Slaw
2025 felt like 2019 on Saturday in Detroit. Ken Roczen and Cooper Webb sitting 1-2 late in the race. Kenny in the lead, Webb stalking.
We’ve been down this road a lot. Although it felt different this time, the result was the same. Cooper getting the best of Kenny.
This is not to disparage Kenny. He rode great. But Webb is a master at this. Playing the long game while providing enough pressure to remind you he is still there. Letting you know he can pounce at any time.
While Webb makes it look easy at times, it wasn’t as he explained post-race.
“It started to get difficult, that three in,” Webb said after the race. “I kind of caught that lap when Kenny had the lapper incident. I did it that lap and I was like, ‘Oh, okay, this could be an opportunity’ because to hit it correctly, at least the left back onto the straight, you leave the door wide open but you that’s the fast way around.
“So it was kind of like a road race section where you wanna go outside-in. You really want to set everything up, but with that being said you have to be close enough to make it happen or it wasn’t gonna happen. I think the track was a good track, but there wasn’t much separation of different lines or different options or stuff like that. So yeah, just kind of patience and seeing where you could or couldn’t make a pass. I felt comfortable where I was, I felt like when I needed to I could make up some time so I think that’s just was kind of the point that I picked out.”
After the race, Roczen spoke about late in the race:
“It was a tough one,” he said. “Just the turns, they were quite open, right? And if you’re up front and you have a little bit of a gap, like you want to sweep them as good as you can and carry momentum and stuff, but then when somebody’s really close, you’re kind of gambling with that. Like even after the finish line I went really wide on the landing and I felt like I missed all the bumps, so that was really good. But then if I protect the inside and he’s right behind me, he sees that I’m going right there. You know, what do you do?”
While the last two weeks could be seen as disappointing, Kenny is taking it in stride and seems happy where he stands in the championship
“It’s freaking awesome being in it, honestly,” he said. “I’m having so much fun. That’s honestly what I was obviously the most bummed about [after Tampa] like just for once being only a couple of points back and then having to play catch up again. You have to come back the next week and I was aware that I have to rebound quickly or else it’s just becomes a drag a little bit. Coming here I knew I had to execute that I did in a way. Maybe not with a win, but at least I didn’t lose any points, but rather gained a couple of points. So everything’s still good. We got a lot of racing to go and I’m gonna try to do the same thing next weekend. This race was very important for me and I’m happy with how it ended up.”
Unlike 2019, there is no Moto Spy to cover this insane season of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, so let’s go watch this amazing episode.
Images: @octopi.media
