race recap
JUSTIN COOPER - GRIT 244 450SX
May 20, 2024
GRIT-244 |450 SX
May 20, 2024 9:45 am
After examining the track amongst a myriad of practice sessions, New York's Justin Cooper and the Star Racing Yamaha team would be eager to begin the three main events that were set to follow. This unique Triple Crown Format wasn't too often encountered, and nearly simulated a heat-racing style of mentality rather than a prolonged, twenty-minute battle of sorts. Nevertheless, he was ready to accelerate as he stormed into turn number one, trying to dodge the roost from his opponents motorcycles to the best of his abilities. Launching over the "SX" triple around bikes that were two and three wide, he would land from the obstacle with authority before jumping into the rhythm combinations that followed. He was mindful of not getting too close to the rear tire of fellow New Yorker Justin Barcia though (after being passed in the initial stages by him), as many opponents would sweep from outside to inside in the corner after the consecutive plateaus - which could subsequently cause him to crash, or almost certainly stun his momentum. He was methodical when making passes, capitalizing on the array of lines that had been trenched from start to finish in the whoop section; racing along a balance beam of sorts before ducking into the accompanying right-handed corner. Those patterns were sustained from green to checkered for the entirety of the first segment, where he retained eleventh behind Honda's Hunter Lawrence at the checkered flag. The opportunity to make passes would come rather quickly for the next event, as opponents around him like Adam Cianciarulo and Shane McElrath were somewhat delayed in making specific line choices. He wasn't showing any caution as he leapt into the "wall of a berm" per se before the mechanics area, ricocheting from the edge with the rear wheel generating as much power as possible! McElrath (who trailed) couldn't seem to close the gap as the race pressed past the halfway point. And even amongst the final quarter of the moto, he thrived...leading to an end result of eleventh after battling with Hunter Lawrence and Justin Barcia. The whooped-out sand section now had multiple distinct lines carved amongst the rollers, and as he transitioned from sitting to standing while defending the eighth-place position from Malcolm Stewart (after Cooper originally began in sixth) he seemed relentless as others began to fatigue. He was constantly combatting the charge of the Husqvarna rider, who wasn't going to cease in aiming forward and attempting to overtake him. As moments began to close-in on the checkered flag, all sign(s) would lead to him garnering an eventual position of seventh, just ahead of the Floridian and Aaron Plessinger as well...concluding the three-trace sequence with a well-deserved tenth-place overall.