Cycle News

INTERVIEW 2016 AMA WEST REGIONAL 250SX/AMA 250MX NATIONAL CHAMPION COOPER P82 he fell paying Savatgy back at Washougal. He was so domi- nant that he ended the series 73 points up on runner-up Alex Martin in the title chase. The Nations With his dominance outdoors, Webb was picked to race a 450 at the Motocross of Nations for Team USA for the second time in a row. This time, though, instead of being the rookie and racing the Open class, he'd be racing the premier MX1 class, bringing a couple MXoN rookies with him, namely teammate Alex Martin (MX2) and Husqvarna's Jason Anderson (Open). After a lot of rough luck with gate choices and the like on Saturday, Team USA got off to a great start on Sunday, includ- ing a moto-two win by Anderson that put Team USA solidly into the lead going into the final moto. However, as he crossed the finish line, Anderson rolled the jump, put his fist in the air, and then was landed on by a lapped rider, putting him into the hospital before his final moto of the day. And Webb knew noth- ing about it until he was on the starting line. "That was probably the most pressure I've ever had on me, for sure," Webb said. "It was just an unfortunate set of cir- cumstances with how it all went down, because everything was looking so good. We did great the first moto and were right there, and in the second moto, we absolutely killed it, especially with Jason [Anderson winning the moto]. It was just the circum- stances. What are the chances of someone landing on the win- ner of the race like that? If you really break it down, what would the chances be? Has that ever happened before? I don't know. It was bizarre. And the thing was, nobody told me. I was getting dressed and getting warmed up, and I just kept asking, 'Hey, is Anderson out front? Is he still winning?' I think there's only like a half-hour between motos. So they told me, 'Yeah, he won the race.' I start getting dressed, I warmed up, and I was about to start walking over to his tent to ask him about lines and stuff like that, and that's when they told me he got landed on, but that he was all right. "I thought it was no big deal because I think our math said we both had to finish inside the top 12 to clinch the win, and after seeing what he just did, I was confident that we could both get in the top 12 even with maybe a few mistakes. It felt almost like a pressure-free kind of situation. Sure, it's the Nations and there's always pressure, but you hope for a scenario where the last moto is kind of an easy one." Webb was set up for an emo- tional rollercoaster ride in that final moto. "I went up to the gate, and waited and waited, and An- derson finally didn't show up," Webb said. "But even then, there wasn't a lot of pressure at first, because I figured there's no way we could still win, so I could just go out and race for pride and not really have to worry about messing anything up. But then they did the math and said that if the final moto would be our throwaway moto, we still had a chance to win it, and they listed off all the guys I had to beat. That's when it hit. It was a lot of pressure. The odds weren't good, but I knew I had to go out there and do it. There was no backing down at that point. I'm already on the gate, prepping it, and now I know the pressure, and it's all on me." It was time to go to work. "The unfortunate part was that I asked the guys not to tell me anything on the pit board un- less I have to pass somebody," Webb said. "I don't care about the points, it was just, 'Hey, if I have to pass this person to win, then let me know.' I knew I had to beat [Romain] Febvre and [Gautier] Paulin—both of France's guys—and I got around [Glenn] Coldenhoff, and that put us in the lead, and then I knew Febvre was behind me, so the last couple laps, our pace was so good that we caught Tommy Searle, but the thing is, at that point, where we were sitting, Febvre could've actually passed me and we would've tied for the win, but the tiebreaker would've gone to us for some reason. I don't remember the details, but that's what our guys said. But they didn't tell me that, because

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