Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac enjoyed a strong return to action with a runner-up overall finish at the opening round of the Pro Motocross Championship at Fox Raceway in Pala, California. Justin Cooper also showed strength with a second-place finish in Moto 1 and a top-five overall finish (2-8). The newly crowned three-time 450SX Champion Cooper Webb faced adversity, but closed out the day with a strong second moto, scoring a seventh-place finish for 13th overall.
Lining up for the first time since his injury in February, Tomac was back to form, qualifying third. In the first moto, he did not get the start he was hoping for and charged his way from 10th to fourth, where he would finish. The four-time 450MX Champion got a much better start to Moto 2, claiming the runner-up spot by the second lap. From there, it was an epic battle between two heavyweight title contenders, with each rider having strengths in different areas. In the end, Tomac would finish second to secure second overall for a strong start to the summer’s campaign.
Qualifying fourth behind his teammate, Cooper got a great start to the first moto and quickly made his way to the runner-up spot, where he would cross the line to kick off his sophomore season in the 450MX Championship. In the second moto, he was sixth after the start and then dropped back to ninth on that opening lap. The New Yorker continued to battle for position and made his way to seventh, but ultimately crossed the line eighth to end the day fifth overall.
Securing his third 450SX title just two weeks ago, Webb made his first full-season start in the premier class in Pro Motocross with the team. The North Carolina rider qualified 12th and was running eighth before a technical issue unfortunately forced him to retire early from the first moto. With a less-than-ideal gate pick for Moto 2, he found himself 17th after the start but quickly made his way to 10th on that opening lap. Webb continued to fight and earned a seventh-place finish to secure 13th overall.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team heads to Northern California next weekend for the Hangtown Classic, Round 2 of Pro Motocross and Round 19 of the SuperMotocross World Championship at the Prairie City SVRA in Rancho Cordova on May 31.
Rich Simmons – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 450 Team Manager
“I’ll start with the unfortunate part, which was the mechanical in Coop’s first moto. I felt he had a good ride going, so that was a bummer there. It’s part of the sport, but it shouldn’t ever happen, so I apologize to him. Justin Cooper had an unbelievable first moto. With his first race back, Eli had a great second moto and charged hard, and Coop put in a really good ride in the second moto. So overall, it was a good day. I’m glad to have our full roster back and am looking forward to next weekend.”
Eli Tomac – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing #3
“It was a pretty solid day, second overall. The good thing was that I improved my riding all day, and our strongest showing was in Moto 2. I got really close to Jett (Lawrence), and we were battling for basically thirty minutes. It was wide open for that whole time. It was a fun race, but unfortunately I was on the losing end of it. Obviously, I'm not happy with second, but for Round 1 and coming back from a recovery, it was an okay weekend.”
Justin Cooper – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing #32
“It was a good day all around. I qualified fourth, then in the first moto, I got off to a good start and was able to battle my way to second, and had a strong race. In the second moto, I changed to a regular tire, and it kind of bit me on the start. I was in the top 10 and was trying hard, and those guys were fighting me back. Eventually, I settled in for eighth, which is not great. Going into Moto 2, the track got drier and rougher, so I think we missed the setup a little bit. We need to be smarter there, but overall, it was a really good day for me. We’ll move on to next weekend.”
Cooper Webb – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing #2
“The first race of the year is done. It was an up-and-down day for me. I didn’t qualify great, but in the first moto, I was riding really well and then unfortunately had that bike issue. That was a bit of a bummer, but that happens in racing. In the second moto, I had a terrible outside gate, so I wasn't able to get a good start, but I made my way through the pack and battled with the world champ – (Jorge) Prado – again all moto, and then Jason (Anderson) there at the end. I was happy with that. I finished seventh, which is good enough for now. We’ll hopefully get better each round. We’ll head back to Florida and maybe do some testing and try to improve our results.”