Amidst all the storylines of the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, one is over just as quickly as it began. Justin Cooper’s debut 450SX season has officially come to an end. The New York native is set to be a title favorite for the 2023 250 Class AMA Pro Motocross Championship and entered the calendar year with that as his focus. Following his 2021 250SX West Region title, Cooper suffered a foot injury that sidelined him for his final 250SX season in 2022. Despite not lining up for a single event, there was no way around it, he had pointed out of the 250SX division of AMA Supercross. Since the AMA Pro Motocross Championship is a national title, he can still compete on a 250F.
Initially, word was that Cooper would completely sit out supercross this year as Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing already had 2022 450cc AMA Supercross and Motocross Champion Eli Tomac and 2021 Pro Motocross Champion Dylan Ferrandis. A three-rider 450SX team all season long would be a lot of extra work for the busy Star squad. However, before the start of the season Yamaha confirmed Cooper would race select 450SX rounds, while the 250cc Pro Motocross title still remained the focus.
Cooper made his 2023 season debut at the Houston Supercross, where he finished seventh. He then raced the following four 450SX events, finishing 7-10-9-6. Following his sixth-place finish at the Daytona Supercross, Cooper confirmed his supercross season is done. Able to get some gate drops and experience—and solid, top-ten results—the season was not completely a wash for the #32. After Daytona, we caught Cooper in the pits to get his takeaways from his night.
Racer X: Justin, talk us through your race tonight.
Justin Cooper: The main went good. Finished out good. Almost got the top five I was looking for, but everyone’s riding really good. I didn’t get the best start. I think I started around tenth. Made a few moves and just settled in. Had Jason [Anderson] in front of me and was kind of just running his pace. After the push in the beginning, it was hard to keep that pace. Was running in there behind Jason. He made a mistake in the whoops, and I was a little bit too far to capitalize on it, but it got me back up to his wheel. I was trying to make the move, but just couldn’t quite get that spurt to get up next to him. It was a good race. Another top ten. Finished it out good. Learned a lot this season. Take it into next year for sure.
Like you mentioned, running with Jason there a little bit at the end, that’s got to be a confidence boost for you to get this sixth place. This was only your fifth race, so it’s got to be good for you mentally.
Yeah. It was tough. Going over the finish, I looked ahead, and I could see just glimpses of everyone. I knew everyone fast was up front. So, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I was able to have a spot in the sand where I actually passed like three guys in the same lap, and that kind of just boosted me. I kind of just rode that way. Just didn’t carry that same momentum through the whole main but rode really good tonight. Lots to take away from it, for sure.
You mentioned about this maybe being the last one. Do we see you more? Is it kind of based on results? To end off with a good one, it’s got to feel good, but at some point in time, you want to race more probably, right? Is there any chance of seeing you doing more of these the rest of the supercross?
Probably not. Probably going to leave it at that. This was the plan all along to just get my feet wet and run with these guys and see what the class is all about, learn the tracks, how they get and how everyone races. So, I think we accomplished that. We’ve had a bunch of good rides battling with the guys. Time to get ready for outdoors.
