250MX leader Justin Cooper endured a costly crash in the second moto at Washougal that limited his points haul from the weekend, but remains upbeat and without regrets in how round seven panned out.

Cooper scored a critical win in the first moto, taking the early lead and then withstanding pressure from RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) in his charge to victory.

Moto two saw the 23-year-old make another strong start, engaging in a battle for the lead with Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha teammate Jeremy Martin before the latter started to create a gap.

With only a lap and a half to go, Cooper – in an attempt to make a charge towards the lead – had a major fall out of second position up Horsepower Hill, which meant the best he could salvage was eighth after he remounted with a badly-bent bike.

“For sure, I definitely was trying to get the 1-1 and Jeremy had a little bit more pace than me and I was kinda just trying to hold him off, but he was able to get under me halfway through the second moto,” Cooper recalled.

“I was just putting a charge back in to try and make it interesting for the end… I could see I was catching him a little bit here and there and felt like I got pretty close with three laps to go. I crashed going up the uphill, hit some potholes in the rollers – I never saw it coming.

“I was lucky to even get up, my bike was pretty bad after that. It’s unfortunate, but it’s part of racing. It was a good day overall for me and I felt really good in both motos.”

Even after a disappointing end to moto two, the Yamaha rider was able to extend his advantage over the course of the day thanks to his first moto victory and Jett Lawrence’s seventh-place finish in the opening bout.

However, the now eight-point lead he has over his Team Honda HRC-mounted rider could potentially have been as many as 20 points if he was able to catch and execute a pass on Martin. There’s now two weekends off prior to Unadilla on 14 August.