This entire AMA Pro Motocross Championship season, the 250 class talent has endured hearty battles, continuous fights for the podium, and unwavering ambition for the title. One rider that repeatedly works his hardest each week is the #32 plate Justin Cooper.
Coop doesn't make it easy on points leader Hunter Lawrence, situating himself just 22 points behind the elder Lawrence brother. Even after missing the High Point National this year due to a throat injury suffered during qualifying, the #32 brought it back at RedBud, finishing third overall, and has continued to push every weekend.
After going 1-2 for second overall on Saturday at Budds Creek, Cooper is feeling better than ever about his riding and the championship. See his conversation with the media in the post-race press conference below.
Justin brought his 250F Yamaha to a second-place finish. A good job for him. A great day. I can’t say that it’s for sure a record crowd, but it sure did look like it and feel like it. We had a lot of activity all day. Justin, congratulations.
Justin Cooper: Thank you. The day ran really smooth for me. Got off to two pretty decent starts and made my way forward from there. It was a battle all day. I feel like I’m riding at the best of my career. We’ll take it into the last race and give it one more go.
Qualifying started out the day. You never know what you’re going to get. You came out of qualifying and you were pretty darn good.
Yeah. I’m a specialist in qualifying, for sure. The track was really muddy this morning. Made for the good racing at the end with the ruts. Put a good lap together in the second session and I was good enough for first. Gate pick is important here.
It was very important here. That first turn, not the greatest first turn in motocross, but you really got to study it.
Yeah, it’s known for a lot of carnage over the years. You’ve really got to watch the racing, see how the first turn is playing out and from there just try to be smart and not throw it away there.
Can you talk about that first moto? We saw you made that pass on Hunter, got a little contact. It seems like kind of a factor of the racetrack. That’s kind of what Hunter said, kind of what it looked like. Talk about that—did you feel like that was a moment you needed to take to get ahead of him to give you just a shot to try and make up some points today? Then kind of how that filtered into the second moto once you got into second and tried to manage it from there.
Hunter is no joke. He’s really good at racing. Really good race craft. Really good rider. Just had to bump him a little bit. It was first lap. Everyone was just kind of finding their flow, and I just saw an opportunity to get underneath him. A little contact, but nothing crazy. From there, I was kind of sandwiched in-between Jalek and him. I really had to play defensive and then attack at the same time. The first moto was definitely tough. It was more of a managing race. I felt like the pace was a lot more in the second moto.
![Justin Cooper leading the pack, Jalek Swoll and Hunter Lawrence keeping the pressure on.]()
Justin Cooper leading the pack, Jalek Swoll and Hunter Lawrence keeping the pressure on. Align Media ![Justin Cooper]()
Justin Cooper Align Media
Did the track change much into the second moto? Was it harder to gain ground? Passing was going to be difficult no matter what, but was it that much harder as the track kind of deteriorated throughout the day?
I think it was better. The ruts started holding and it got a little bit more dry and it was able to switch it up a little bit. I felt like there were different lines. After the 450s and you got out there, there was a lot more track to find. New lines, new opportunities, and definitely had my work cut out for me with Austin [Forkner]. He was definitely making it hard on me. Once I got around him, I tried to make a push at Hunter. He was riding good. There was not much I could do. I tried to close the gap, but from there I was just following him to the finish.
Talking about the track a little bit, there were some sections that were really hard-packed and kind of slick looking, and then some of the turns were soft. Just talk about managing those different situations, like you said being able to push better in the second moto. Going up that hill after the finish line, there’s that sketchy kind of bump in it. Just talk about managing the bumps and the way the track broke down.
Yeah. That section in particular with that bump, it was really slick up the inside. So, most of the time I wasn’t getting good drive up that hill, but if I did, I was going for that jump over the top. That was definitely a good line, but again it was hard to get that with the drive we had up to it. Paddle was pretty much just for the start. It was very tough around most of the hard-pack sections with that tire. It kept you on your toes. You had to be careful. It was good in other spots. So it was a give and take, but overall I’m happy with my riding. I feel the best I ever have. Ready to take it down to the wire next weekend.
You mentioned yesterday during press, the big jump that’s kind of like the breather on the track, talk about hitting that consistently and doing that over and over. Not everybody was jumping it every single lap. Just talk about doing that and how it’s a breather, but that makes you keep consistent lap times and keep a flow going.
Yeah, it’s a must to do that. I think I missed it a few times today, but it was all about getting that turn clean and not lighting up the back tire coming out with the hard-pack there. But other than that, I felt like I hit it most of the time. It almost wasn’t a breather because we were stretching it out so hard.
Obviously, if you don’t get this title, I guess this is your final 250 season. So do you feel extra motivation heading into the SuperMotocross World Championship and into the playoff rounds? Can you talk a bit about that and wanting to go out with the title to end your 250 career here?
Yeah. I feel the best I ever have, like I said, so I’m doing everything I can to win. Came up short today, but we’ve got another chance next weekend. Full gas into the three SMX playoffs. It’s going to be a good time. We don’t really know what to expect, but we’re going to give it our all on that, of course. We’ll take it from there.
