WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 53 ISSUE 2 JANUARY 19, 2016 P41
250SX
Some racers use patience in the hopes of let-
ting the race come to them, but patience is not
a virtue that Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha's
Cooper Webb possesses. Rather than using
patience, Webb spent the entire day in San
Diego bending the track and his competitors
to his will.
The defending 250cc Western Regional
Supercross champ crashed twice in his heat
race to start the night. Although he was clearly
the fastest rider on the track, he was pretty for-
tunate to come away with fourth place—nearly
12 seconds behind winner Zach Osborne—and
qualify for the main event.
And when the gate dropped for the main,
Webb found himself midpack and surrounded
by a gaggle of bikes on a track that most con-
sidered to be very tough to pass on. Rockstar
Energy Husqvarna's Osborne started much
nearer the front and chased down early leader
Jordon Smith (GEICO Honda) to take the
lead on lap six, but Webb was on a mission.
He grabbed second place from Smith at the
halfway point and then began chipping away at
Osborne's lead. After about five laps, he made
an aggressive move to get by Osborne, clip-
ping the Husky rider's front wheel on his way
by and nearly putting him on the ground.
Seemingly incensed, Osborne put his head
down and attempted a similar move on Webb,
but Webb avoided him to maintain the lead.
Still seeing red, Osborne lost the front end
exiting a turn with two laps to go and tossed
away a sure second-consecutive podium fin-
ish, eventually finishing sixth.
But if there was going to be a race for
Webb to lose, it would've been in San Diego.
Instead, he took the win and extended his
points lead in his final 250cc season. Monster
Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Joey Savatgy
ended up second while Smith finished third.
Cooper Webb (1W) made his life
difficult throughout the night at
Petco Park, with crashes in his
heat race leading to a bad start
in the main event. But in the
end the adversity actually only
showed how dominant Webb
is right now in this class, as he
passed more riders during the
night than anybody.
