Salt Lake City delivered in a big way, as Cooper Webb sealed his third-career 450SX title and Tom Vialle went back-to-back in the 250SX East division to cap off a dramatic night that’ll go down in Supercross history. Both riders spoke with the media after the race about their crowning moments in this Debrief feature.

450SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Cooper, congratulations on the title! Take us under the helmet when you rounded that last turn and you knew you’d done it. What was going through your mind?

A lot of relief. There’s a lot of work that goes into this, a lot of passion, a lot of everything – just a sigh of relief. At the beginning, it was almost like I wanted to go and get a win, then it settled in and I just focused on not messing up. It was a great race, I put myself in a position to cruise it in. Like I said on the podium, I’ve had a lot of 3am nights thinking about how I can win this damn thing – and here we are.

Chase [Sexton] kind of already spoke a little bit about this – about shifting focus to [Pro Motorcross] in a couple of weeks, and keeping the celebrations short as you go after another championship. Chase said he learned a lot from competing against you in this 1v1 battle, but now you’ve got a lot of guys coming back, the points all reset…

I’m going to stop you right there. I don’t care about outdoors, [laughs]. Right now, I’ve said it in 2019 and 2021 too – Supercross champ, I don’t give a crap about outdoors, bro.

Well, I guess, what’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from this championship battle? In particular, the last five rounds.

Just being in it, right? You have to stay in it, stay present, stay focused and apply yourself every weekend – especially against Chase, I think he really turned it on there at the end. I had a great season, but when he was on, he was on. It’s hard, these last few, when you have a lot on the line, you have to be good, but you don’t want to put yourself in a vulnerable spot. So for me, I think it was about pushing hard, but also being wise and putting myself in good positions. It’s been a little bit stressful, it’s never easy. It feels great when you get to this point though.

To go back to November when you were flying home from Paris Supercross, then you went to Australia and had that little wrist injury. At the SMX media days, you could tell that you wanted this. Over the last seven months, can you define what the breakout moment was where you really knew that you could do this?

It was a tough off season. With the injury I had and all that, like you said, I had some great off season races, but I had some ups and downs. I had a crash in the off season that set me back a little bit, so it was more just me going all in. I met with Rich [Simmons] and we sat down for coffee in the off season, he told me I was fat and that I needed to get my shit together. I told him he was right and I made it a priority, I woke up everyday and grinded. I have to give it up to my team, everyone says it, but they truly pushed me to be the best version of myself everyday. My teammates, my training partners – you know, JCoop [Justin Cooper] has been very underestimated as a training partner and teammate, but he pushes me everyday. Just the people we have with Swanny [Gareth Swanepoel] and my physio guy back home, PJ. We go all in everyday, and that’s what Star expects from you, I love it, and that’s what made me put myself in this position. It’s not fun and picture perfect everyday, but this moment right here makes it worth it.

Was it difficult to race smart today? Especially when you were in the middle of the same three-way battle as last week.

It was. I was a little bit timid about… I know if I was in Chase’s position what I would probably do. With that being said, I was definitely mindful of it. I had to be smart there, you want to be on the attack mode, but I also gave myself that buffer and that opportunity. Those two behind me were battling for third place in the championship, so I knew that was happening. Once I kind of knew how everything was playing out, I kind of rolled over a little bit and took my fourth. Everyone is happy, JCoop gets third, I get the [title] and it’s a win-win for everybody.

You’re now a three-time 450SX champion. James Stewart has two, Chad Reed has two – there’s a whole bunch of riders that have only ever managed to get two championships, and I think you’ve said it in the past that you might not be the fastest or have the physical attributes that some of these other guys do. Have you had a chance at all to really reflect on just how insane it is to be a three-time champion in this era of Supercross? You won your first title in 2019, it’s now 2025…

I think that’s the biggest thing, the time gap. In ‘19 and ‘21, it was almost like I was programmed. I was at Aldon Baker’s and I was just grinding, it was great and the competition was super stiff, but things were coming at me almost too good sometimes. I would take a win for granted, because we were just clicking so much. That’s what really makes this one stand out, the time gap, the injuries, the 2022 season – that was ridiculously bad. So to fight through all that, come close in 2023 and last year, then to do it at 29 years old, three-time is a dream, honestly. That’s the easiest way to say it. Hopefully I can keep it going, but at 29, you never know, right? These kids are fast, so I’m going to keep doing my thing, keep putting myself in these situations every year, I know I’m a gamer and I can do it – so I’m going to go as long as I can. But to get this third one, it means the world, especially now as a dad, and on another team, I think that’s huge for me. These are the guys that gave me my first ever shot as a pro, so to repay Bobby Regan, Brad, and the rest of these guys with a 450 championship, it means a lot.

