Justin Cooper and Cooper Webb Keep Up the Fight in San Diego
The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing duo grinds through another tough night in the heavyweight 450 Supercross title fight / Jan 20, 2026 /
Another Saturday night, another battle for Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing at Round 2 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship in San Diego, California. While the results sheet doesn’t tell the full story, Justin Cooper and Cooper Webb showed plenty of grit and determination, pushing through adversity to finish sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 450SX Main Event.
Cooper showed flashes of speed throughout the day at Snapdragon Stadium, qualifying inside the top five. Unfortunately, starts continued to make for a tough day of racing for the New Yorker, forcing him to dig deep once again. After finishing eighth in his heat race, Cooper found himself buried back in 16th on the opening lap of the Main Event. Undeterred, he went to work, charging into the top 10 by Lap 4 and continuing to push forward until the final lap, ultimately scoring a hard-earned sixth.
“It was another so, so race day,” Cooper said. “I'm just not getting the starts I need to put myself in a good position, so it's been tough. I came from way back again in the main and got another sixth place. That’s not bad on paper, but it could be a lot better because my riding's been pretty good. I’m putting in a lot of work out there. We just have to get off the gate better if we want to be up front.”
Webb’s night followed a similar script to the season opener. A bad start and a tipover early in his heat race saw the North Carolina rider finish eighth. Despite the less-than-ideal gate pick, he launched into the Main Event with a solid top-10 start and charged to seventh early, then into sixth by Lap 5. Unfortunately, a few laps later, he and another rider made contact, with Webb going down. He rejoined the race in the top 10, but with some damage to his bike after the crash, he did what he could to fight his way back, ultimately crossing the line eighth.
“It was a tough night overall,” Webb said. “Another crash in the heat race put me in a bad spot, but I felt like I was moving forward in the main and making good passes. Then I got taken out. When I got up, the bars were bent, levers were everywhere, and I just tried to do the best I could. It’s a bummer to have two weekends in a row that aren't great. We'll regroup and come back at A2.”
With San Diego Supercross in the books, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing now turns its focus back to Anaheim, California, for Round 3 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship and the Monster Energy SMX World Championship at Angel Stadium.
“We had another rough weekend,” said Rich Simmons, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s 450 Team Manager. “Practice was looking good for both riders, but we had bad starts, and on a track like this, you can't get bad starts. So that haunted us, as well as a few mistakes in the heat race that put us in a bad position for the main. We just need to clean those things up, do some work as a team, and regroup for A2.”