Heading into the second break of the Pro Motocross season, the 250 points standings look significantly different than they did before the first break of the year. Back in June after the High Point national, Hunter Lawrence had a 28-point lead over Haiden Deegan, and Justin Cooper, who crashed out in practice and missed the race all together, was 54 points back in the standings. Now Hunter leads Deegan by only 3 points and Justin Cooper is 19 points behind, which might make this a three-man battle for the title. This class has already proven how quickly things can change in this sport. Hunter and Justin opened up in the press conference after Washougal about their days and how they feel the rest of the season will play out.
Justin Cooper
Justin, nice performance today. I know you’re not feeling 100%. You said you were having trouble with stomach problems today. You weren’t able to eat, but still had a great round. Rode very, very well second moto. So, tell us a little bit about that and how you felt.
Tell us about your 1990s color scheme. What did you think of it? Would you like to see Yamaha do that again?
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?
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?
Justin, you were fine too? Were you ready for it?
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.
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?
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?
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?
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.
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?
Now you’re sitting there with your two closest competitors in the points. Give you thoughts on how the last three rounds are going to play out? Is this what we’re going to see with some consistency right here at the top of the box?
Hunter, just how are the ribs? Are they still affecting you at all?
How was that podium? That was pretty good today. How does that rank up against some of the other rounds this year?