Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/717711
MOTOCROSS LUCAS OIL AMA PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 11 / AUGUST 20, 2016 BUDDS CREEK RACEWAY / BUDDS CREEK, MARYLAND P64 "It's pretty spectacular," Cooper Webb said of winning the champi- onship. "The outdoors is 10 times harder to win than supercross. They all mean a lot, but the outdoors means sheer toughness and shows how much heart you've got. It's pretty sweet to have your name on [the Gary Jones Cup for winning the 250MX title]. A lot of these guys have had success in the sport and I feel like I'm ready for the next chapter." The start of the outdoors was a dramatic one for Webb who had just recently broken his wrist, and many thought his outdoors season was already fin- ished. But he fought back and ended up taking the title. "I'm going to win," Webb said. "I wasn't going to just sit on the couch and drink beer all sum- mer, I was going to work my ass off and win this title. It was a big discus- sion coming in. I don't care how bad my wrist was going to hurt. A lot of people thought I was crazy [to race]; maybe four people agreed with me; Gareth Swanepoel [his trainer], my parents and Bobby Regan [the Ya- malube/Star Racing Yamaha Team Manager], everybody else said I should just take it easy. I told myself ever since Indiana last year watching Jeremy [Martin] win again. The out- doors doesn't come down to speed, it comes down to how bad you want to suffer. I wasn't sure I had it in me, honestly. I knew coming into this wrist injury it was going to be one of the hardest things to ever do on a motorcycle. I kept saying, 'I just want to do it, I want to do it no matter what.' So I got pretty choked up after the race, I was stoked. It was an all- out brawl. To wrap it up early—this is a home race for me, I've been com- ing here ever since I was four years old. Definitely a special moment." Now that Cooper Webb has clinched the 250MX title and has already announced that he's joining the factory Yamaha team next year in the 450 class, will Webb make the jump to the 450 class early, like next weekend early? "I don't know," Webb said. "Probably 250, but I'm going to Cali this week, if the bike's good, I could line up with the 250s. I wouldn't mind." Cooper Webb will, however, ride in the MX2 (250cc) class at the U.S. GP at Charlotte, which means he'll go head-to-head with MX2 World Champion Jeffrey Herlings. Her- lings has been sidelined with an in- jury lately but is expected to join the MXGP Championship next weekend, which means he'll be ready to go at Charlotte. "He's [Herlings] is obvi- ously a really, really fast rider and I'm interested to see how things go," Webb said. "I watch the European stuff quite a bit and he's definitely the real deal. Coming off an injury is hard but, at the same time, he's going to be fast, so we'll see. I have a lot of respect for him and I've heard he has a lot of respect for [me]. There will be some bar-banging; it should come down to some interesting stuff." A utoTrader.com/Toyot a/JGRMX Yamaha's Justin Barcia got on the podium for the first time this year. He went 3-3 on the day, which included a tough battle with third-place finish- er Marvin Musquin (2-4). "First moto was good, wasn't perfect but I tried my hardest," Barcia said. "Marvin got around me; he was riding good and I just could ride the pace. The second moto was tough; it was super hot today. It was dry and hot, not fun to be in at all. I got a decent start, worked my way into second. Marvin was hounding me the whole moto and almost got me a few times, but I was able to push a little harder and got through it. It was one of the bet- ters I've ever had. Gave it my all." "I was happy to get second in the first moto," said Marvin Musquin. "After practicing, I was fighting the bike, the track, I was really not happy. We made changes to the bike to make it better for me and the conditions, and I was glad to get around Barcia and get second; that was good for me. The second moto didn't end up the way I wanted it to. I thought it was go- ing to be the same as the first moto and get around Barcia, but I was try- ing to be patient, follow Justin and make it happen. But I was not able to. He was able to push at the end. I'm a little disappointed, but coming out third is okay." Ken Roczen talked about how his relationship with the team got bet- ter in 2016. "We wanted to make it work," Roczen said. "We had a rough year last year, but I never gave up on them and they never gave up on me. I got a mechanic that is pretty smart I would say and he helped out a lot. My personal program changed a lot, too. I tweaked it big-time com- pared to previous years. We're a great team. People said last year that I never should've switched, this year it's the complete opposite; I don't really care what some of the couch potatoes say, it's what I say is right for me, not whatever anyone else is thinking. It obviously worked for me." Briefly...