off-season just for Volusia, and it
kept rolling from there."
He was further spurred
forward by joining Whale at the
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
crew and witnessing firsthand
the collective work ethic that
had made the squad such a for-
midable force in Parts Unlimited
AFT competition.
"Seeing the effort the Red
Bull KTM team was putting in
pushed me to be a better person
and rider. Everyone worked
every day to get better."
When Kopp finally made his
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
debut at the '22 opener, it was
immediately clear he had leveled
up. He was in crushing form all
evening long at Volusia Speed-
way Park, dominating qualifying,
his semi, the Al Lamb's Dallas
Honda Singles Challenge, and
ultimately, the main event.
"To come out and get that win
was cool. In a way, it was the
proper way to reward the team
for all their hard work in the
off-season and set the stage
for the year."
The stage was most certainly
set, and Kopp continued to mo-
nopolize the spotlight in a class
more typically lauded both for its
depth and parity.
Over the season's open-
ing nine rounds, Kopp won six
times, finished second twice,
and took a solitary fourth for
good measure. Not surprisingly,
that remarkable run allowed
him to assemble a mammoth
55-point advantage, stripping
control of his opponents' destiny
with eight races still remaining.
"[The run] was pretty insane.
A few days I didn't feel like I was
even a podium guy, but I just put
myself in the right place at the
right time and it worked out."
While flat track observers
learned much about Kopp's sky-
high ceiling during that absurd
opening half, he learned more
about himself in the races that
followed. In the next five races,
Kopp failed to even podium,
let alone win. However, Kody
continued to march toward the
number-one plate, collecting a
series of fourths and fifths along
the way.
Still, he'd raised the bar so
high that outsiders openly ques-
tioned just what had gone wrong.
In hindsight, he chalks up his
downturn to a strange brew of
overconfidence, tentativeness,
pressure, and frankly, doing
exactly what he should have
done in his position as the
caretaker of a huge champion-
ship advantage.
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 13, 2022 P115
(Above) Earning a KTM factory
ride meant taking Kopp's craft to
a new level.
Kopp started the '22 off strong and
never looked back, winning round
one and six others. At one point, he
won four straight.
