Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb finished third and fifth, respectively, with rookie Justin Cooper concluding the SMX season inside the top 10
MARIETTA, Ga. – September 22, 2024 – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac returned to the podium at the SuperMotocross World Championship Final at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning a 2-3 moto score for third overall and third in the 450SMX standings. Cooper Webb secured a top-five finish in the championship, finishing fifth overall (6-5) for the second weekend in a row. Justin Cooper put in a gritty ride to finish sixth overall (5-7), making his way back up the championship standings to eighth.
As the sport made its long-awaited return to Las Vegas, Nevada, Tomac showed strength at the final round of the 31-round season. He qualified third and then grabbed the holeshot in Moto 1. The Colorado rider ran a strong pace up front, but ultimately was passed in the final laps and crossed the line second. In Moto 2, Tomac was third after the start and rode on to secure that final podium spot for third overall. His efforts also secured third in the 450SMX Championship, making for a great postseason comeback in the points after being sidelined for 10 rounds.
Webb also had a strong qualifying in fourth and was sixth after the opening lap but unfortunately fell and found himself back in eighth. The North Carolina rider put his head down and moved to seventh on the following lap and then up to sixth on the final lap. Webb got another good start to Moto 2 in fifth, where he would finish to end the day fifth overall. It was a strong conclusion to the season, which secured a top-five finish in the 450SMX Championship despite being sidelined for 10 rounds of the 31-round series.
Coming into the weekend with a hairline fracture to his collarbone from a crash in Moto 1 at the previous round, Cooper sat out Friday’s practice session to focus his efforts on race day. The New Yorker quickly got up to speed on the hybrid-style track and had a solid qualifying effort in eighth. He then got a good start to the first moto in seventh and made his way to sixth by the second lap, riding a calculated race and advancing to fifth on the final lap. In Moto 2, he got another top-10 start and made his way from eighth to seventh for sixth overall. It was a strong debut season aboard the YZ450F, with Cooper ending the year eighth in the SuperMotocross World Championship.
Jeremy Coker – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 450 Team Manager
“It could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse. All three of our guys are leaving here healthy, or reasonably healthy with Justin cracking his collarbone last week. Eli finished third in the championship and put in some great motos. Coop did as well as he could, going into the finals with not a lot of preparation due to his thumb injury, and finished the year fifth. Honestly, after his crash last week and missing out on a double-point round, Justin finished better than we thought in eighth. All in all, it was a good weekend. We are going to work to be better in Supercross and try to get back on top.”
Eli Tomac – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing #3
“I finished third overall and gave it my best. I had a really good first moto. I led most of the race and got passed on the last couple of laps. Then in Moto 2, I started a little further back and didn’t get the holeshot like I did in Moto 1, but I rode pretty well. Hunter (Lawrence) and Jett (Lawrence) were riding at a really good pace. They kind of slowly went away from me, but overall we all were really close. It was good to get third, and a good comeback in the last rounds of outdoors and SMX. I think we’ll have some good momentum going into 2025.”
Cooper Webb – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing #2
“Overall it was a great day. I qualified fourth, which was a good sign. I had two solid motos. In the first one, I fell on the first lap and lost that fifth-place position. I made my way up to sixth but just couldn’t quite get my teammate. In the second one, I got a pretty good start in fifth and was right there with that lead group for a while. Then Eli, myself, AP (Aaron Plessinger), and Kenny (Roczen) were all together, and I ended up fifth for fifth overall on the day and fifth in the series. Obviously, we wanted a little more, but we’ll take it. I didn’t come into the series super prepared, so I’m very happy to get two back-to-back fifths and have a solid result here at SMX. Now we’ll get ready for MXON.”
Justin Cooper – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing #32
“It was a tough one coming in with a cracked collarbone, but we made it to every round this season and didn’t want to miss the finale. I was able to get the track figured out pretty quickly in qualifying, even though I didn’t get the track time yesterday. It was a really smooth day. I didn’t fall, which was really good, and I just tried to do what I could. I rode two pretty flawless races and tried to minimize the mistakes and eliminate the risk. It was a painful day, but we came away with sixth overall and eighth in the playoffs, so it was worth it. I’m pretty proud of the full season aboard the 450 and am excited for some time off before getting ready for 2025.”
