Five Takeaways From Oakland Supercross 2020
A mix of highlights, lowlights, or just random observations
this is some of what we saw, or what we thought we saw at this past
weekend's Supercross race.
Cooper Gets Booted to the LCQ And Loses the Red Plate
Justin Cooper had a good start in his heat race and was able to make his way around 250 West reigning champion Dylan Ferandis by the third lap to take over 4th place. By lap five he was itching to make a move on Luke Clout to try and get a podium spot rather than just settle for a direct transfer spot to the main. That decision would quickly become his undoing. He made a move on Clout by running him high in a corner with two laps to go. The following turn Clout reciprocated the gesture and Cooper ran out of track at the top of the turn with his YZ250F spilling into a tuff block and over the back of the berm. It took him a few seconds to get the bike fired up but by then there wasn't enough time to make up the spots he had lost and ended up missing the 9th transfer spot by one. He definitely made up for it though by leading all six laps in the LCQ and getting another good start in the Main and racing to a 3rd place finish.
It's pretty amazing how these pit crews can work like a team of ants in these stressful situations, but then again they have plenty of time in the off season to prepare and practice for moments just like this. The crew was able to get the fresh mill nestled into the frame and Barcia went on to lead every lap of the LCQ. He put in a pretty good main event race too, taking 6th place. Even though he's still in 3rd overall it wasn't an ideal night as Jason Anderson was able to make up a few points on him and is now only sitting two points back. Then again things could have gone much worse for Barcia.
Mosiman Battles Then Gets Moshed
After securing his first career Supercross podium in Glendale last weekend Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing 250 rider, Michael Mosiman, looked poised to continue his podium appearance with a great heat race on Saturday night battling Austin Forkner back and forth for the lead.
Mosiman led for the first four laps but then Forkner put the pressure on and after Mosiman ran him out in the corner leading into the start straight Forkner hammered the throttle and got half a bike length ahead. With that slight lead Forkner hit the front brake hard enough to nose wheelie into the next turn taking out Mosiman's line and forcing him to cut his momentum and drop it back inside. It was quite a series of events that got the crowd fired up. And although Mosiman was right back in the mix in the next turn he made slight contact with Forkner as they both jumped in and it caused Mosiman to pause for just a second which was enough for Forkner to ride away with the heat win.
In the main Mosiman got a mid pack start and then by lap four things got ugly. He tucked the front end in a corner and rung his bell pretty good. That wasn't then end of it though as Cameron Mcadoo was right behind him and slid into Mosiman's side compounding the misery. Laying just above him Mosiman's Husky found itself in the center of a mosh pit as riders slammed into and over it. It sounds like Mosiman wanted to continue to race but the bike was out of commission so he had to call it an evening. Other than St. Louis where he went down in the first lap and pulled out, Mosiman has a podium and two fourth place finishes, he'll be hungry to head into the break on a high note--as in high on the podium.
The Webb/Roczen Saga Continues
The Webb/Roczen story line has dominated the 450 series for the past few years and it was a top feature once again on Saturday. Webb has been losing positions towards the end of the races this season but turned that around in the main, at Roczen's expense.
With only a few laps left in the race Webb throttled his KTM past Adam Cianciarulo while Ken was trying to regain the lead from Tomac. Instead of being happy with a third place finish, Webb set his sights on Roczen and by the last lap he had made up ground on Roczen. As we've seen before, in the last turn Webb was more aggressive. He cut to the inside, took it tight by the tuff block and bumped into Ken's right side. While they both got off kilter Webb was able to pull it together and get back on the throttle to take 2nd while Ken had to roll into the finish for 3rd. It was reminiscent of Webb snatching the win away from Roczen at Arlington last year--although that was a much closer photo finish.
As Roczen sat on the sideline after the race tending to his foot I was flashing back to Anaheim 2 in 2018 when the two were battling and Roczen's arm got caught up in Webb's wheel. We all know how that ended and as Ken rocked in pain I thought "oh no, not again!"
Thankfully it appears Roczen will be OK physically, mentally though Webb must be all up in his head. When is Roczen going to get out of Cooper's webb?
