Cooper Webb Interview

Cooper Webb is one of those motocross racers who may well have come up in the wrong era.

There’s a very old-school aura that radiates from the 21-year-old North Carolinian, as if he would’ve been better placed in history racing against the likes of Bob “Hurricane” Hannah, Kent Howerton and Mark Barnett rather than Ken Roczen, Ryan Dungey and Eli Tomac. Webb’s no bad boy, far from it, but his on-track intensity is plain to see, and his determination to win has already produced some epic, come-from-behind rides that evoke memories of some of the sport’s legends.

Nevertheless, Webb finds himself in 2017, where the goal is the same as it would’ve been had be in racing in 1980, 15 years before he was born: He wants to land titles in the premier classes in AMA Supercross and Motocross. Of course, so does his competition, and despite starting his rookie year in the 450cc ranks with a new factory Yamaha ride and with the 2016 AMA 250cc SX West and Lucas Oil 250cc Pro Motocross titles to his name, he enters a new chapter in his career at a time when the competition is as tough as it has ever been. Webb will have to square off with the likes of multi-time champions in Dungey, Roczen and Chad Reed while also battling with equally hungry and more veteran contenders such as Tomac and Marvin Musquin along with any number of top-flight veteran talent that could experience a resurgence and pose unforeseen challenges.

But that’s right were Webb wants to be, in the thick of the chase, testing his mettle against the best of the best. It’s the only way that one can grow, and it’s how legendary careers are born. And, it could be argued, that Webb already has a leg up on dealing with that pressure by participating at the 450cc level in international races such as the Motocross of Nations, where he captained Team USA competently even though the team suffered a disappointing result due to the shocking crash that took out team member Jason Anderson.

Sitting down with Webb to talk about where he has been and where is going, one can’t help but notice that he possesses a level of maturity beyond his years. Listen to him talk, and you learn that he is far more calculating than he is given credit for, yet his motivation and desire to make it happen in the 450cc class are just as strong, maybe stronger, than they were in the 250cc class. It stands to reason that Webb has the potential to be more of an exclamation point than a question mark during the 2017 supercross and outdoor seasons.

DirtBikes.com: You have a home in North Carolina but you also have a place in Murrieta, California. Where are you spending most of your time these days?

Cooper Webb: Out here [California] so far. I’ve never been east for supercross before, but I just bought some property in Concord, North Carolina. I’ll probably spend most of my time during the east coast supercross rounds there and all of the outdoor season there, and then maybe next year some of the off-season there. I’ve been out here since I turned pro, and I just recently bought a house in Murrieta. I’ve been here since October, and since the season starts out here I’ll be out here until probably February.

DirtBikes.com: So you’re spending a little of that hard-earned money now. You must be feeling pretty comfortable!

Cooper Webb: [laughs] Yeah.

DirtBikes.com: This year marks another major milestone in your career. You are switching to the 450cc class. What has it been like for you, moving to the bigger bike?

Cooper Webb: It has been good so far. I’ve obviously ridden a 450 before in the past, but that wasn’t a full factory bike, and I’ve had to get used to that. I have really limitless options as far as the bike goes. At first that was quite a bit different because there is so much more involved, and there is so much more support, more people involved and everything like that. Testing was a little bit different for me at first just because of all the options, but I guess that’s just part of being a 450 factory rider. We’ve got a lot of the testing done, and I’ve really just been focusing more on riding lately, getting little things dialed-in here and there. I have a really good team. I’ve worked those guys here and there, and I have ridden the bike, just not full-time. I feel very comfortable on it. I feel right at home, so that’s pretty nice.

DirtBikes.com: Do you consider yourself to be a good tester? Some guys are, and some guys just think they are. You talk about all of the options you have on the 450, and sometimes it can be difficult to figure out just exactly what works. Do you know what you want, and do you feel you can articulate that to the team?

