Round eight of Monster Energy AMA Supercross took place during bike week at the legendary Daytona Supercross this past weekend. The brutal track is known to separate the riders, with half of the field in survival mode. However, Cooper Webb did more than survive, leading the 450SX main event until making a mistake and then keeping the pressure on Eli Tomac until the checkers. In the post-race press conference Webb was candid that while he enjoys the Daytona track, second place is not good enough for him.
Coop, we talked in the past about trying to start strong and you did that tonight. I think you maybe hit neutral. I’m not sure what happened when Eli got by you. Starting strong worked. Have you been working on things to do that?
Cooper Webb: No doubt. I think that’s the last few where I’ve struggled. Got a good start which was great and tried to put some good laps down. Ironically enough, we were kind of doing some different lines. I was trying to blitz the whoops and he had that inside. I feel like the blitzing was maybe a little faster, but I left myself open. Then some of our lines in the sand switched and switched back. So, it was tough, man. It was obviously a gnarly track, but then you’re also trying to find the fast lines. They change easily. I made that mistake. Somehow clicked neutral and he got by me. But I tucked right in behind him and I felt like I stayed right there on him, just really hoping for a mistake. Like I said, I was trying the lines in the switch back and the sand. We were going for it. I think we left it all out there, for sure. It was great. Led a lot of laps. He passed me there in the sand and then I got him right back. We bumped going both to that inside. Overall, I’m not stoked for second, but I gave it my best.
Definitely the tracks in Florida, you get advantage. You feel very comfortable. So, the rest of the races of the year, how do you feel in the future in those tracks? Definitely Florida is an advantage for you. Do you have some thoughts about that?
Yeah, I think all of them suit me well. There are certain places that are better than
others. I think Daytona has always been good to me. I’ve been on the podium every time I raced and been close twice now. So, it’s nice just I think to sleep in our own bed. I drove up. Just a good weekend. But moving forward, I really like Indy, Detroit, the Seattle round, Salt Lake. A lot of good rounds coming up. I guess it’s nice just to race where I live now in Florida.
Obviously, the plot thickens when it rains, when you’re dealing with a course like that. Is there any switch in your strategy once that happens, particularly here in Daytona? Because Ricky Carmichael’s courses are always insane here. So, talk about your experience with that.
I think it’s tough. This track in general is already a little hard to see
with the black dirt and being at night. I was tearing a lot of tear-offs at first, kind of
counting them in my head how many I had. Then like he [Eli Tomac] said, it stopped raining. I started the roll-off and I was questioning it at first, but then luckily it stopped.
I think this is the third race in a row that you’ve sat on the podium together, the
fourth time overall. What does that mean to each of you guys to have this tight a competition at this point?
I surely wish it wasn’t us three. I wish it was just solo, but it’s good competition for sure. We each have our strengths and I think we’re elevating supercross at
the moment. I’m sure we’ll all look back in ten years and relish it, but right now it’s
every man for themselves.
You guys are going to race a few more of these speedway type events later on.
Does this help you in terms of getting ready for those events, in terms of settings? I’m really interested in how deep into a day you will chase settings before you go, all right, I’m stuck with this. I’m going to just run it.
I think this one is nothing like Atlanta, but they are different, for sure. You
have to make a few adjustments. I think the biggest difference is our speeds are a
lot higher. That’s what at least I noticed today. We’re hitting all the obstacles at a
much higher speed, especially these fast straightaways. It’s hard. We actually didn’t
change anything really from normal. So, for me, it was another day. But I definitely
think you’ve got to make some adjustments, especially for maybe Atlanta.
Do you think that you guys learned anything at Daytona that will carry over into the three tracks on the SMX, or is it too soon to know?
Are they going to be supercross or motocross? We can ask Mr. Feld. Where’s he at?
Watch the full post-race press conference from Daytona below:
