In the second moto how hard was it to make up time on a track like this where it is just so hammered?
It wasn’t so hard to make up time, but when I got behind him, like I caught up to him a couple of times and when I did get behind him it was just like something would happen. I would run into a lapper or same with him, he would get away from me and then he would run into a lapper, or he would make a mistake. So, I would catch back up to him and then I would make a mistake. It was weird man, it was a cool battle, but it was just really, really weird. It was lapper based, mistake-based cat and mouse.

I was going to say does it feel weird because there were clearly six factory guys that broke away, AC [Adam Cianciarulo] went down in the second moto so five guys broke away. So you kind of know the group that you are going to race with and you’re going to hit a lot more lappers. Is it hard to race like that, normally there are more guys to battle with at the front and you might hit less lappers because the field is a little deeper.
I didn’t really think about it until we did catch a lot of lappers, and I was like, “Man, this feels like a lot.” And then I really didn’t think about it until now, but yeah there’s really five or six of us that can really do some damage here. I think that’s why I rode over my head in the first moto because I thought, “Man, this is my opportunity.” It's also the first round so I should have just played it cool and did my thing, maybe I would have caught him maybe not. But I was putting in some good laps and kind of just pushed it a little too far. But the second one it was kind of just luck, Dylan came into that rut and railed it and the rut fell down as soon as I hit and it fell down right onto my tire, and then I elbow checked Bryton Carroll’s brake rotor. So that one definitely took it out of me a little bit, I was like “Okay maybe I need to slow it down before I really do some damage.”

The only reason I ask is because, I am not sure if it happened to you, but I heard that both qualifying sessions a lot of you guys coming up behind lappers, a lot of revving because we have a lot more people in the A group that we don’t normally see in the A group. Is that going to be a thing this year that you are just going to have to deal with?
Yeah, everybody has to deal with it. People are going to get in your way, some of the factory guys do it just to mess with you so it makes you better at choosing lines and not following people. But it's definitely frustrating especially in practice just because there is one line everywhere. And usually when the guys see the blue flag, they are pretty courteous, there were a few times today where they didn’t choose the best line when getting the blue flag, but I have been there before and it's not the easiest thing to ride with eyes in the back of your head. You can’t really blame them too much, but it is something that everybody is going to have to deal with.

Lastly, speaking about lines on this track, how difficult is it, the main line you either have to deal with it and just kind of push through it verses jumping out of that main line and finding something but it didn’t seem like there was that much to find today.
Yeah man it was so weird, especially back in the back section before we turn to come back towards the finish, I tried one new line there the second moto and I got so sideways it was like, “All right, I am funneling back.” It was just weird, some places you could definitely do it but it wasn’t a crazy time maker, but it was just a different line. And I was all over the track, in the places that I could be just not to follow because man my throat was getting a little dry because of all of the dirt in there. But it was just a weird track like I said, a lot of rocks a lot of ruts. Ruts up the faces of the jumps but that’s normal here at Fox. But it was like big bumps that were super close together, long ruts that had gnarly acceleration bumps, I told somebody it was like yesterdays amateur race kind of defined how the track was going to be today. It was weird it was almost like the dirt had memory and remembered yesterday. It was definitely something wild and the rocks definitely played a factor for me, especially in practice I almost weeded it a couple of times. I am happy to start the day off on a good note, fourth place. I am good with it.

Cooper Webb | 4-5 for 5th overall

Racer X: Okay, Cooper Webb, expectations coming into this, did you do better or worse, what is it?
Cooper Webb: I didn’t have much expectations so, actually a little better than I was anticipating. I thought I would be 6-6 guy today. I was pretty happy with it. I was actually really happy. Had some good speed in qualifying, first moto felt great and had some good speed and ran up front. And even that second one for about half of it I had good speed. Then just out of shape that was the bottom line. I said on the podium, today was my fourth and fifth moto since Hangtown 2021. So, it's been a while. Obviously last-minute decision like we have all talked about. So, overall, I am happy. Like I said I felt like I showed some potential and felt good to be honest.

Like you said, fitness is obviously something you are going to try to clean up, but even the first moto AP [Aaron Plessinger] got you, and you kind of tailed back, but then he fell and you kind of pulled away when he got up again that was pretty good.
Yeah, for sure. I surprised myself even with my overall fitness you know. But I shouldn’t have, with Aldon [Baker] we have such gnarly fitness so I should have trusted it a little more. But it's just a lack of seat time. Just the muscles that we don’t use in supercross, that we can’t duplicate this track. Overall, I am really happy with how the day went. We joked just now this is the worse I will feel.