Courtesy of RacerX

February 5, 2018 10:55am

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COOPER WEBB | MONSTER ENERGY/KNICH YAMAHA | 7TH IN 450SX

The night and day went a lot better. Qualifying was lot better. I was in the top five. I was pumped on that. Then the heat race went really well. I pulled the holeshot and then kind of messed up the first turn and Justin [Barcia] got by me. I was able to kind of follow him in the heat race and pick up on some things and got a solid second there. Then the main event, I just got a terrible start, unfortunately. The good news is I know what I did wrong, but it was just absolutely terrible. I think I went around the first turn in, like, 17th, so that didn’t help. But I was pumped. I made a lot of great passes early on. Me and Justin came through the pack pretty much together. Kind of got stuck behind [Weston] Peick there for a few laps and was able to pass him. Made a little bit of a charge on [Cole] Seely and just kind of started making some mistakes. But I was pumped. I feel like the old me is coming back. I feel a lot more confident and feel like I’m in the hunt, at least, now. It was a seventh place, but I think with a great start, I could have done a lot better.

Racer X: It did look like you were riding a lot more confidently today. Another improvement, so you’ve got to be happy with that.
Yeah, absolutely. I felt like I showed that I had confidence. I was riding like myself and was comfortable and had a great day. Like I said, it’s a process. I was pumped. I think going on to the next, however many we have, I think this is only the fifth one, so it’s good that I’m getting the momentum building now. I think it’s just going to get better and better.

What was the change? You seemed like a different guy today out on the track.
Man, it’s a lot. It’s hard to pinpoint one thing. Just really started focusing on myself. As simple as it was, I had a lot of talks with people, a lot of meetings with people. Just kind of needed to get that fire back. For me, it was just one of those things where I just said, I need to worry about myself and quit worrying about everybody else. Eff it, type deal. So, I think that helped me be more confident in myself and not be scared of these guys. That was the biggest thing. Had great sponsors like Monster and Yamaha, we had some great meetings and talks this week. Everybody’s on the same page and we’re working forward. We’re all on the same… whatever works best for me is what we need to do. We’re getting back to that.

I saw you inching up on Peick and catching him back, but I didn’t see what actually happened. What was that pass situation? What was that all about?
He made a little mistake and I just went right inside of him. Then I think he must have maybe got hung up or something, but I looked and had a little gap on him once I immediately passed him. I was eating his roost for about eight laps. Need to work on making a pass on him easier, better. But other than that, everything else was good. —Kyle Scott

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RacerX 2018 Oakland SX Insight