You touched on it there, the decision to return to Yamaha, this time with Star Racing in the premier class. Speak about the pathway to this championship over the course of the last couple of years and just what that means to you.

I’m just thankful. I’m glad I could give it back to Yamaha, because they wasted a lot of money on me earlier in my career, [laughs]. It just feels good to be able to switch to the team that I always envisioned myself on when they got to the 450 level, and win the biggest championship that we could. Just the way we did it. Like you said, the last time with Yamaha was not great for any of us, so to do it with it Star, to do it with Yamaha, to repay them those favors that I needed to deliver, it feels really nice. Like I said, I had great times with KTM and those boys, and we did a lot of great things, but these guys are like my family. It feels nice, we’re all on the same page, they understand me, we went through the ups and downs together, they know where to push me and when to not. It just feels nice, I can really be myself and say what I want, and they’re going to fire right back and put me in my place. It’s super special, like Bobby has said, I call him my grandpa. So it’s super special man.

250SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Tom, a two-time world champ, a two-time Supercross champ – what message do you hope that this championship sends?

I still can’t believe it, to be honest. That was a wild night, I actually had a great start, I was behind Haiden [Deegan] for a couple of laps and I was feeling good. Then I started to make a couple of mistakes, then Seth [Hammaker] and RJ [Hampshire] got me, I was maybe like five seconds behind them. When I saw them both down in the corneri I couldn’t believe it – I still can’t believe it. It was insane. Seth was actually over the berm and RJ was on top of the berm, I was like, ‘this is crazy’. I think there was only four or five laps to go, and I just did it. It was pretty crazy.

What went through your mind when you saw them both on the ground, and was there any tendency to tighten up after that?

I just same through the corner and they were both on the ground, Seth was over the berm and RJ was on top of it. I couldn’t believe it, it was crazy. I was like four or five seconds behind them. I was trying to stay there, because I knew with only a few laps to go, that RJ was going to try and do something to Seth. That was my only chance, because I was a little further back, then when I came around the corner and they were both down – I still can’t believe it. I think, the whole season has had a lot of good riding, the speed was solid from everyone in the championship. Ther was a lot of up and down and we lost a lot of championship points in Foxborough, everyone had ups and down. We just tried to stay steady though, it paid off at the end.

You’re no stranger to winning championships, but tonight was different in the way that this main event played out. What was it like, that emotion when you crossed the finish line and met with the team, then stood on the podium to collect the trophy? How much different was that this time around?

Like I’ve said before, that’s why I came here to the US. I came to race Supercross, so to achieve two titles is insane, I would’ve never believed it before I came here. The goal was always to win at least one, now we’ve done it twice in a row. The second one is always pretty hard, I won my first world title in 2020, then I missed the 2021 title – I couldn’t make it two in a row, and then I won in 2022. It’s a lot of pressure all winter, cause you have that number one and you have to make it happen. It’s been tough all year, but we made it happen. Obviously Seth was really fast in that main event, he was riding good, but like I said before, everyone had a lot of ups and downs.

You’ve been riding 450’s outdoors. I believe that winning this now means you do have to go up to the 450 class, as you look forward into the future, what do you make of the transition that you’re going to have to make? You’ve seen some guys recently, Hunter Lawrence, Justin Cooper – there are guys who have found a lot of success in that class. What are your thoughts on making that jump next year?

I’m actually really excited. I’ve been riding the 450 a little bit this year when I’ve been riding outdoors. I think that was the plan anyway – to move up next year for 450 outdoors. I was still not sure, it was depending on this championship wether I’d stay 250 for Supercross, but now I have to move up. I’ve been on 250’s for a long time, like my first pro year was 2019. So it’ll be a new challenge, I’m going to work really hard this winter to get ready on the 450. It’s something new, so I’m really excited.

Last year you came up short on the Pro Motocross championship, what can you do differently to get that title in your last 250 season outdoors?

I’m pretty excited to race again against Haiden, I feel like he has been good the last couple of years in outdoors. The speed that we have in outdoors is pretty high and I’m feeling better, the team and I have been working on the bike, so I’m pretty excited. Like I said, it’s going to be my last outdoor season on the 250, so I’m really looking forward to racing at Pala in two weeks.