The Indianapolis Supercross was more of the same. The first of three 250SX East/West Showdowns in the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship brought unpredictability and an unexpected winner. With so many talented factory riders and fast privateers in the combined 250cc field, the showdowns have that uncertainty to them. It is so tough to call the race winner ahead of the gate drop—that is unless your name is Adam Cianciarulo, who called Seth Hammaker for the win on the Race Day Live qualifying broadcast. Hammaker won his first race in nearly four years and reminded everyone he is still a very capable rider, even after the injuries he has suffered since that first win.
But when the 450SX main event gates dropped, that race was more the same of what we are used to seeing. What it came down to: once again, Cooper Webb rose to the occasion come the main event.
Initially, the #2 machine was fast in qualifying. Since the Tampa SX in early February (round five, he has been feistier in qualifying—more than he normally is on race day. He pointed out later that night that with Jett Lawrence out, although he wants to race the best rider, he did want to take advantage of the opportunity.
That night, he said: “In my opinion, it opens it wide open. It’s an opportunity. These don’t come often, and I wanted to make the most of it.”
On Saturday, Webb pieced together good lines in qualifying and moved up to the top three in the second session. But he crashed big in the whoops, going down hard, although it was not as bad as it could have been. Going into the night show, the report from RDL’s Haley Shanley was that Webb was okay after his endo, but his bike was twisted up. He was satisfied with his qualifying position (ended up being fourth overall) so he pulled off early and started to get ready to race the night show.
But then came a second mistake. While leading the first 450SX heat race, Webb tipped over in the sand, coughing up the lead. Finishing fourth in the race, well within a transfer spot, it was still unusual to see a mistake like that during a race. The question was pondered: was he okay after that qualifying crash? Could he rebound in the main event?
Well, the gates dropped, the fire popped, and the #2 was P2 right behind Justin Barcia as they came through the over/under bridge tunnel. Just as they took the green flag, Webb snuck up the inside of the #51 machine and took off with the lead. From there, he was untouched. Twenty-five laps—and no mistakes later—the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider lit the finish line fire off with a whip. First to three wins in 2025 450SX, check. Keeps the points lead, check. Clutch ride when he was probably not the favorite on the night, check.
A clutch win from Webb is nothing new. The previous six 450SX seasons have been filled with them. But this one was different. First, the uncharacteristic mistakes (sending in qualifying, a crash while leading in his heat)—although to be fair, those were too of the trickiest parts of the track, giving all riders trouble throughout the entire day. But once again dusted himself off and rolled into the gates ready. And again, he rose to the occasion when the main event gates dropped.
“Mentally, I think I've always been pretty good, but yeah, I think I look at those mistakes and some guys let it affect them, but it honestly pisses me off that I do them and then I ride better,” Webb said in the post-race press conference. “So, I don't recommend doing that. I don't recommend crashing to put yourself in a good zone, but sometimes that's what happens and that's what gets the best out of me. So, I think for me it's something that I've been able to do constantly throughout my career is have a great mental block and capacity, and yeah, think that's a strong suit.”
Second, he had speed. The whoops were beat up by the end of the night and his jumping line (which he and the team have been trying to get away from the last month) ended up working out perfectly. He had the fastest average lap of all riders that finished the main event—a 52.236 average—and did not get run down by uber fast Chase Sexton. Sexton once again had a few mistakes and never got close enough to attempt a pass.
“I knew when he got in the second, he was gonna definitely be on it, so I tried to just keep hitting my marks,” Webb said on marking Sexton. “I felt good. I had good lap times and just was my plan was to do it as long as I could. And I knew it was going to be potentially a battle once we got into lappers and not making mistakes and stuff like that. But I felt really good. I felt like I had the speed and the grit tonight to be able to do what I did. And obviously like he said he made the mistake, and it definitely opened it up for me. But I was ready to go tonight, for sure.”
Webb had the fastest lap of the main event—a 49.364 on the second full lap—plus, he was in the top three in fastest times in four of the six segments around the track. This time, Webb was steady and fast.
“I think JB got the holeshot technically, but I was able to get around him super quick,” Webb said after the race. “And I just put some good laps down and then it's one of those tracks where you could override and make some mistakes and I've yet to lead from the front and have Chase be second. We know that his speed is incredible. So, I think for me tonight was an exclamation point of being able to match that and if anything, build a little bit of a gap and then play cat and mouse from there. We were super close. I was stoked with that. I mean, we saw how good he rode all day and especially stuff like that and all season. So, I think for me the speed, hopefully we can put that to bed, but we'll see.”
Throw in the fact that Webb’s teammate Justin Cooper wedged himself into second ahead of Sexton, and Webb extended his points lead from 10 points to 15 points over the #4 Red Bull KTM machine. Eight rounds remain as the series has its only off weekend coming up this weekend.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Cooper Webb | Newport, NC  | 193 |
| 2 |  Chase Sexton | La Moille, IL | 178 |
| 3 |  Ken Roczen | Mattstedt, Germany  | 167 |
| 4 |  Justin Cooper | Cold Spring Harbor, NY | 144 |
| 5 |  Malcolm Stewart | Haines City, FL | 140 |
