It’s all setting up in a familiar fashion for Cooper Webb, who collected his first Monster Energy AMA Supercross win of the year on Saturday in Detroit, and now has a share of the points lead, after a tough, race-long battle with Ken Roczen. Been there, done that for Webb, the two-time 450 Supercross Champion.
He’s not taking it for granted, though, no matter how familiar it looked.
“They're harder to get as we get along in our careers,” he says. “So man, it was an awesome race. These two [Roczen and Chase Sexton] were riding great all day, so I know I had to put myself in a good position in the main event and I was able to do that, make some quick passes. I knew Kenny was on, so it was tough, man. We were playing cat and mouse, he would get me one lap, I'd get him the next. I felt like it was just kind of a game of who made the first mistake, and I found a good flow there about halfway towards the end and was able to work my way close and able to get the pass. I knew once I got around him though he was going to put up a good fight and I just kind of tried to get away but. He was right there. So great race, great win for me, one of the season, and you to get the red plate and be tied that's a dream come true, it's awesome.”
The Detroit track actually offered up quite a few areas to make passes, and that led to quite a bit of line switching and defensive inside-outside riding from Roczen, with Webb trying to find a way through. Roczen proved darned effective at making it tough on Webb to finally make a pass stick.
“It's hard to really get, get in there and not be dirty,” said Webb, who wanted to keep it clean. “His lines were really good in the respect that I couldn't really run on the inside, but he kind of controlled it but also was carrying momentum. I had some good spots. He had some good spots, and you're kind of just playing a waiting game a little bit for me, but then it got late and it's like, ‘Oh shoot, you gotta get going or you're gonna run out of time.’ We were within a few tents every single lap, and that's fun when you have races like that, but it's almost like a game of chess.”
Webb’s final move came in the far end zone of the NFL’s Detroit Lions home stadium. Before that, a difficult three-on-table section set up different jumping rhythms, and then a lapped rider hurt Roczen’s line choice in the next section.
“It started to get difficult, that three in. I kind of caught that lap when Kenny had the lapper incident. I did it that lap and I was like, ‘Oh, okay, this could be an opportunity’ because to hit it correctly, at least the left back onto the straight, you leave the door wide open but you that's the fast way around. So it was kind of like a road race section where you wanna go outside-in. You really want to set everything up, but with that being said you have to be close enough to make it happen or it wasn't gonna happen. I think the track was a good track, but there wasn't much separation of different lines or different options or stuff like that. So yeah, just kind of patience and seeing where you could or couldn't make a pass. I felt comfortable where I was, I felt like when I needed to I could make up some time so I think that's just was kind of the point that I picked out.”
“It was a tough one,” explained Roczen of trying to hold off Webb. “Just the turns, they were quite open, right? And if you're up front and you have a little bit of a gap, like you want to sweep them as good as you can and carry momentum and stuff, but then when somebody's really close, you're kind of gambling with that. Like even after the finish line I went really wide on the landing and I felt like I missed all the bumps, so that was really good. But then if I protect the inside and he’s right behind me, he sees that I'm going right there. You know, what do you do?”
The whoops, also, were a strategy game for Webb and Roczen.
“Yeah, they got tough,” Webb said. “They weren't that big of whoops but just very edgy, so you'd hit them one lap, no problem, and then the next lap I felt like I'd hit the same line, same everything, and I'd get kind of like a kick or a swap or something. So once again you're kind of searching a little bit, you're trying stuff. I was skimming, jumping left, right, and I picked up on the left hand side and skimming really well, but then you're, on the left going into a right hander with not much options (for passing). It was more just kind of searching and there at the end just making sure you didn't make a big mistake to to allow at least for me and Kenny to get around me again.”
Again, making the late-race move on Roczen is familiar turf for Webb, as is easing into the series and hitting his stride in February.
“Just everything, the health and fitness for sure, and just in general getting better every weekend,” said Webb. “I felt like I ended the West Coast swing really good, but as we know, I definitely love going east and I feel like that's where I tend to shine.”
Plus, Webb isn’t shying away from the opportunity staring at him now. With the likes of Jett Lawrence and Eli Tomac out with injury, it’s a prime time to pounce.
“Just the opportunity, again,” said Webb, who last week also wasn’t shy about mentioning Lawrence’s injury opens the door. “Obviously we've had some injuries as we know, which is a bummer, but you know I'm just I'm in the in the championship fight, right? I'm tied for the red plate. It's just not talked about much, you know, so I think a lot of people didn't expect this. A lot of people expected the other guys to kind of maybe do their thing. So, yeah, it's just good to, to quietly remind everybody, always.”
