A P5 finish in the opening encounter at Unadilla had Justin Cooper determined to ‘make a statement’ in race two, where he captured an important 250MX moto win to conclude the ninth round of the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship.

Despite missing both High Point motos after a qualifying crash, Cooper entered the weekend third in the standings and 19 points back from red plate-holder Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC).

Cooper qualified fourth in New York, but a fifth-place score in moto one after dropping as low as P7 saw him lose another six points to the number 96, who finished second. Moto two was a different story as Cooper took the lead early and held onto P1 to take a 2.071s victory ahead of Lawrence, landing him third overall on the day.

“Second moto, going up to the line I knew I had to make something happen,” recalled Cooper. “I didn’t have a good first moto and I can’t give that many points away.

“I had to make a statement in the second moto and really was only going to go for the win there. That was all that I could really do. Just had to make sure to execute that one and it felt like I had a lot more flow with the bike, with the track, and everything came together nicely for me.

“Definitely pumped on how it went and looking forward to next weekend – just try to get two motos together, finally.”

Following the misfortune of Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Haiden Deegan, Cooper is now second in the 250MX standings and 22 points from the red plate as the penultimate round of the series takes place this Saturday at Budds Creek.