Cooper Scores Back-to-Back Wins in Opening Moto at Budds Creek
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper finishes second overall with a 1-2 moto score at the Yamaha Budds Creek National / Aug 20, 2023 /
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper backed up his Moto 2 win at Unadilla with another trip to the top step of the podium in yesterday’s 250MX Moto 1 at the Yamaha Budds Creek National in Mechanicsville, Maryland. The New Yorker followed that up with a runner-up finish in Moto 2 to end the day second overall and stay mathematically in the title hunt with one round remaining in the Pro Motocross Championship. Rookie Daxton Bennick continues to impress, joining Cooper in the top 10 with a seventh overall finish (4-11). Haiden Deegan fought his way back after a first-turn crash in the restarted first moto, ending the day 11th overall with a 16-5 score. Stilez Robertson and Levi Kitchen were right behind, finishing 12th (10-13) and 13th (14-10), respectively, in the challenging conditions at the Budds Creek MX Park.
For the fifth time this season, Cooper was the fastest qualifier in the 250 class. He didn’t get the start he was hoping for in the first moto but was looking to make the pass for fifth when the red flag came out before the 15-minute mark. The New Yorker got a much better start the second time around and was third, quickly making the pass on his title rival to claim the runner-up spot. It turned into a three-rider battle for top honors, with Cooper claiming the lead on Lap 12 and throwing down some fast times to build a gap up front for his second moto win in a row and his fourth so far this season. In Moto 2, he was third after the start and managed his race in the tricky conditions. Cooper picked up the pace in the final laps, throwing down a blistering 1:58.723 on the last lap to close the gap to 1.5 seconds from the leader, but ultimately ran out of time and finished second for second overall
Bennick had a solid start to the day, qualifying 11th, and then found himself 29th after the first lap of Moto 1. The rookie was making his way forward through the pack before the red flag. He then got a great start after the restart into fourth, where he ran a strong pace to finish there comfortably for a career-best moto result. In the second moto, he was 12th after the first lap and made his way to ninth but ultimately crossed the line 11th to end the day seventh overall.
Deegan hit the ground running at Budds Creek, coming just shy of the top time in qualifying. From there, he got a great start in the first moto and quickly claimed the lead, throwing down an even faster lap than in qualifying – a blazing 1:56.613 – and had an 8.8-second lead before the red flag was drawn. Unfortunately, he had a crash going into the first turn after the restart, and it took some time to rejoin the race. Undeterred, Deegan put his head down and went to work, making an impressive charge from the back of the field to 16th at the end of the 15-minute-plus- two-lap moto. In Moto 2, he got a good start despite having a less-than-ideal gate pick and was 11th after the first lap. Before the halfway mark, he advanced into the top five and kept pushing. Deegan had the riders in the final podium spots in sight but had a tip over and rode on to finish fifth for 11th overall.
In just his second round back from injury, Robertson continued to make progress. He showed speed straight away with a good qualifying effort in fifth. From there, he had a decent start both times in the restarted first moto inside of the top 10. The Californian jockeyed for position in a multi-rider battle for sixth and ultimately crossed the line 10th. In the second moto, he was 14th after the start and kept pushing but went off track and had to work his way back forward, ultimately crossing the line 13th for 12th overall.
Kitchen had a good start to the day, improving his qualifying result to break the top 10 in eighth. Unfortunately, he did not get off the gate as he had hoped and found himself 20th after the start of the first moto. Although he had a better start after the restart, he struggled in the challenging conditions and finished 14th. It was another tough start in Moto 2, with Kitchen 17th after the first lap, but the Washington State rider kept pushing and made his way to the top 10 to end the day 13th overall.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team heads to the Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana, next weekend for the final round of the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship and the 28th round of the SuperMotocross World Championship on August 26.
Jensen Hendler – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 250 Team Manager“It was another rollercoaster day for the team, but our guys fought hard and showed a lot of speed. We had a great qualifying with Justin and Haiden going 1-2, Stilez fifth, Levi eighth, and Dax 11th.
“Justin rode hard and got another win, which was great. He finished second in Moto 2 for second overall and threw down the fastest lap of the race on the final lap. Haiden also showed a lot of speed. We had some bad luck in the first moto for him with the restart, but he never gave up.
“It was another great ride from Dax. To finish fourth this early in his pro career is also impressive. He rode a strong race and put in two good motos to finish seventh overall. Stilez continued to make progress and had some good starts and a good first moto. It was a tough weekend at Budds Creek for Levi, but we’ll get back to work and come back stronger. We have one more to go, and we’re going to keep fighting in this championship to the very end!”
Justin Cooper – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing“The day went really well. It started out really muddy in practice, and the track was really tricky all day. I qualified first, which was great because the gate position was definitely important today. From there, I got off to a decent start in the first moto in third. I was in second there for a while after the restart and then made the move for the lead and kind of managed it from there. In the second moto, I got another third-place start. I had a hard time getting around Austin (Forkner) in second, but once I did that, I was able to set my sites on Hunter (Lawrence). He was riding really well. I was able to close the gap, but there was no time to pass. Overall it was a really good day for me and the team. I feel like we did as much as we could, and our riding definitely has to be up there with the best that it’s ever been. So there’s a lot of positives to take away from that, and we’ll go into next weekend fighting.”
Daxton Bennick – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing“It was an exciting weekend at Budds Creek. That first race was wild, but I was able to capitalize on the restart. It felt good being up front and finishing fourth. In the second moto, I pushed a little wide on the start and kind of stayed around 10th, but then I got passed with a few laps to go, which put me seventh overall. We’ll go back to work this week and keep improving for the next one.”
Haiden Deegan – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing“The day was going really well. I was able to put a good lead on everyone in the first moto, then they red-flagged it, and we had a complete restart. I ended up crashing on the start, and from there, all I could do was keep charging forward for the rest of the day.”
Stilez Robertson – Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing“The day started off good in qualifying. I was fifth, which was good for me because I normally struggle a bit in qualifying. The motos were interesting, to say the least. We had another red flag in the first moto, and I had decent starts for both of the starts, but I just didn’t execute. In the second moto, I didn’t get as good of a start but was sort of in the same spot. Then I made one mistake and went off track and went backward. Then I just did my best to move through the pack and ended the day 12th. It’s not near where I want to be. So will put our head down this week and have one more weekend to try and put myself where we belong.”
Levi Kitchen - Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing“It was a rough day for me, to say the least. I just didn’t put myself in a good position all day and rode pretty timid. We’re going to go back to work and try and finish the championship off with a win at Ironman.”
2023 Pro Motocross 250MX Budds Creek Resultshttp://www.americanmotocrossresults.com/xml/MX/events/M2350/M2F2PRESS.pdf
2023 Pro Motocross 250MX Results Championship Standingshttp://www.americanmotocrossresults.com/xml/MX/events/M2350/M2F2POINTSPOSITION.pdf
2023 SuperMotocross World Championship 250SMX Combined Pointshttp://www.americanmotocrossresults.com/xml/MX/events/M2350/X2F2SMXPOINTS.pdf
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