ARLINGTON, Texas — Red Bull KET rider Cooper Webb rolled to his second consecutive and fifth Monster Energy AMA Supercross victory of the season during the second of three races at AT&T Stadium Tuesday night.
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac earned second-place points and Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen rounded out the podium in third.
The Western Regional 250SX class served up its fourth different winner in four rounds when Team Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence took his first Supercross win in only his sixth start.
When Cooper Webb grabbed the holeshot in the 450SX class main event with Tomac and Roczen directly behind, the race that fans have been waiting for all season had arrived.
The three front runners in the championship chase, each with at least two wins on the season already, had an open track ahead and 20 minutes plus one lap to throw down and see who has the best speed just past the midway point of the season.
Tomac stayed close, pulling right up behind Webb through the whoops five minutes into the race, but Webb held strong and seemed unfazed by the pressure.
For the rest of the race Webb held roughly one second over Tomac even as they lapped other riders while Roczen slowly lost touch with the front two.
With five minutes left on the race clock Tomac got close again but spun out in the corner before the whoops and could not make up the two second deficit the mistake cost.
Webb stretched his lead to over five seconds by the race’s end. One rider on the move throughout the race, Troy Lee Designs / Red Bull / GASGAS Factory Racing’s Justin Barcia rounded the first lap in the back of the pack and fought his way steadily forward, earning a fourth-place finish by the checkers, with Team Honda HRC’s Chase Sexton grabbing a fifth-place finish.
Muc-Off Honda’s Mitchell Harrison grabbed the early lead in the Western Regional 250SX class event with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Jalek Swoll right on his rear wheel. Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Justin Cooper, the fastest racer in all of the division’s qualifying this season, sat in sixth but contact with another rider on the opening lap put him back to nineteenth place.
The previous round’s winner, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker, was running just inside the top ten and not in a position to repeat his win.
Just over five minutes into the 15-minute plus one lap race Lawrence made a bold move, passing two riders in one bowl turn to jump from third place and into the lead. From there he rode like a seasoned veteran, stretching his lead to five seconds near the end of the race. Shortly after Lawrence took command up front, points leader Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Cameron McAdoo crashed in the whoops and dropped back, meeting up with Cooper who was up to eleventh at that point.
By the checkers, Lawrence had the win, Swoll sat solidly in second, recently crowned Kicker Arenacross champ Phoenix Racing Honda’s Kyle Peters grabbed third, and ClubMX / IAMACOMBACK / Yamaha’s Garrett Marchbanks took fourth with Justin Cooper rounding out the top five.