ARLINGTON, Texas – AT&T Stadium may need to build a statue of Cooper Webb in the VIP entrance.
For the sixth time in the last eight visits, Webb wins the 450 division in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship event in Arlington.
“I gotta give it up to my team,” credited Webb after his record extending performance. “I had a terrible day, lost a lot of confidence and they came to me and told me, excuse my French, but I’m a bad MoFo and to pull my head out of my [rear], and that’s exactly what I needed… Jett was riding incredible and, man, I just can’t believe it still. I’m in shock. Gotta give it up to this place, it’s always good to me… I might as well just buy a suite here because I love this place.”
Similar to the 250 class earlier in the evening, Webb crawled closer to Jett Lawrence in the closing laps but never had the chance to make the pass because Lawrence crashed. The roles were reversed for the last two minutes of the clock, but Lawrence caught a lapped rider at the end of the whoops section, pinching himself off track.
That gave Webb the room he needed to take the checkered flag.
“Obviously I got a little bit of a handout [when Jett crashed] but man, I just kept pushing my laps [and] was trying to stay as close as I could to Jett,” Webb continued. “The track got really tough, especially over where he fell; it was really hard to get that rhythm. And I just saw him down, I’m like, ‘Oh, man.’ I’m pumped.”
Eli Tomac, the only rider to win in Arlington between Webb’s dominating run in recent years, fell short of the center step after a rare mistake from the two-time 450 champion. He fell outside the top-15 and fought his way through the pack to finish second, less than three seconds from Webb.
“I was trying my heart out there,” Tomac shared. “I made such a frustrating mistake over-jumping the triple there [early in the race]. I just tucked my front end and lost my hand off the grip. I’m sick of people calling me the old guy, so I’m just warming up, I’m getting better, I’m coming, so I’m ready to get going. Yeah, second will do for tonight. “
Aaron Plessinger completed the podium after a show for the fans. His cowboy hat and persona fit well in the DFW metroplex, and his ride put on a show for all 65,319 fans in attendance. In the first heat, Plessinger led all the laps until the last one when Tomac passed him through the whoops to win the heat race. Still, Plessinger was happy to be in a position that gained valuable championship points.
“I thought I got off to a good start, and I was like, ‘I’m going to push to the front,’” Plessinger explained. “I knew Jett was up there, I knew Coop was up there, and I knew they were going to take off. Hunter was riding an awesome race and then out of nowhere I see the number 3 come through and I’m like ‘Dang, I gotta latch on or something, because this dude’s going fast.’ And I knew Hunter was right behind me… I just kept on two [wheels] and it was just a really, really good race. My heart rate was through the roof, and I was trying with everything I had to get back by Eli, but he was in ‘beast mode’ as they call it.
“It was a good race, gained some points, and lucky to be back up here on the podium.”
Jett Lawrence led the most laps but crashed with two minutes left on the clock and dropped to fourth. His brother, Hunter Lawrence, completed the top five.
Jett Lawrence holds onto a slim lead of three points over Webb, who sits just four points above Plessinger. The series shifts to the beaches of Daytona for a crown jewel of the Supercross season on March 2 for the eighth round of the 2024 year.