemed like you were all pretty spent. Was that just from the intensity of that second moto?
Oh, absolutely. I can say that that was the hardest two motos I’ve done in a long time. Obviously the heat in the U.S. is brutal, but I think with this track it wasn’t quite rough enough to get you physically, but you had to have the intensity every lap—scrubbing the jumps, and with those rollers if you were kind of being a little lazy you were going to be losing time. So with it not being all that rough too, there’s not much time to be made or anything. It came down not making mistakes and just little intensities here and there. Hit your corners just a little faster and stuff like that. But I just think I left it all on the table. I think we all were just going for it. Like Austin said, I think in the States everybody goes for it that first half and then most of the time the guys are pretty spent. That’s where I’ve been able to kind of learn actually from the Europeans, is just kind of settle the first ten or fifteen and then really lay it hard on that last half. We all brought the speed. It was pretty much a sprint for 30 plus two.
Cooper, obviously for you the last time on a 250. How important was it for you to come here? You’re from North Carolina. This is very much your home race. How cool was it to have the final race for you 250 in front of the home fans? And from your racing point of view, the battle between Austin and Jeffrey in the first race, the crowd went wild when you took the lead and the drag race between you and Jeffrey. And then the second one when you came through the pack and took the lead. How important was that for you to have that kind of support here on your final race as a 250 rider?
It was important. It was in the back of my head all day. At Indiana in the American series I wanted to obviously go out on top and I struggled actually a lot. So to be able to come here, I had the hometown behind me and everything like that. But I knew it was going to be very difficult. I just wanted to come and race. I think in the back of my head I wanted to go out with a win, but I think for me it was more just the atmosphere. Whether I was first or 20th, I just wanted to end it here in North Carolina. To be able to win is just the cherry on top. I think it was just a special day and everything like that. You wake up certain days and you go to races and you’re fastest in practice, you win the first moto, you win the second moto and everything’s awesome. I think today I had to kind of overcome, learning and applying everything to be there with those guys. So that’s what I think I was most stoked about, and being able to work with the team. I think today we made the most changes that we’ve probably had all year. So I think that was pretty special. Everybody’s hard work is paying off and this was my last race for Star Racing. It was just a picture-perfect day for sure.