Cooper Webb: I feel like I am a pretty good test rider even though I really don’t enjoy it all that much. I can’t be out there all day because I tend to lose focus and motivation. But I feel like I can relay what I am looking for. Not part for part—although sometimes I can—but I tell them what I am feeling and what I’d like it to do, and I notice every little change that is made. I’m really picky about my bikes. I notice the smallest stuff. So I feel like I am pretty good at it, but I know I need to improve. I think that will come with time and age. I’d rather just go out there and ride, but nowadays the testing is just as important as anything else.

DirtBikes.com: How much testing have you done with Chad Reed? And has that helped you at all?

Cooper Webb: None. Chad was just out here in California for the first time this week, actually. I got to ride and test with him Monday and Tuesday at our team photo shoot. The first time I even rode with him was when I raced against him in Australia, so that was a little unique. I know he has done a lot of testing, but he has been doing all of his stuff back in Florida. For me, anyway, I think we have quite a bit different riding styles, so while there is some stuff I can use from him, most of the stuff I have just figured out on my own and by working with my team to figure out what I like in the chassis and suspension and stuff like that. Like I said, there are so many options, and it is so different from the 250 where on the 250 you are wanting as much power as you can get. On the 450 you are focusing on making as much rideable power as you can. With all of the weight and inertia, you notice things so much more on the 450 than on the 250.

DirtBikes.com: Some guys who step up from the 250 to the 450 still want that screaming engine feel that they are used to from the 250. Others tend to like to run a taller gear and have the bike set up to ride more in the low end and the midrange. Which way are you going on that?

Cooper Webb: I’m definitely going taller on the 450. I like it so be smooth, and I keep it in the lower revs. I hardly ever hit the rev limiter. But even when I ride a 250 I try to keep it very smooth even though you have a tendency to wring them out a little more. But I feel like I am smoother on the 450 for sure.

DirtBikes.com: Let’s step back to the 2016 supercross season. You obviously had a really good one, netting your second AMA 250 SX title, but then two weeks before outdoors you break your scaphoid. It’s a bone that takes a long time to heal, and damaging it further could end a rider’s career. So what were you thinking, going into the outdoor season, knowing that it was still injured? That was a pretty gutty move.

Cooper Webb: The whole thing when it first happened was that I just wanted to get through Vegas no matter how bad it [the injury] was. After that, if I needed to take time off and get surgery or whatever, then I was ready to do that after Vegas; the supercross championship was important. So I was able to accomplish that and win, and then on the Monday after Vegas I got a CT scan just to make sure that I didn’t injure it more because I did have a crash where I fell over and stuck that hand out.

But knowing that while the pain at Vegas was bad but manageable, and knowing that I had two more weeks before outdoors, at that point, in my mind, I was already preparing for outdoors. I knew I was going to race. I think that a lot of people didn’t realize just how much I was getting it checked. I was getting MRIs X-rays and CT scans on a weekly basis so we could see what was going on in there. I was doing all kinds of therapy, and I was on a strict diet just to get the bone healed. We were doing so much while still training to get me ready for outdoors. Even on the Thursday before Hangtown I went to press day and then actually went to the doctors there and got a CT scan just to see where the bone was.

So I rode Hangtown and somehow got on the podium. I got another CT scan, and everything was fine. It hurt, but as long as I wasn’t damaging the bone and damaging my future, I was going to race.

DirtBikes.com: Were you driven by any sense of urgency to win the 250cc Pro Motocross Championship, knowing that it was probably going to be your last shot because you had already signed your 450 contract?

Cooper Webb: Yeah, because I signed it before the year even started. Knowing that, it would have been really easy to just sit out the summer, but I really wanted to win the 250 title.

DirtBikes.com: Then the outdoors start happening, and Joey Savatgy comes out of the starting gate on fire, winning three of the first four overalls. Were you concerned about whether you’d made the right decision at that point?

