Wild Night in Birmingham Sees Cooper Fourth, Webb Sixth
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper and Cooper Webb fight through a chaotic night of racing at Birmingham Supercross / Mar 24, 2026 /
After a weekend break, the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450SX Championship returned to action last Saturday at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama, with the title fight back in full force. It was an up-and-down night for Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper and Cooper Webb, with both riders overcoming adversity to finish fourth and sixth, respectively.
It was an eventful heat race for Cooper. After grabbing the holeshot, it was an intense battle with Ken Roczen. Then on Lap 4 Roczen made the pass on Cooper, and right after, Eli Tomac came through and made contact, with Cooper’s leg getting caught in Tomac’s rear wheel. It took some time to get untangled and back on the bike, but the New Yorker showed a lot of grit and determination, charging from 13th to seventh.
Cooper carried that momentum into the main event, getting another strong start in second despite a less-than-ideal gate pick. He was shuffled back to fourth in the opening-lap battle and later dropped to sixth, but continued to push forward. Before the halfway mark, he had worked his way back to fourth, where he would finish.
“I didn’t like the track today,” said Cooper. “The dirt’s not very good, with a lot of rocks and all that, so yeah, I struggled a little bit with the bike all day. I obviously had that incident in the heat race and had a pretty sore leg for the main event, but I was able to get really good starts all day. That was the plus side. I got a good start in the main, top three, I think, and got shuffled around a bit and came home in fourth. I also got some major arm pump for the first time in a while. It was just a tough track all day, and I wasn’t really jelling, so fourth was good tonight.”
Webb also got off to a strong start to the night, grabbing the holeshot in his heat race and holding off pressure from Hunter Lawrence to secure the win. However, he didn’t replicate that start in the main event and found himself eighth. The reigning 450SX Champion quickly went to work, advancing to fourth in the opening laps. Then on Lap 10, he had a costly tipover in the tricky conditions that had him back in eighth. He regrouped and charged forward once again, ultimately finishing sixth to secure valuable championship points.
“Practice went well for me,” Webb said. “Then I was able to win my heat race, which was really cool. In the main event, I didn’t get off to the best start, then had a tip-over, which was a bummer. It put me back a ways, and I just wasn’t able to move forward. I also got pretty bad arm pump, so it was just a tough night, but we’ll regroup and get better.”
Although it wasn’t the results they were looking for, there were a lot of positives to take away from the 10th round of the championship.
“Qualifying and Coop’s heat race were big positives on the day,” said Rich Simmons, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s 450 Team Manager. “He got a good start in the heat race, but not so much in the main. Then he just didn’t quite ride to the level he showed earlier and had that mistake that cost him some spots. We made some gains that didn’t really show on paper, so we’ll keep working with Webb. And then Justin — I thought he rode well all day. That incident in the heat race was tough, but he recovered well and was pretty sore going into the main. I’m proud of him for fighting through that and getting fourth. We need to hold our heads high, but it’s not the result we’re striving for, so we’ll keep pushing.”
Next weekend, the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team heads north to Detroit for Round 11 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship and the Monster Energy SMX World Championship at Ford Field on March 28.