San Diego was the latest city to fall to the charge of Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha’s Cooper Webb for AMA 250SX West Coast Supercross championship glory. The YZ250F racer celebrated his fourth victory from six rounds in the series so far by defeating Shane McElrath at the Petco Park Stadium and in front of more than 42,000 spectators.
The eighteen year old defied expectations in the fifteen lap Main Event to pass title rival Tyler Bowers and cruise to the chequered flag ahead of McElrath. Webb almost considered pulling out of the meeting after a practice crash left him with a painful right shoulder but the championship leader was able to compete and even extend his advantage in the points table to a hefty 30 over Jessy Nelson. Rockriver Yamaha’s Alex Martin – who grabbed his maiden podium finish last week at the Angel Stadium in Anaheim – gathered another top five result with fifth place on his YZ250F.
“Unfortunately I had a big get-off today and I hurt my right shoulder so I was just trying to get through it,” said Webb in his Supercross Online TV podium interview and who now has almost two months to recover to full health before round seven of nine takes place in Houston on April 11th. “I got a start in the Main and was honestly just going to settle for second but I put my head down; I knew it was going to hurt no matter what. I decided to give it my ‘all’. I’m a fighter, man. It was the whoops that were the hardest. I was trying to stay consistent and not get bucked too much through there. It is just unbelievable to win tonight.”
In the 450SX class JGR Yamaha were hit by a mid-week injury to Justin Barcia, who joined his team-mate Weston Peick on the sidelines.
The West Coast 250SX division now hands over to the East Coast as AMA Supercross travels to the ATandT Stadium in Arlington, Texas next Saturday.