Slaw
Justin Cooper entered 2025 with a LOT of hype. Coming off a rookie season that included 14 top ten’s in 16 rounds raced (including a runner-up at the season finale in SLC), Cooper was expected to take the “next step” in his sophomore year. While he wasn’t bad over the first two rounds—7-11 finishes to open the season—he hasn’t been the podium threat some of us foresaw.
Some of us (me) thought Anaheim 2 would be a breakout round for the sophomore and he had one.
After coming through the LCQ, Cooper somehow got the holeshot and led the opening six laps of the main event. While he got shuffled back to sixth, this was a step in the right direction.
“It was a rollercoaster of emotions tonight,” he said in a post-race press release. “I was pretty down after the heat race and I straight up couldn’t get my mind right. All the way up to the main, I was just dwelling on everything too much, but I was able to lock in for the main and somehow get the holeshot, which felt great. It was a great rebound. Everything was going downhill pretty fast, so to turn it around, I’m happy with that.
“It was a crazy race. We got a lot of rain heading to the start. I got out front and definitely was testing the limits because I wanted to run up front. I made a few mistakes and almost slid out a few times and then chilled out. I definitely tightened up a little bit. The track was tricky with the conditions, but overall, it was a good night.”
Amazing night for Cooper that almost went so, so wrong early in the race. Swipe over to see him almost “nearly dying over the tunnel jump”. Oh, boy!
Images: @octopi.media
