Now it’s a three-point gap in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the SuperMotocross World Championship for Cooper Webb, who took second in Detroit, one spot better than former series’ leader Eli Tomac. In Detroit, Webb and Tomac were part of a huge battle early in the main, too. After lots of back-and-forth action, here’s how the top two riders in the standings saw their nights.
Eli, it seemed like you had just a few bad laps there in the middle and then the rest of the race was okay. What did you see from your position?
Tomac: Yeah, decent position early on and then it was not smart to go outside in a 90 degree turn before the on-off. I thought it was fine, but it didn’t end up working out. I just kinda sat there behind Cooper and Barcia, lost touch a little bit, made a little bobble behind Wilson. I kinda just rode around and honestly, I’m just lucky to be sitting here (on the podium). Overall, I feel better than last week, body wise. I’m not quite 100 percent, but not too bad.
Cooper, how much strategy did you use in this race? There were so many battles going on. Did you have to read your pit board a lot.
Webb: Well, I always try to be (strategic). There were a lot of battles going on for sure. Aaron pulled the holeshot and was gone, but AC [Adam Cianciarulo] was there in the mix at first, between me, Bam [Justin Barcia] and Eli and Chase [Sexton], there was a train of us going. Eli got around me and I tried to lock onto him, but it was tough. The whoops were super tough to get right every lap. Chase got around all of us. Then we all had to roll the jump and he got a gap, and from then on he rode well, and he held on. But it ended up being a good points night for sure.
Eli, you had touched on the neck injury from last week, but you also touched on how the Indianapolis track made it tougher with the ruts. Did the Detroit track kind of mask some of the situation or did you make a bit of a recovery this week?
Tomac: It was both, to be honest. Yeah, Indy was miserable and this week, it was much better because it was hard pack, but just gotta go with it.
You guys were all tied up in like a four-rider battle early in the race there. How do you battle three or four riders at a time instead of just one rider. What do you focus on first.
Webb: Yeah, it’s tough. When it’s us three and then the 51 is in there, it’s tough. Like Chase says, he races hard, so you’ve got to protect your insides a little bit more. Like I said, there were lines where if you went inside, it was slower. It was crazy, and like I said, the track was pretty tight so there weren’t many places to gain a lot of time. It was just who would make the least mistakes, and we were all flip flopping around. It was pretty wild.
Tomac: With the way the track was it didn’t allow for much separation. It was just a crazy fast pace at the beginning, so it was tough no matter where you were.
Cooper, having that points lead, even if it is just three points, does that mentally settle you a little bit?
Webb: Yeah, that’s always the goal is to have that. I mean, everyone is different, but I definitely feel like this is a better position to be in instead of chasing. Obviously, it’s still tight but it’s a good feeling to know you’re out front. We’ll try our hardest to keep it going.
Cooper, early on Eli got you in the whoops, then you got him back on when you jumped up onto that tabletop. Did you change much during the race?
Webb: Not much changed to be honest, like Eli said, there were just fast laps at the beginning. I was way right in the whoops, and I saw those guys go down the middle, and I dialed in that line a little bit better, and that was really helping me. That section was tough, you’d get a good run one lap and then one lap you wouldn’t. I could tell the guys behind me would catch me in some areas, but you don’t really know where. Once I was behind Eli, I felt like I was in a good groove, I learned some of his lines and then I had some that were better. It’s tough when you’re out front and you’re guessing where they’re catching you, but also this track was hard to pass on. When Chase got around, he had some good lines and some fast laps.
Eli you were as high up as second and I think as far back as fifth. Did you settle in at some point for damage control? And how is the neck feeling?
Tomac: I’m trying to remember what happened, I went outside, and cooper passed me on the tabletop, then it was over the dragon back and Justin got by me. That was bad and then I was just stuck behind them, we were all running the same pace, I wasn’t able to make another pass. But overall, my neck didn’t really affect me tonight and that’s a good thing. Honestly last week it came out of nowhere. I was like “What is happening?”
Was it just a slept funny thing?
Tomac: It literally was. All I know is that my muscle was locked up and it was bad for Saturday.
Eli, momentum is everything in racing. Are you just dismissing the last two weeks because of the neck and that you’re on to Seattle and that’s in the past? Tomac: Yeah. That’s my mindset at this point. Honestly, I felt like last week I should have even lost more points, with what happened with a few guys next to me. Overall, it could have been worse, could have been better. I’m not too concerned at this point.
Coop, I think they made some track changes between the heat races and practices and stuff throughout the night. Do you like when they do that? When they kind of groom the track and make those changes throughout the night because of rider input?
Webb: It’s definitely difficult when you kind of chase setup throughout the day and it changes throughout practice. It is kind of strange sometimes. It depends I guess most of the time on TV how much time they have to actually prep the track. The certain areas they get, it seemed tonight maybe a little bit more prep than maybe some of the weeks, but like you said, you get that where some nights they have fifteen minutes, some they have five. So, those first few laps where you could really get after it a lot of smooth, fast areas. But then it did end up breaking down pretty good by the end of it. It’s one of those things. You never know what you’re going to get.
This is one of the first races where we’ve seen all three of you battle the whole time. Is there anything you learned?
Webb: Like I said, we were all going at it pretty good. We had a train going, and then Chase ended up passing us all and then he was able to kind of get a gap from us, in my opinion, because we were all kind of rolling (the jump with the red lights on, while Sexton jumped it. He was ultimately penalized seven points). He was able to keep that gap. Me and Eli were then battling with me and him and Barcia. It was definitely tough. A lot of tight racing. I’m happy with how things are going. I think we’re going to just keep going hard the rest of the season.
Tomac: One thing I learned with battling during that moto was don’t leave the inside open.
Eli, most of your championships it’s usually you and one other guy. This time it’s Chase and Cooper. With Cooper being so good at the end of the race and Chase being a bit like Jeremy McGrath at the start of the race, just checking out if he gets a start, it doesn’t leave you a lot of margin of error. Do you think about their strengths and weaknesses during the week, or do you just focus on yourself? How has it been for you fighting two guys for the championship this year?
Tomac: To me, it doesn’t really matter whether it’s one guy or two. You’re still in a tight race. You’ve just got to focus on you. You’re just battling and doing what you can. Not much difference between one and two guys.
Cooper, you mentioned you were managing the race there. Did you prioritize staying ahead of Eli at one point once Chase got that gap? Or what was your thought process at that point? Get the red plate?
Webb: Yeah. It was priority to definitely stay ahead of Eli. That was the big thing. In my head, I thought the rule [on Sexton's penalty] was a little different, so I was just clicking my laps. But at the end of the day, it was a great race. I did what I needed to do for sure, moving forward.
