250 Words: Justin Cooper and Hunter Lawrence

Tell us about your 1990s color scheme. What did you think of it? Would you like to see Yamaha do that again?
Yeah, it’s always cool to switch it up, I think. I think everyone loved it. We’ve got nothing but positive feedback from it. It’s awesome. It’s a little bit different looking with the white fender. It took some getting used to, but same bike under us. It’s just cool to switch it up, man. We had a lit kit this weekend, for sure.

What about the upcoming break? You got any corporate duties at Loretta’s or anywhere that you have to do, or are you just going to keep working on your training and practicing for the next couple weeks?
I made the trip there last year, showed my face, signed some autographs. I don't think I’m making the trip this year, so take a few days off. We’ve got some time to chill out a little bit. Two weekends off. Come back for the last three and do the same thing.

The gate. The first moto, it dropped pretty quick. Did it enter your mind when they had a couple of malfunctions that they might do that, or did it just catch you completely off-guard?
Hunter Lawrence: I don't think that malfunctions had anything to do with the gate dropping way earlier. Maybe the gate guy just got a little throttle happy. But it definitely caught us off-guard. It’s normally always five or more seconds. But hey, you’ve got to expect the unexpected and be better.

Justin, you were fine too? Were you ready for it?
Justin Cooper: Yeah, I didn’t even notice it dropped any quicker. It felt like five seconds, at least to me. You’ve got to expect it, though. Not every guy is going to have a stopwatch on him or something. Maybe he does, but he can drop it at four seconds if he wants to. It’s all up to him. You’ve just got to be ready.

You’ve now moved yourself in to third place in the championship, so considering you were out at Mount Morris and the other race, you’ve got to feel pretty good about that, considering the motos you’ve missed.
Yeah, what happened there is kind of over with and we’re in the position we’re in now. We’re going to bring it down to the wire and see what we can do.

Cooper, with the 3-2 you made up a couple of points on Hunter. Obviously, you would have liked to have made up more, but how satisfying is it to be this consistently strong at this stage of the season with now three rounds going?
To be honest, it’s pretty normal for me. In 2021 I didn't miss the podium overall. So, I just kind of feel like it’s expected for me at this point. I’ve always been consistent. Trying to get a little bit more loose and hang it out some more. Tried that today, just came up short.

Justin, you’re riding great. It seems like there’s always a little something kind of getting in the way of you and that overall. Do you take comfort in how well you’re riding, or are you just frustrated at not being able to get your hands on that overall?
It’s frustrating, for sure. I’m probably up to five seconds now. I’m getting good points. There’s been better guys than me each time. There’s nothing I can really do about that. I’m trying my best. I felt like today I had a good shot at it, but I think Haiden with a 1-2 would have got me. I was pretty smoked at the end. I didn’t get enough food in me today. That definitely showed at the end there. I had nothing to give.

Hunter Lawrence

Hunter, other than the weekends that you had your mechanical and a first-turn crash, this is the first race that you haven’t been on top of the podium. Tell us about your day. Did you go into a little bit of a salvage mode in that second moto, or were you still pushing as hard as you could?
Hunter Lawrence: Yeah, tough day for sure. Second moto I was in a good enough spot to do the job. Just pushed the front in a pretty tricky section of little bumps and little stuff that you can’t see much. Pushed the front and then put a charge on to get back to the boys. When I got back, I just was so tired. So, I just did what I could. All things considering the two DNF’s, not a terrible day for a bad day. But all good. On to the next three.

Still holding the red plate. Talk about this Washougal track. It is kind of a one-off track, in my opinion, on this circuit. It has traction in places. It’s slippery in others. The lighting can be very, very difficult. As you mentioned, not being able to see very well going in and out of the shadows. Tell us about from inside the goggles what it looked like.
It’s not easy. But I’m looking at the same track as every other racer out there, so it’s no different for me to everyone else. So, it is what it is. We’ve got the same track to deal with every year, so you can’t be so arrogant to come back and think it’s going to be changed or be so much better. Definitely unique, that’s for sure.  

Two weeks off. You mentioned last week that you’re planning on staying up in the pacific Northwest. Heading over to Idaho to do a little golfing and vacation time. Still the same plans?
Yeah. Going to hang out with some buddies, golf over in Idaho just across the border so it will be cool. Looking forward to it. A little, few days off and then back to work.

Last week’s 1-2 was a great response to the two bad rounds before that. How important was it to get that momentum, and then carry it through with another podium this week?
No [more] important than any other weekend. I won all the four at the start of the season. We had two DNF’s, and then got back to business. Today was a tough day, but still was an overall podium. Still good, still consistent. On the box again. No more important to last weekend or this weekend. They’re all important.