VOLUME 59 ISSUE 2 JANUARY 11, 2022 P63
who reportedly tested positive for Covid before
the race. Roczen's practice mechanic, Payton
Stevenson, filled in for Troxell.
Webb, on the number-one KTM, finished
second, quietly riding under the radar. He
started off a distant sixth and slowly clawed and
scratched his way into second after passing
Barcia with three laps to go.
Webb's previous two titles started off with
less-than-stellar performances, so a second-
place finish at the opening round is a step in
the right direction. "I knew it's going to be a
dogfight, lot of good guys this year," said Coo-
per. "Track was tough, I think you had to find
that fine line of being aggressive but also being
smooth and I think it worked out."
While he didn't get his fourth season-opening
win, Barcia was all smiles afterward. As usual,
Barcia bumped and banged his way to the front
making what he calls, "great racing passes along
the way." His most notable pass of the night was
the one that left Anderson on the ground.
MYOWNRACE
rough start early in the day with crashes in
his prac ce and qualifying sessions. "AP"
put the pieces together and went on to
finish a quiet ninth. "It was a pre y rough
day for me actually," he said. "I started out
in free prac ce going down, and then I
went down in the first qualifying prac ce,
as well. I got a decent start in the heat race
and ran in fourth pre y much the whole
me. In the main, I didn't get a good start
at all, and I was back of the pack, ba ling.
About halfway through, I turned it up a
li le bit and made some passes up to
ninth."
27 MALCOLM STEWART
7TH 450SX
Malcolm Stewart looked to be the man
to beat early in the day. The number-27
qualified first in his first race with the
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing
Team. "Mookie" started just outside the
top-five in the main event and collided
with Marvin Musquin later in the race. He
remounted and salvaged seventh. "P1 for
a qualifying, I've never done that before,
so I feel like that was a big achievement
for me, and even though we went down
in the main event, it was actually a good
ride performance-wise, but, you know, the
results weren't there. It was a good start
but I definitely feel there are a few things
that we need to work on."
It was sort of a
typical night for
defending champ
Cooper Webb (1)
who laid low for
the first half of the
race. Overall, he
rode well, stayed
out of trouble and
was rewarded with
second, which, for
him, is a great start
to the season.
Justin Barcia didn't get his fourth-
straight opening-round victory
but he did get on the podium in
third and seemed happy with his
performance.
