On Wednesday night, the 14th round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship took place as the 450SX riders were joined by the 250SX West Region riders.
In the 450SX main event, Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb fought off Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen at the beginning of the race before taking his third win of the championship. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne finished in second, tying a career best in the 450SX class, and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac charged from a poor start to take the final podium spot away from Rocky Mountain ATV/MC-KTM-WPS’ Blake Baggett.
Following the race, Webb, Osborne, and Tomac spoke with the media in a Zoom press conference call after the race, hosted by NBC Sports’ Daniel Blair.
Daniel Blair: Eli, congratulations on the ride. We’re at that point in the season where the numbers really do come into play. You’ve got a pretty big points lead. It looked like today there was a lot of patience from you. Was that just a daily situation just based on the track and how you were feeling? Or are you starting to kind of look at those numbers and know that the decisions can be made a little bit more cautiously, at least coming through the pack?
Zach, congratulations. We’ve talked about this, and I’ll somewhat ask it again. Since we’ve been here in Salt Lake City, you’ve put together the best run we’ve seen of your career. You tied your career best with a second. Mentally are you getting into a new mode and a new zone that you haven’t really felt yet in the 450 class? On track that’s what it looks like.
Cooper, today was a pretty complete day. The heat race, you were in a good battle but won that one. Then that main event a good battle early and then won this one. Do you feel like overall with yourself, the bike, that everything just gelled today? From front to back it just seemed like a complete day.
Zach, in the heat race I saw you drop back. I wasn’t sure what happened there. Then also, has Bobby Hewitt been happy with your riding so far in Salt Lake?
Cooper Webb, just talk about the whoops and the turn after the whoops. You and Kenny went at it probably 18 laps between the heat and the main there. Talk about your strategy and your lines that you were using through that section.
Pretty late in the afternoon, with the sun in your face, it looked like you guys would come out of that rhythm section and make that corner for the triple. How blind was that for everybody?
Cooper, early on in the main event you were obviously in battle with Ken. Were you anticipating that he was going to drop off at some stage? What was going through your mind at that point of the race?
For the 450 class, now that you have four races in the same venue on very different dirt conditions every time, are you changing the setup a lot from round to round, or has it basically been a baseline that you guys have gotten and stayed at, with the exception of the mud race?
Osborne: Same for me. I haven’t really changed that much other than clickers one direction or the other. It’s one of those deals where the dirt is a little bit different as far as the rhythm lanes go, but the corners have been kind of bermy. That’s kind of been the case every race. It’s kind of the same every time.
Webb: Same for me. I’ve been able to get a good base during the break and just a click or two here and there. I’ve been pretty happy with things.
Eli, it sort of feels like there’s a new Eli this year. We’ve talked in the past about little mistakes here and there that have caused you some issues. Is there anything consciously you’ve done this year to try to overcome that?
Cooper, in the heat race Kenny was doing that three-three before the finish line and you were doubling. Were you aware that he was doing that during the race, and he was gaining quite a bit of time on you? Obviously, you changed it for the main, but during the heat race were you aware?
Eli, the TV had you somewhere around 15th off the start. What happened? Do you know what the deal was there? Two, I saw you in practice going three in on the rhythm after the whoops. never saw you do it again. Was it slower? I couldn’t get a time on it, so I don’t know which way you were thinking either on that rhythm.
Tomac: The start, I don’t know what happened. I do know Zach beat me out to the inside, so that jacked me up. It was just a bad start. Looking back now, I probably should have went over a few more gates, but shoulda, coulda, woulda. I never did that three after the whoops. I was looking at it, but I never popped that three. The lane was, in my opinion, just misery. To start with a double.… I don’t know what happened there. There wasn’t much going on in that lane.
Zach, podiums are good and runner-up finishes are better than thirds, but are you getting to the point now where you’re not satisfied with that and your goal is now to win these races?
Cooper, to try to get for the championship, you obviously have to get the wins in there. Any mind games going on? Are you trying to put pressure on everybody else? I can see a couple little things like one time you and Eli are going through the whoops side by side and you were looking over sideways at him or things like that?
If you prefer to watch the press conference, watch the archive below: