News 20 Mar 2021

Dominant effort sees Cooper back on top in Arlington

Reunited with the red plate, now leading the championship by two points.

Image: Octopi Media.

After three races off the podium and his worst finish of the season, Justin Cooper put his Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha atop the box at Arlington 3 to regain control of the championship lead.

Cooper took the holeshot of the 250SX West main event and never looked back, eventually taking the win by 3.5s in dominant fashion.

Cooper was flanked throughout most of the race by title rival Cameron McAdoo and his Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki. McAdoo got a great start but was not able to match the pace of Cooper out front.

The final spot on the podium went to McAdoo’s teammate Seth Hammaker, taking the second podium of his career. The young rookie capitalized on a mistake by Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) late in the race that saw Lawrence go into the safety net after over jumping at the end of a rhythm lane. He’d remount to finish fifth on the night.

Jalek Swoll (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) continued his momentum from a podium on Tuesday to take fourth place on the night, after recovering from a rough start. Sixth place went to Garrett Marchbanks (ClubMX Yamaha) who was near the front early on, running as high as fourth before a mistake dropped him outside of the top 10.

Seventh place went to Chris Blose who continues to impress on his privateer GasGas this season, followed by Phoenix Honda’s Kyle Peters in eighth.

It was a great night for Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s rookie duo with Nate Thrasher taking ninth and Jarrett Frye rounding out the top 10 with impressive rides.

It was an unfortunate night for Jordon Smith, the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider getting collected in a first lap pile-up during his heat race, ending his night early with suspected elbow and shoulder injuries.

In the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross standings, it’s now Cooper with the lead over McAdoo who sits two points back, with Lawrence six points back in third overall. The series now takes a two-week break before returning to action in Atlanta on 10 April.

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