Cooper Webb was definitely coming in as one of the most highly touted amateur racers in recent history and I believe after his week in Gainesville, FL, he left with the same hype. Coop more than made his mark right off in Supercross, claiming three titles out of a possible four chances. He finished third in 450 Pro sport, but it came down to four corners from the checkers as he was attempting a pass for the lead in the main. His advances were thwarted however, just missing out on the win. Webb was also notably contesting the 450 classes on a YZ250F. While he didn’t take the win in 450 pro sport, he still topped all the big bikes in 450 A.

Moving over to the outdoor portion of the week, expectations were certainly high after his supercross performance. Also on the long outdoor track, he would be at much more of a disadvantage on his 250 against the 450’s. The Gatorback track has several big uphills and many elevation changes. However, even with added challenge from the terrain, Mini Coop was able to almost mirror his supercross results. He again picked up 3 titles. The only difference being his improved result in 450 pro sport from 3rd in supercross to 2nd in motocross.

Mini O’s also has some distinguished awards that are very special. Webb was can now grace his mantle with two of them. He received the Pro Circuit Platinum Pipe award for being the best overall rider of the week, as well as the Dunlop Silver Tire Award for being the top scoring A class rider in a combined tally of supercross and motocross. Along with those awards Mini O’s also offers olympiad accolades. Those are also based off points combined from both disciplines. Coop won the olympiad for the 250 A classes and earned second place for his points in the 450 A classes. He actually tied in points for the 450 class, but ended up second as a result of a tie breaker.

Cooper Webb: “The week went pretty good. I ended up getting 6 championships. 3 supercross, 3 outdoors. Pretty happy with that. I felt like I definitely have something for the A class so that’s a good feeling. Like I said it was a good week and some good racing. I can’t thank everyone enough.”

Supercross:

250 Pro Sport 1st
250 A 1st
450 A 1st
450 Pro Sport 3rd

Motocross

250 Pro Sport 1st
250 A 1st
450 A 1st
450 Pro Sport 2nd

Anthony Rodriguez unfortunately was injured early in supercross and spent the rest of his week at Mini O’s walking around in a neck brace.

Anthony Rodriguez: “The week went pretty good in the beginning. I was really comfortable on the new bike. I was feeling really good coming into the 450 class. I picked the number seven gate pick so I thought that was really lucky. I was leading the race for a few laps and then went down in the whoops and sprained my neck, so that ended my week pretty early.”

Cooper Webb was definitely the standout for the Star Valli Yamaha Team. The track deemed as a mix of SX and Outdoor style disciplines last year, certainly leaned more towards the supercross side this year. This creates a bit of a challenge for most amateur riders, having never really been put on a legitimate SX track ever in their lives. These are the top kids in amateur motocross however, and at the end of the night Webb stood on top of the box. After an early Mistake in the first Moto, Cooper crossed the finish in 2nd place. With a two moto format though, the team knew he was in good shape. Then in the second moto, there was some contact on the start and Mini Coop briefly ended up on the wrong side of the tough blocks. This was going to make things tough coming back from about 8th in a 6 lap sprint. Don’t ever count Mr. Webb out though. If he needs to go faster at any point, it seems he always has some extra speed in his back pocket to get it done. This night was no different. He did exactly that. By the time the checkers waived, he had made his way all the way up to 3rd place. Just enough to take the overall win.

Cooper Webb: “I felt really good. I felt like I kind of showed everybody that I can run that pace and it’s just awesome to do it here in Vegas. Last year’s track was more of a hybrid and this year was almost full blown supercross which I love, so I had a blast. Maybe next year we’ll be doing it in the big class.”

Also riding for Star Valli in the Amateur All-Stars class was Anthony Rodriguez. After very little time on the bike he was able to finish a respectable 7th overall.

The sole professional rider for Star Valli Yamaha was Aledo, Texas’ Kyle Cunningham. Kyle is one of the guys typically contesting the lites class, but jumping to the big bike for this one race. You could clearly tell that Cunningham was still adapting to the bike and getting better throughout the day and into the night. After struggling with starts in the main events, he really rode smart races and had a night to be proud of with a 7th overall. Just finishing in the top ten is tough with how fast the current stable of 450 riders are going into 2013. KC will now head back and focus on getting ready for SX lites.

Kyle Cunningham: “I started out really bumpy in practice and the track was a little wet. Last year I had a big crash at this race and I was just telling myself to have in a nice show and some solid laps. I put my head down cause I’ve always ridden Vegas dirt really good. I charged and went 8th, 7th and 6th. I got better every moto and ended up 7th overall, so it was a good night.”

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