Three races into the return of Supercross and Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb has two of the three wins with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac the owner of the other win. With win number two here in Salt Lake City, Webb has jumped over Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen for second place in the season standings and has an outside shot to defend his championship title.
“Every win is awesome,” said Webb. “It was a great race. I got the holeshot and led, I think, every lap which is the first time I’ve been able to do that this year, which is awesome. Kenny (Roczen) was really riding well at the beginning. We were putting in some heaters and I just started riding and really hitting my stride. I might’ve made a few mistakes and he was able to – you know we battled there for a sec – and I kinda regained focus and I was able to ride my laps. I’m not sure what happened but I ended up getting a decent lead and that was nice. It feels like these first three [in Utah] we’ve been battling all the way until the last lap. So, it was cool to be able to kinda enjoy that one a little bit more, not so stressful.”
All eyes are on Tomac to see if he can finally win that elusive Supercross title that has been his for the taking but has slipped away numerous times.
When asked if there has been a mental change for Tomac this season, he replied “no.”
“I don’t really think it is a new me on the bike, but I have been fortunate to minimize the damage,” Tomac followed up. “I think the more experience I have gotten on the bike, the better its been.”
In seasons past, when mistakes were made by Tomac, he would compound it with other mistakes and it would set him further back. This season, Tomac has found a way to minimize the damage from the mistakes and battle as far forward as possible to salvage as many points as he can. Case in point, round 14 where Tomac climbed back into third place to hold onto enough points to where if disaster struck for Tomac and he didn’t line up for a main event, Webb still could not over take him in the points standings.
“For me it is less about protecting the points lead, but still being in attack mode to add to my lead,” Tomac concluded.
The Western Regional 250SX Class Main Event felt like a season opener to many of the racers who had last battled 123 days prior. From the start it was Austin Forkner seizing the lead position, breaking away from the pack, and never contending with a serious challenge for the win. Points leader Monster Energy / Star Yamaha Racing’s Dylan Ferrandis landed a top five start but was not able to keep the early pace of Forkner, who raced with a clear track in front of him. Forkner’s Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammate Cameron Mcadoo was on the move early, putting his Kawasaki into second and what would have been a points buffer for Forkner. But by the race’s end, Ferrandis had made his way past and into a second-place finish. Ferrandis’ Monster Energy / Star Yamaha Racing teammate, Justin Cooper, was just off the podium in fourth. The points change dropped Cooper to third and moved Forkner into second with only one more Western Regional 250SX Class Main Event and the East/West Showdown left to race in 2020.
Forkner was able keep well ahead of Ferrandis after losing the lead to him in races earlier in the season. When asked after the race what made the difference, Forkner answered, “Robbie Reynard at Reynard Training Complex. He’s been working us hard and I think it shows. It’s been the hottest race of the season [for the Western Regional 250SX Class] and also at altitude. I think everybody can agree this is probably one of the toughest races of the season. The track was good, though. Whoops were pretty cupped out there. At about the eight to twelve-minute mark I kinda was being too cautious through them. Then at the end, the last lap, I hit ’em super good. I think that’s what it was going to take. I knew that I wasn’t going to make a mistake other than in the whoops so I just gripped and held on. It was awesome. I gotta give it up to my whole team.”