Cooper Webb: No. That was just a lack of fitness from not riding. My speed wasn’t there. The hardest thing, mentally, for me was that I knew I wasn’t prepared. I’d only ridden one day of motocross before Hangtown, and I was able to gut it out. I knew I didn’t have the riding fitness. I knew I didn’t have the testing. I knew I didn’t have a lot of things. But my biggest thing was that if I could get through the first three races and get to the weekend off before we had six in a row, and if I could do that and be within 40 points of the lead, then I had a shot. I was only 13 points behind going into that break, and during that week off, that’s when I really started to ride and when things started to turn around for me. I was able to test, and we went back to the east coast, which was good for me. I think High Point was the first one after the break, and I was on the podium again. Then I won Muddy Creek, ant that was the first of three wins in a row for me.

DirtBikes.com: All along, people were saying that you literally raced yourself into shape.

Cooper Webb: That was the mindset. I just had to get through those first three races, and I knew I would get better. It was just tough to sit there and know that you have the speed and that it was just not there yet. It was tough to see guys beating you that would not normally beat you, and to not let that break you mentally.

DirtBikes.com: So where was that turning point in the season for you, mentally, where you went from hoping this or that would go your way to having the confidence that you were in control and could meet the goals you set for yourself. Was that after Muddy Creek?

Cooper Webb: Yes, even after the first moto when I got second after coming from really far behind. My speed is getting there, you know, and my fitness is getting there… Then, winning that second moto the way that I did win it, that’s when I knew I was back. Not to sound cocky, but I knew that the title was mine to lose as long as I didn’t crash.

DirtBikes.com: After finishing second at Millville—and maybe it isn’t much of a surprise that Jeremy Martin would win there since his family owns the place—you head to Washougal, and Savatgy is clearly getting desperate to make something happens, and you guys engaged in a genuine clamfest. Now, everyone knows you are an intense individual, and you don’t take crap from anyone on the racetrack, but maybe you went just a little overboard there with the championship at stake? From the outside it looked like you were willing to throw away some points just to get him back.

Cooper Webb: I disagree. At that point, the only person I was racing for the title was Savatgy. Everyone else was at least 40 points back. That was his last effort, I felt, to try to take me out and get in my head. I knew he was trying to take me out to get back some points, but I wasn’t going to let him play his game. Once we both went down, I knew that I could come through the pack and he couldn’t. So if the guy who was third in the points won the race, I knew that I was going to gain points on Savatgy, and that’s what happened. I walked out of Washougal with like a 54-point lead instead of 33 points.

DirtBikes.com: So even in the intensity of that moment, you were calculating all this in your head?

Cooper Webb: Yes. I was.

DirtBikes.com: Everyone talks about their first title as being special, but if you had to rank them, where does the 2017 Lucas 250cc Pro Motocross title fit on your list of accomplishments?

Cooper Webb: It takes the cake for sure. My second year, I tied for second in points, so that was awesome because I didn’t expect that. Then in that 2015 year when I won supercross, I knew that I could win the motocross title. Even though I had achieved way more than I thought, I knew that I was going to be a title contender. That was the goal. Then I hurt my ankle at Hangtown, and I came back and won two overalls, was beating Jeremy [Martin], was beating [Marvin] Musquin. We did the math, and even though I was down, I was gaining points on Jeremy and on Musquin, so that was a cool little step up. I knew that if I had been there for all the races, I could’ve won it… not saying that I would have.

Going into 2016, I knew that after coming up short those first two years, I wanted to win it, and I was really motivated. It was awesome for the team, and deep down, it was like, ‘You won that.’ After dealing with my wrist, and Jeremy was the two-time champ, by far it’s my best title.

DirtBikes.com: Let’s talk about international races for a moment. You have become a real hero on the international scene. Certainly most motocross fans around the world keep track of the AMA riders, and arguably the cream of the crop race in AMA, but when an American riders takes the time to battle the MXGP riders in Grands Prix and in the Motocross of Nations, it seems to elevate them even further in the eyes of the international motocross community, and with you racing the 450 at the Monster Energy MXGP of USA in 2015, winning the MX2 Grand Prix at Charlotte this year and captaining Team USA at the 2016 Motocross of Nations, would you agree that those efforts have elevated your stature around the world.

