Cooper Webb took the win in Arlington after Jett Lawrence surprisingly crashed while seemingly having the race in the bag! Lawrence had led over Webb from the start and had about four seconds lead with 90 seconds of the main event to go when he cros-rutted and went down, handing Webb the lead!
Lawrence then went for it on the last lap, catching Webb but crashing into backmarker Vince Friese to end up fourth and off the podium!
Eli Tomac crashed early but then show the real speed for the first time this year to charge to third, he was th fastest man on the track and almost caught the leaders!
Webb said: “Obviously I got a little bit of a handout [when Jett crashed] but man, I just kept pushing my laps [and] was trying to stay as close as I could to Jett. The track got really tough, especially over where he fell; it was really hard to get that rhythm. And I just saw him down, I’m like, ‘Oh, man.’ What a ride! I’m pumped. I gotta give it up to my team. I had a terrible day, lost a lot of confidence and they came to me and told me, excuse my French, but I’m a bad MoFo and to pull my head out of my [rear], and that’s exactly what I needed… Jett was riding incredible and, man, I just can’t believe it still. I’m in shock. Gotta give it up to this place, it’s always good to me… I might as well just buy a suite here because I love this place.”
In the 250 class it was heartbreak for Austin Forkner who had held Haiden Deegen off all night long until two minutes to go when he had an ugly crash that left him in a neck brace in tears as Deegan took his first even supercross win and ghost rode the bike like his dad did back in 97 when he won hsi one and only supercross! Deegan also made mention he thought his pressure forced Forkner into a mistake.
Scary get off for Forkner while leading 🫣#SupercrossLive #SMX pic.twitter.com/8R0TD0NwMo
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) February 25, 2024
Deegan said: ““I am so amped right now. My first career win in Supercross, this is unreal…. Obviously, man, that’s terrible to see Austin, [he was] ripping, and to see that happen is sad, man. I wanted to fight for this with him, man. I wanted to go back and forth and bang bars this season. But it’s racing, and the pressure, you know, it gets to you… This is a very, very technical track. And I watched the heat race back and I saw Austin making several mistakes, and I was like, I mean, I made mistakes myself, but I was like, ‘If I clean up my riding and [can put on the] pressure, it’s any man’s race…’ I just had good flow around the whole track, and yeah, all I can say is: Welcome to the danger zone, baby!”
Tom Vialle took his first podium of his career despite a big crash in qualifying as Max Anstie took sixth after a bad start – and now has the points lead!
Article: Jonathan McCready
Image: Feld Entertainment Inc
