The Seattle Supercross was a much better night for the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 450 squad. The team duo of Cooper Webb and Justin Cooper finished first and third, respectively, in Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship in 2025 and came into A1 with high expectations. Both from themselves and fans alike. But they both fell short of those expectations in the first three rounds with Webb going 7-8-5 to start the season and Justing going 6-6-10. But the team went to work, and it paid off at the fourth round when Webb was able to come away with the Triple Crown win in Houston.
It took a little longer for Justin though, but a fourth in Glendale was a step in the right direction. Finally in Seattle, both riders were standing on the podium at the end of the night. Cooper Webb, who finished second on the night after leading said in the post-race press conference:
“I'm taking hopefully some positives. Got a first holeshot of the year, which is nice. We've been working on some starts this week, so that's all a good sign of things and I led some laps, led about half the main event, so we'll take some positive there. That was my first laps led, but overall, a little bummed, felt like I should have won tonight and didn't. Just made a lot of mistakes and that led to some arm pump and then just couldn't ever capitalize. So, I feel bummed at myself, but overall, we'll take the good points.”
Webb is on a three-race podium streak and has clawed his way back from 24 points down in this championship to only 11 back.
“It's still early to really think, in my opinion, about championship, but obviously anytime you can gain points, that's a good night, that's in the back of your mind. But for me overall, yeah, I'm still just a little bit bummed. Like I said, I felt so good at the beginning of the race and then just couldn't execute the midpoint and the end of it, and I think the whoops are clearly an issue that I was struggling with and I should have made an adjustment and I didn't. And so that's a little bit on me, like I said, so it's like anything, you want to win these races especially I felt, like I said, I pulled the holeshot, led about half, that should have been a win. But it is Eli Tomac and he's a bad dude, but we'll take the second place and keep chugging away.”
When you are Cooper Webb, second place isn’t good enough. But he is also the guy to admit when it is his fault, which has to make it easier on the team. Steve Matthes caught up with team manager Rich Simmons after the race and asked how Webb was handling the loss.
“He was Webb. He’s pissed and I mean, rightfully so, Simmons said. "Second is a loss to him and like I said we could have helped him out with the bike for sure. But yeah, kudos to Eli, but, yeah, Webb not happy with second place but also, we gotta look at the big picture, we were 24 points down two races ago. Just put ourselves in that position every weekend is all we can do.”
As for Justin Cooper this was his first podium of the 2026 season finishing third.
“Yeah, I think it all comes down to my position on the first laps," he said. "I've been constantly getting better. I feel like to start the season, we were kind of blindsided and just not getting off the gate right, so I put a lot of work in there and just, it's important with this field right now to be up front and in the battle right away so you can latch on or else you get left behind in no man's land. So, the starts have been better just, yeah, the track was really tough tonight. Had to be consistent and obviously got a little bit of a gift at the end, but yeah, we'll take those gifts for sure.
The gift Justin mentioned is when Hunter Lawrence got into Ken Roczen and the two hit the ground together, allowing Justin by for third. Still in order to capitalize, one must first put themselves in that position. Which until the last two weekends, Justin, who normally is a good starter, has not found himself near the front off the start.
“Riding's been really awesome, that's not really been the problem," he said. "Just honestly the starts have been the problem, and I think through the first four rounds, my average first lap was like 14th, 15th, so, yeah, that's not going to get it done. So, yeah, I had a really good first two rounds. I actually got sixth from way back 15th, so those are good rides obviously. Yeah, I just need to be up front in this class, especially me not going to come from the back and get up to the podium spots. So, yeah, the starts have been way better, and my heat races have actually been improving, so that helps the gate pick and yeah, all upwards from there.”
So, the work is not done for the guys at Star, but anytime a two-rider team can take up two spots on the podium is a good night. As Simmons said, “Can’t ask for much more than that besides a win.”
As the series heads to Arlington next, a place where Webb has won a ridiculous seven times before (eight if you count his 250 West win in 2016), it seems likely we will be seeing more blue up on the podium soon.
