Last year, Cooper Webb earned the King of Paris honors and then went on to win the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship. He came into 2025 Paris Supercross giving fans a preview of what’s to come in January at A1, running the #1 with the red plate. While things did not go as well for Webb this year (Malcolm Stewart was on fire!) he still came away with second overall. Not to mention he got to test his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing machine in race conditions and see what he needs to work on for the rest of the off-season. Steve Mattes was on site and caught up with him after the race.
Racer X: Okay, Cooper Webb couldn't quite repeat your title. I think you had a good weekend, not a great weekend, but you tell me.
Cooper Webb: Yeah, you're right. It was a solid weekend, but plenty of work to do for sure. But no, it's good. I think even to end the day with that last one was nice, led some laps, was a lot closer to the front and was able to hold off Jett, even though he probably could have quaded over my head if he chose to. But no, it was good. Overall, good weekend. Just always good to get some gate drops, see where we stand and what we need to do with the bike, and yeah, give us some good insight.
You mentioned to me that there was some stuff you'd change on your bike, but you couldn't just because you're not at home. Is that a little bit what you're talking about bugging you out there?
A little bit for sure. I think we're a little bit on the soft end, but we made a small change today that we were able to do here and stiffened up the rear a little bit, and that seemed to help, but yeah. I know Gilly [Ricky Gilmore], I called him last night and kind of told him what I was feeling, and he saw the same. So, he's awesome to work with and he's already got something for me Tuesday to try. So yeah, just like I said, it's one thing at the practice track and things feel sweet and then race comes, there’s a little more intensity, a little steeper jumps, that kind of thing, and obviously with the big whoops this weekend, you can't hide
So, did you say Eric [Peronnard], what the f^*#'s up with the whoops?
I never did, you know, but I think everyone else, not everyone else, but I heard there was definitely some complaints, but they were definitely smaller today, but they're still tough like always, but they were, I think for me they were the biggest I've ever seen in Paris for sure.
I think so too, and they didn't break down as nearly as much as they used to. The quad thing obviously was quick. You knew Jett was doing it. Malcolm told me, I'm not doing it yesterday, and then he does it, and you could do it, but that's a risk reward thing and you're in Paris in November. You don't need to.
You're right. Well, I'm mad because he's like, “No man, I ain't doing it.” Thought we made a pact that he pulls it out. No, I mean, like I said, obviously if there's championship points and that kind of thing on the line, I think it's worth it for me tonight. That last one I was going to try to do it, but it didn't change any outcomes. So yeah, kind of a risk reward thing and I kind of had a little bit of arm pump today, so that was the last thing I wanted was to get arm pump or lock up, but like I said, it was a big jump. Those guys busted it out. I don't know how many times they did it, the last one or not, but it was a big jump.
Malcolm said they knocked the ledge off a little bit.
Yeah, it seemed that the landing was a little bit notched off today, but I mean when I watched the video, it looked like it was everything those boys had.
All right, so you going to WSX in two weeks.
So yeah, we'll go home, try to get three days in this week, just keep building. Drop some LBs still and then try to get the bike a little bit better and yeah, go there and see, once again we get to race some fast guys. It's going to be fun and then once we get back from there, it's kind of that last little 5-6 weeks for January.
Just talking to Darren Lawrence about this because they're doing this and they're going to Australia, it's money, it's great. Everyone loves money, but then you lose that prep time, you lose the boot camp stuff, some guys don't ever leave America. How do you balance that? I mean, you're later in your career, but how do you balance, like, I love money and I need money. Everyone loves it, but I also just want to stay home and hunker down and defend this title.
It's a fine line, you know, I think I've done both. Like when I was on the early days at KTM, Aldon [Baker] was like, “No, you don't do them”, and we didn't and I won championships there and obviously I've won championships doing internationals, so I think for me now in my career I can make great money doing it. I enjoy traveling, especially to new places, and I truly believe I got to race Jett Lawrence and as we saw Malcom was on another level this weekend. Like now I go home with what I need to work on, whether it's me, the speed, me and the whoops, me with the bike, like if I'm at the test track with Justin [Cooper] and Haiden [Deegan], it's great having them as partners, but you don't know, right? And no disrespect, but obviously we see Justin hasn't won in the World Supercross yet either, so we all are building at the same time, right? And I think it's it. I do. Obviously if you come here and you get hurt, then it sucks, right? But that's where like I just said with that quad, it's risk reward and sure there's risk anytime you're on a dirt bike. So yeah, I mean if I was younger and I'm not jelling with the bike or I'm not jelling with my team or you know fitness is a huge issue, then yeah, you maybe don't do them. But like I said, I think for me with the way I've done things in the past and this November, we did a big boot camp off the bike. We rode for two and a half weeks before this. I raced this, we'll be back for a week, I race my last race and then like I said, you get five solid weeks to really hunker down and I think now with the race schedule, like I still don't think being at your prime in January is maybe the play either, you know, I'm a big fan of like really coming around in February, but everyone's different, different stuff works for different people, but I'm going to do what I know has worked for me in the past.
Two questions for you, 2026 changes, what do you think of the bike, the 2026? Airbox, they've changed the back end a little bit.
Yeah, you were the one telling me they changed it. I didn't know. [Laughs] I'm joking. Yeah, it's been good for me. I think for me the whoops, even though I was a little bit off on them this week, they improved there for me. I really like the engine. Obviously, the clutch is different. I really love the platform, but like anything, once little things come up, and that's what I think happened like this weekend, as little things and race environments come up. So, overall though, the platform's there, the bike's awesome, and yeah, we'll make some adjustments just to make it a little more fine-tuned for me.
Malcolm was on another level. I mean, he's good rider, won a Supercross this year, but dude, like Jett was right on him for the 3rd main and he walked away. Just all weekend long, man, he was great and good job for him, right? Like that's cool.
No, it's great for him. Obviously, he's a good dude and we've known each other for a long time, but yeah, I've never seen him to this level, if I'm being completely honest, and like I said yesterday, I think the whoops, he was really strong there, but today it was everywhere. We saw it in Superpole. We saw it in the results like he just, he waxed us. So, yeah, I tipped the cap and like I said, it's good because I came here expecting Jett to be on that level, which don't get me wrong, I'm sure in January or next week he can get there, no problem. He's a specimen. But it is cool to kind of see like, “Hey, there are multiple guys that can go even faster, this is the pace” and yeah Malcolm’s a little older than me, right? So, it's encouraging to know what we need to work towards.
