COOPER WEBB
VOL. 53 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 20, 2016 P77
Y
ou can win championships if you are on a somewhat lesser
motorcycle or team from some of your competitors. You
can win if you have less skill than some of your competi-
tors. You can even win if you aren't as fit as some of your competitors.
But you cannot win if you don't have certain intangible things deep
inside you—that desire to win, fear of losing, and willingness to fight.
Cooper Webb has that in spades.
And in 2016, he overcame some serious adversity to take down two 250cc
titles in his last season in the class.
Now a two-time AMA 250SX Supercross Champion and 250cc National Mo-
tocross Champion, Cooper Webb is setting his sights on the 450 class for 2017,
and the established stars had better be paying attention, because Webb isn't do-
ing it for fun.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY STEVE COX
Champions are built with
a lot of pieces, but the drive
to win is number one.
SX vs. MX
Early in his career with the Star Rac-
ing Yamaha team, Webb seemed to
adapt to supercross much quicker than
outdoor motocross. This kind of thing
happens sometimes, but it's still usually
the exception to the rule. Racers spend
their whole lives as amateurs riding
motocross, so to go pro and be better at
supercross is unusual.
"I always felt like I could ride well in
both, and adapt to both, but supercross
always kind of did suit my style a little
more," Webb says. "But I think in 2015,
after I won my first supercross title, I had
that ankle injury at the end of supercross,
and I think maybe that put a little bit of a
damper on outdoors. I know it would've
been hard, but I honestly felt like that year
I could've won the [motocross] title."
That's not Webb bragging. After all, he
won that title this year. That's just Webb
saying what he believes, as he tends to do.
"I had to take some time off that year
and when I came back I felt like I was
right there with those guys," Webb says.
"Obviously, I wasn't in the championship
hunt, but I was winning races and put-
ting it on the podium every weekend. So,
honestly, looking at specific racing styles,
supercross definitely suits my style better,
but I feel like—especially after last year—
that maybe I've gotten better at outdoors
as well."
However, the transition from a 250 to a
450 does tend to better suit more techni-
cal riders.
"In supercross, I feel like I'm a pretty
technical rider, and for supercross you
have to be in order to do good—you have
