In a nearly a replay of last year’s Seattle round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Cooper Webb edged Chase Sexton in a super close fight to the finish. This is so often the way Webb wins, figuring out a way to engineer a close finish and a few clutch moves, but he knows these types of races are very challenging. Did this one challenge him?
“It did for sure,” said Webb. “I mean, I had the holeshot and then led laps and got passed, right? So, definitely was a tough, challenging day all day. It wasn’t a mudder, so that was a positive, but definitely testing, you know? Chase was doing that rhythm that was really fast and hard to get. I'm still mind blown he was getting it! But, yeah, just kept my head in it, kept going. Obviously lappers, you never know what can happen there and mistakes and just getting around the track, but there late I felt like we were pushing a limit that was gnarly, comparatively with how the track was going. Just crazy how it ended up. Pumped to get a win. Definitely was fired up in a good way and definitely feels good.”
The similarities to last year’s Seattle race are obvious, but Webb saw differences.
“It was as much similar as it was different this time around,” said Webb. “It felt like there was literally nowhere else to go tonight. In some of the areas it was physically impossible to stay out of the ruts. From what I can remember last year, you could kind of get away with the rhythms, mostly every lap where tonight you just, you physically just couldn't [do the jumps] sometimes. So, I think tonight the track being slower and shorter lap times, and we did more laps, so it got a little bit gnarlier in my opinion. Yeah, it's insane. I wish we had [helmet cameras] to be able to see how insane that [race] was.”
The struggle in the Seattle ruts, which were formed when the track was still wet in the morning but they hardened as the track dried, made it very tough to push. Both Webb and Sexton said you had to take a “trail riding” approach.
“I kind of got out front and in trail riding mode and the guys behind me were coming and Kenny got around me,” said Webb. “Then you could tell he started laboring and that's where I felt like we were kind of getting held up. But it was hard to make passes and you don't want to be too aggressive early. Chase got both of us at that time. For me it was like, ‘I have to go.’ I know Chase's pace was gonna be high and I felt like once I got around Ken finally, I just took a breath and started really upping the pace to try to match Chase's speed and then like he said the last half, I feel like we were really pushing the pace. So, yeah, it was a fun race, but there's a lot of thinking, the risk versus reward, the points, there's so much going on. The lappers, the track, there's so many thoughts that run through your head and you’re just trying to survive at the same time. So it was definitely exciting. Obviously, this crowd is great and I think they made it even better. So, it was a very cool race.”
Any win is big, but Webb knows all about close finishes and championship momentum. With Sexton winning last week in Birmingham, this was extra critical.
“It's fun for me, right? I love these positions, and I think that was today what was all about,” he said. “Obviously last weekend was a very tough weekend and a huge momentum swing. I know how great Chase is. So, I tried to make it a mission today to stop any momentum. Getting a win for me is amazing and everything's good, but I think just heads up racing, it could have gone him, it could have gone me. I felt like we were that close. Obviously last weekend he was the best guy by far. So to make progress in a week to get the ball rolling on my side? There's no room for mistakes and it's coming down to an end, and you never know what can happen. It's a lot of racing left, but I think for me it was more just to try to nip it in the bud, from a momentum standpoint, honestly.”
Lately, it’s become common for media question to try to push Webb about being “disrespected” as there is continual talk about hi not being as fast as Sexton. Webb doesn’t buy in, facts are facts and if Sexton wins a race, he expects Sexton to get the love. Earlier this year, Webb has admitted that a lot of times he doesn’t have the speed in areas where it generally shows, like qualifying. He'll clap back when he does qualify well, as he did in the first session of Seattle, but when he struggles, he agrees with it.
“I don't think it's disrespect,” says Webb. “It's just racing and I'm a firm believer of like in any sport there's momentum and there's people that heat up and you see a trajectory. So we saw at Birmingham. Before Birmingham life was really good and, and then it [points lead] gets cut in half. The narrative shifted. I don't want to use the word disrespect, but it was almost like, “Oh man, Coop's struggling and Chase has stepped it up.” It’s like he’s [Sexton] in the hot seat now, which is rightfully so! The last weekend was last weekend I put an emphasis this week to really get back to work and prove a point this weekend.”
Webb had a plan on how he could improve compared to last week’s race, but he couldn’t use any of that. The conditions were too tough. Instead, he had to rely on his old grit.
“The conditions were insane. Everything we did during the week as far as like working on what we need to work on and roll speed and this and that, it kind of went out the window with the conditions,” he explained. “But with that being said, you knew what you were gonna get here. And, once again, I felt like I struggled a little bit. I was great in first practice, felt amazing. And then it kind of went downhill a little bit from there. I was a bit off after that. So, to line up in the main event and kind of put myself back in the position to run the pace to potentially win and then win, that was huge for me confidence wise. Just to kind of stop the surge [from Sexton] a little bit.”
