Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb took a thrilling win at Lumen Field in Seattle to nab his third win of the season at Round 11 of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross season. The win marked the slimmest margin of victory so far this season as 58,342 fans cheered Webb and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Chase Sexton to the finish line.
Chase Sexton led much of the race and put on an incredible final surge; he missed the win by less than one second to earn the runner-up spot. Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence pushed a strong pace early but a crash with Webb put him back; he finished in third place. In the Western Regional 250SX Class’ return to racing, Washington-native Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen ran away with a huge win in what is his hometown Supercross.
Webb: “This is probably – we keep saying it every weekend – but by far the gnarliest track I’ve ridden. And it was really tough; we were all trying to push the pace, but you had to watch out for all the changing lines, the ruts, the lappers… I got arm pump pretty bad there at the end and it was just [a matter of] surviving, but I was able to hold on. Chase rode great, obviously made a few mistakes, then I’d make mistakes, and we’d go back and forth so, man, I’m stoked. I just want to give it up to the good Lord, want to give it up to the team; man, we’ve been dealt some adversity and we’re fighting through it, and it just feels amazing to win. It’s crazy, you know, you see Jett do it over and over and you just, you want to get that feeling again… I’m pumped.”
Sexton: “To be honest I didn’t even look at the pit board, so I had no idea [Webb was jumping the wall after the sand section]. I had [a] line late in the race where I was doubling into the pocket, but I never even thought of going outside [in the sand], so that’s on me not looking at the pit board. But overall, minus a few mistakes, I rode a really good race, even through[out] the whole race. I came back towards the end. I felt like I had really good speed. We made a change going into the heat race with my bike and it showed. I was really comfortable the whole night on such a gnarly track. And I gotta give it up to the team; they put a lot of work in to get me happy and we’re climbing that ladder… [when asked about stalling the engine during the night’s racing] …I got actually clipped that hay bail on this rhythm over here and bent my rear brake out, and I think that’s what happened when I stalled it over there. I caught my rear brake. So, just a few small hiccups, but overall it was a lot better race from me. This is the most I’ve fought all year, as far as [battling] close to the front, so we’re getting better.”
Lawrence: “I had a good charge at the start [of the race], had a really good flow, and I think I just came in the sand here and was a little bit committed. I knew I was going to hit Cooper, I could have been mean and hit him harder and just committed to it, but I didn’t want to hit him, and then in that sand you don’t want to – it’s very hard to pull up. So yeah, I ended up kind of being nice and checking up, but I [ended up] clipping the back [of Cooper’s bike], got off balance [and crashed]. And then I stalled it here once, and also had a lapper stop on the wall jump in front of me [and hold me up]. So, I’m like, ‘You know, that’s enough signs that tonight’s not the night, so we’ll just try and bring it home in third.“
Image: Feld Entertainment Inc
