Red Bull KTM’s Aaron Plessinger and Cooper Webb both ended up inside of the top five at Houston over the weekend, but both had very different reactions to the results. For Plessinger, it was his first top five of the season after mid-pack starts and a few untimely crashes have cost him a chance to fight up front. He looked solid all day in Houston though, even challenging Eli Tomac for the lead early in the main event. Webb on the other hand was not quite as sparky as we had seen him for the first two races of the series back in Anaheim and San Diego. He was actually running a rather lonely sixth place in the main event at Houston until Justin Barcia crashed in fifth ahead of him with a few laps to go. It’s not a bad result for Webb, but on a night where the two men just ahead of him in the championship picture went 1-2, it was far from where he wanted to be.

Plessinger spoke after the race about how he feels like he’s really starting to get the ball rolling again as he hadn’t raced supercross in nearly a year after his injury in Minneapolis last year. After going back to Florida at the beginning of last week, Plessinger has also been working on a few settings adjustments that he feels made him more comfortable in Houston as well.

Webb lamented that he lacked some intensity all day in Houston and that likely caused his performance to suffer. But crucially, he also explained how he expected the track to break down more and race a certain way with more cut down lines in the turns. The setup was a bit off then for what he expected, and the lack of comfort was also a contributing factor to where he ended up on the night.

We were able to catch up with both of them after the race to hear the ins and outs of where they are at after four races of 17.

Aaron Plessinger | 4^th in 450SX

Racer X: Battling up front. Take me through all the chaos.
Aaron Plessinger: It was such a good day, overall. I had fun all day. The heat race was unreal, and then in the main got a hell of a start, and then me and Eli were battling. It was so fun. Then I think, I’m not really sure, he made a mistake, but I think it’s because he saw the red cross flag. I think he thought it was on our side. But, had to restart. I hope Dylan [Ferrandis] is all right. That really sucked seeing him like that. It was a restart, staggered start. I kind of slid off the corner a little bit. Almost ran into Eli. Then Jason went right around and kind of rattled me up a little bit. I kind of just was lagging, going on that restart. It’s been almost four years since I did a restart like that, 2019 or something like that. So, restart happened. Shuffled back and forth. Kind of stayed there. I was battling a little bit. Almost got Chase once or twice, maybe three times. Then just kind of didn’t put it on cruise, but almost felt like I put it on cruise because they kind of pulled away from me. I was yo-yoing Jason quite a bit. Justin was right behind me. It was just like a solid, steady race. The whoops were treacherous. I was getting sketchy in those. I’m sure everybody was. But found a pretty good line at the end. About three laps to go, I started riding behind me. Whenever I do that, I kind of slow down. I don't know what it is. Rightfully so, because before A1 I hadn’t rode a supercross race since Minneapolis. So, we’re getting back on the ball. We’re getting the ball rolling. I’m pumped on that.

What was it about today? Was it just Texas and feeling like you’re home, or what?
Yeah, I guess so. I told somebody else Texas is a good place for me. I just had a good day. I just had a good vibe about today. Got about eight hours of sleep last night. Nice hotel bed. Had a good breakfast. I don't know. It was just a good day. It was fun. I worked on starts this week. Kind of changed my technique up a little bit and we were dialed.

Talking about the whoops, and like you said, they broke down a little bit, but even in the heat race it looked like you were a little bit more comfortable driving through them this week. You were able to stay on the back a little bit longer. Is that something you’ve been dialing in, settings-wise?
Yeah, for sure. We found a really good setting back in San Diego. It didn’t really show that much at A2 because we doubled into the whoops and were carrying a lot more speed. This time coming out of the corner, I can drive. I could squat the bike and just go for it. So, I like these kind of whoops, especially when they’re smooth like they were in the heat race, until we freaking tear them up. It was just a good day. Good vibes all day long and I had a lot of fun.

So, as we move on to Tampa, I think you went back to Florida this week to work there a little bit. Is it kind of exciting to get to some dirt that maybe is a little bit more familiar with what you’re used to?
Yeah, it is. This week was really good. We rode a track that was really, really similar to this. I like Florida. I think the heat is going to help us there a lot. I think really good things are about to come out.

Cooper Webb | 5^th in 450SX

P5 on the night. Not exactly where you want to finish, but just kind of take me through it.
Cooper Webb: It was a tough day, to be fair. I kind of struggled all day and just was off. Speed was off, flow was off. Unfortunately you have those days in racing. Not a terrible night with a fifth, but obviously want to be on the podium every time we’re out there, but it wasn’t there tonight.

Was it something settings-wise you just didn’t feel comfortable with, or was it something that you weren’t really gelling with?
I think it was more me tonight, to be fair. I think for me I’ve been really good at cutting down and when the track gets rough, I feel like I get better. Tonight the track wasn’t super rough. There was so much traction, and the turns were almost like slingshots where you just kind of ride the tops. The whoops were tough. I think they were tough for everybody, besides maybe Chase. So just kind of all that. The speeds to me seemed fast, and then a lot of traction too. So a lot different than what we’ve had in these first three races. Like I said, a little bit of setup. You’re always chasing a little bit, but I think overall just from the beginning of free practice, it just kind of felt a little off.

When the track has those long looping ruts, how different does it ride or feel? It seems like the speeds are obviously a lot higher then.
Yeah, it is quite a bit different from what we’ve been on. I think some the Anaheim’s and even San Diego were so tight and we’re cutting down the very bottoms. So, it’s tough but that’s racing. You get a different track every weekend. I think it was good to kind of see that. Obviously, there’s stuff that we can still improve, but I just think it was a lot different than what we’ve been riding, but it’s part of racing.

Talking about those things you can still improve; what takeaways do you have from tonight that you’re going to go back and test and work on?
I think for me, I just need a little bit more intensity at the moment. I feel like I’m strong as an ox, but just need maybe that little bit of intensity and that quick speed that maybe Eli and Chase really have right now. But we won’t go too far off the beaten path, but I think that area could be a little stronger.

With that intensity, how much does a staggered restart kind of throw things for a loop?
It kind of did, honestly. I felt great, actually. I was right behind Chase, and I was basically just following him. We had some good lines. I was riding really well, and then that restart kind of happened. I made a mistake where I missed a rhythm, I think third lap after the restart. Kind of got a gap and then I had Bam Bam on me. He was riding really good, so he got around me. It was definitely a weird thing. I’ve never done that in my life. So, it was definitely a little bit of a buzz kill, but obviously it’s part of our sport that unfortunately with injuries, and hopefully Dylan is all right and stuff. It was definitely a little weird.

We’ve finally moved to this East Coast dirt now. Like you said, there are some things you want to work on with settings adjustments, but are you kind of excited to see the tracks maybe break down a little bit more and work with some of those things that you’re comfortable with already?
Yeah, for sure. I definitely enjoy the East Coast, but we’ll see what happens. I think we’ve been pretty hard packed out west and now tonight was a lot of traction. So, we’ll see. Tampa, you never know. I think last time we raced it was a little hard packed. So, I’m definitely excited to be back east.