Cooper Webb: Yeah, I would agree. Racing all of those international races has boosted my career, not only with the Motocross of Nations and the GPs but also the European supercross races and going to Japan and to Australia. Even though we didn’t achieve our goal at the Motocross of Nations in 2016, I have received so much positive feedback from American fans and internationally, and it is pretty cool to see. Last year was my first year at the Motocross of Nations, and people would cheer, but to come back this year and see how much more it means, to be the Team USA captain… And I get along with all of the European guys really well. Jason and Alex had never been there, and they didn’t know anybody, but I was talking to something like 20 GP riders. It’s cool, and like you said, from a fans perspective, they respect me a little more, and they’re rooting for me here in the States.

DirtBikes.com: Are you going to win that Chamberlain Trophy or what?
Cooper Webb: Yeah. I mean, we were looking very good before the whole Jason thing happened [Anderson was landed on by another rider after crossing the finish line in one of the motos and was forced to withdraw from the event], but it is what it is. I will say that I don’t agree with them taking the Motocross of Nations away from Glen Helen for 2017 and making it even later. It’s like the GP organizers don’t want the Americans to participate, and that’s bullshit. But I think we’ll be back for sure.

DirtBikes.com: Let’s switch back to the 450 class this year. What about the race format that they just announced for supercross.

Cooper Webb: I’m really not too sure. The only thing I don’t like about it is the inconsistency of how many laps it is going to be. In supercross, a lot of racers have a set plan on what lap they’re going to do what. Now we could race 20 laps or we could race 23, 24 or 25 laps, so you can’t really have a set plan. I think, based on what I’ve heard and read, that the best thing would be that if the lap times are over 50 seconds, make it 20 laps, and if they are under 50 seconds, make it 25 laps or whatever. I don’t know. We’ll see how it goes. I think the whole reason they’re doing it is for TV. I know that’s a big part of our sport, but to change the format just for TV is getting away from the core of it. The change will definitely benefit the stronger guys over the sprinters. It will be interesting.

DirtBikes.com: You mention strength. Have you had to adjust your training regimen at all? Are you doing things differently to make yourself stronger on the 450 than you might’ve had to do for the 250?

Cooper Webb: We’ve changed a bunch, actually. It was tough at the Motocross of Nations, and we had sat out the Monster Cup because I broke my pinky at Charlotte. It’s been a little different because in the 250cc supercross class the title is usually decided after the first six races, so you’re pretty much training to be peaked at 100 percent in those first six races. Now we have 18 races, so our goal is to not be at 100 percent for Anaheim but to build as the season goes. We don’t want to be so far away at A1, but we want to build so that when the series heads east that will be more when I get to 100 percent. My trainer, Gareth Swanepoel, is really good at that. From what we’ve seen, guys like Villopoto are strong early, but then when they get farther into the series, it’s like a light switch and they start winning and winning. So that’s our goal, to come out strong but work to get stronger, not to ramp up just for six races.

DirtBikes.com: Finally, you could be a real X factor in the class. One can make the analogy of the big fish in the small pond moving into the bigger pond, but you clearly have a drive that could surprise a lot of people in your rookie 450 season. It’s a talent-rich field with Dungey, Roczen, Tomac, Musquin and others, but Anaheim 1 is always a funny place, and you never know what could happen. What are your thoughts?

Cooper Webb: Every place I go, I want to win. That’s the goal. For me, to win a championship in my first year is not unattainable, but I know it will be very hard. My goal is to go in there and battle with those guys, and I think that I can race with them. If it’s not every weekend, that’s alright. This first year, I just want to go and be in the fight. Sure, I want to go for wins and podiums and be in the championship fight, but at the end of the day there are so many fast guys and so much to learn in such a short time. I am still learning daily on the 450 and with the team and everything like that, so I feel like I can be a threat and be in there. Who knows how it will end up in the standings, but I’ve raced a lot of those guys in the 250 class, and I think I have the attitude and all the puzzle pieces to be a champion. The sooner I can get all those puzzle pieces in line, the sooner I can do it. That may not be this year, but I think I have all the pieces to make it happen.