Halfway into the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship and things look like they are finally starting to settle in. In a stacked 450SX field riders are finding they have to work harder than ever for every position gained. Two riders made giant strides in Birmingham, Justin Cooper, who had his first top five finish in the 450 class and Justin Barcia, who went to stock suspension components on his Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/Gas Gas machine. Our Aaron Hansel caught up with both Justins after the race get their take on the night.
Justin Cooper | 5th
Racer X: It seems like you’ve been turning it up the last few races. Is that fair to say?
Justin Cooper: Yeah. I feel like I’ve been trying to take it easy and learn, and I really just have to make it happen. We’re halfway through the season now, and I really want to be on the box. At some point I have to start getting aggressive. I was able to get out to a really good start tonight, and that definitely helped. I was able to tag along with Cooper [Webb] and kind of ride like we were at the practice track. I hung in there as long as I could with him before I made a few mistakes, then all of a sudden, I was playing defense with Kenny [Roczen] and Chase [Sexton] behind me. I got passed by Kenny, made a little mistake on the on-off, then I went back and forth with Chase a couple times and the track was breaking down and getting tough. Then we had a red cross flag, and we were rolling stuff. A bunch of stuff started happening at the end and I fell apart a little bit.
When you’re in third, is it tempting to maybe override a little bit to try to hang onto that podium spot? Or are you also thinking about not throwing it away?
It’s 50/50. When I was in the podium spot, and they were getting close I was just playing defense and protecting the insides. It took a mistake by me to get passed, but it probably would have happened sooner or later. A podium is a big deal. I got mentally fatigued a little bit, but I felt comfortable running that pace. Twelve minutes in is when it got to me a little bit. Other than that, it was a good night.
You can’t be mad about getting passed by guys like Chase and Kenny though, right?
Yeah, and then you have [Jason] Anderson and [Eli] Tomac behind me. What can I do? It’s a stacked class. I tried to take advantage of the start and I think I did. I went as long as I could. If I wanted to podium, I had to run that pace the whole time, and I wasn’t able to attack the track the whole time. Once I started getting defensive, every mistake I made they were able to pounce on.
When Cooper Webb hit the board girl, did you see that?
Yeah, it was right in front of me.
What goes through your mind when something like that happens? Is it hard to focus after you see something like that?
I couldn’t believe it. I thought they were going to red flag it or something. He hit her head on. I don’t know what happened there. I don’t know if she thought she was off the track, or if she was still trying to get off the track. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, for sure.
Justin Barcia | 9th
Racer X: You looked like you had a little bit more fight in you tonight, like you could move the bike around a little bit better. Is that fair to say?
Justin Barcia: Yeah, that’s very true. I felt like I got to riding like myself today. I only had two days on the suspension I rode today. All day today I was learning the characteristics of the bike, and I went through all day without changing anything, which is awesome. I was able to focus on my riding, and I feel like I got better and better throughout the day. I rode like myself today, which was cool. I could’ve used better starts. I got some comfort back though, and I’m looking forward to Indy. Not the result we want tonight, but we definitely made progress.
Was there a specific direction you went with the suspension?
Yeah, absolutely. We put a stock WP fork and shock on the bike, and I don’t know why, but that helped. It gave me the comfort I’ve been looking for. We were going down a road with the factory components, and we needed a different direction. We decided to try some stock components, and that gave me some comfort.
Just stock stuff with valving, or what?
Yeah, obviously we valved it. Anyone can go buy the suspension we ran today. Sometimes you don’t need the bling-bling. I don’t know why, I’m not an engineer, but it gave me more comfort. I’ve been looking for more comfort and plushness, and the ability to move the bike around, and the stock components gave me that. I appreciate the guys for letting me do that, we’ve been spending a lot of time testing the last month.
