In what felt like a repeat of history last night, Cooper Webb stole a Main Event victory away from Honda’s Ken Roczen in the dying moments of the race.
This is a feat that Webb has performed in the past, and with a little help from Dean Wilson the works KTM star was able to do it again last night in Houston for round three of the 2021 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship.
On the last lap of racing Roczen led the field with Webb hot on his heels. Roczen got entangled trying to pass lapped rider Dean Wilson enabling Webb to strike and swipe the race lead away from Roczen with half a lap left to go.
This heartbreak combined with his controversial points penalty on Tuesday resulted in a positively peeved Roczen. He let his emotions show on the podium.
‘‘Part of me wants to punch a hole in the wall. But I’ve been practicing my patience so I’m going to keep it cool’’ said Roczen who was visibly rattled by the outcome of this race.
‘‘It was a bummer last lap. He (Wilson) was ahead of me for about three quarters of it. I was screaming and yelling but he told me he didn’t hear me. It is what it is.
It was a solid race, I was able to make a pass happen but unfortunately finished second. It is very, very frustrating but I’m going to keep it cool.
Ken Roczen
Roczen was a little more relaxed afterwards and explained the last lap situation in a little more detail: ‘‘I was bracing to battle for basically the last five laps. We ran into lappers and I had to switch some lines up. I was ready to give it everything towards the end. Dean said he didn’t hear me but I’m sure there were blue flags around. I thought he was going to move over to let us by.
“But I hit the back of his wheel on the stall wall and almost crashed and then I jumped double double. He went super tight into the next turn and I almost jumped into the back of him and had to manoeuvre around him. Then Cooper was to the inside.’
“I’m trying to be a better racer, a better human, so it’s something I’m working on. I think in past years I probably would’ve flipped out a little more, don’t get more wrong I was mad, but it was what it was and I can’t change it.’’
Despite a tough week for Roczen he has still managed to come away from Houston with command of the points lead. He’ll be lining up with the red-plate next week in Indianapolis, so there are some positives for the HRC man to take away from Houston.
‘‘Overall I feel pretty good. I would like to build from here and get better. I think we still have a lot in the tank and this is just the beginning. Everything is tight in the points, and I do feel like I got robbed here a couple of times. There has been a lot of valuable points left on the table for me but I’m going to move past that and not let it phase me.
“I’ve talked about it with my crew for 10-15 minutes and now it’s time to move on. There’s a lot of racing left. A couple of incidents have hurt me but I’m not holding on to that. We are racing a lot and there’s a lot of room to improve. I’m enjoying it at the moment so I’m holding on to the positives and not the negatives.”
Rider standings
1 94 Ken Roczen Clermont, FL 60 2 5 2
2 2 Cooper Webb Newport, NC 59 9 4 1
3 51 Justin Barcia Greenville, FL 59 1 9 4
4 1 Eli Tomac Cortez, CO 54 13 1 5
5 9 Adam Cianciarulo New Smyrna Beach, FL 51 4 12 3
6 10 Justin Brayton Charlotte, NC 51 6 3 10
7 27 Malcolm Stewart Haines City, FL 51 5 7 6
8 14 Dylan Ferrandis Lake Elsinore, CA 50 7 2 12
9 25 Marvin Musquin Corona, CA 48 3 6 13
10 16 Zach Osborne Clermont, FL 40 10 10 9
11 7 Aaron Plessinger Hamilton, OH 38 8 16 7
12 15 Dean Wilson Murrieta, CA 35 12 11 11
13 21 Jason Anderson Rio Rancho, NM 34 15 8 8
14 17 Joey Savatgy Clermont, FL 23 11 21 14
15 20 Broc Tickle Holly, MI 22 17 13 17
16 11 Kyle Chisholm Valrico, FL 18 19 14 18
17 40 Vince Friese Menifee, CA 15 16 15 19
18 37 Benny Bloss Oak Grove, MO 12 19 15
19 36 Martin Davalos Tallahassee, FL 12 18 20 16
20 23 Chase Sexton Clermont, FL 10 14 22
21 28 Brandon Hartranft Brick, NJ 8 21 17
22 83 Alex Ray Milan, TN 6 22 18
23 19 Justin Bogle Edmond, OK 3 20
24 722 Adam Enticknap Lompoc, CA 3 20
25 805 Carlen Gardner Paso Robles, CA 2 21
26 981 Austin Politelli Murrieta, CA 1 22
