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i've never seen a guy look back at Cooper and NOT get dropped like Chris Brown's old lady
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*Doesn't count, bro.
Before I get lynched let's get one thing straight, it was very impressive and Cooper showed incredible heart. The fact he came from the back, beat Herlings and won in front of his home crowd was a great story. However, the entry list was more a case of 'Who the hell are they?' than a list of 'Who's Who'.
- Excluding Webb himself there were only 22 other riders in the second MX2 moto. Roughly half of which he was able to pass on the opening lap.
- 6 of those were American wildcards. Clearly Forkner & Harrison are top riders but the other four apparently struggle to qualify for Nationals, let alone score points regularly.
- Sanayei, Vaessen & Prado are EMX riders who have stepped up to race the last couple of GPs.
- Bulgarian rider Stoyan Rashkov appears to be a mid-pack Arenacross rider who doesn't even race outdoors.
- That left just 11 regular MX2 riders, of varying ability, on the line in Charlotte.
- There are countless riders absent with injuries at the moment, including; Ferrandis, Tonkov, Jonass, Petrov, Graulus, Brylyakov, Rauchenecker, Sterry, Watson, Justs & Mewse. These are typically 2nd - 15th place guys in MX2 and without them the class is particularly weak.
Webb is undoubtably faster than those guys, but they're also stronger riders than most of the guys that lined up in Charlotte. So I'm not convinced he would have been able to slice through the pack as easily with them in the mix. Had he managed to do what he did on saturday with a full strength MX2 field then fair enough, that might have put it within the realms of 'all time', at least for me anyway.
How would the AMA riders fare racing the MX2 class in their backyards,remember how Lommel went,care to predict how Webb and Forkner would place there or over a season of MX2 tracks where some are man made,not just the European ones?
I'll add it was an incredibble ride by Webb don't get me wrong but the odds were surely in his favour and many said Herlings wouldn't do anything
Spot on.
Herlings was definitely the better in moto 1, though i think Forkner could have done it had he not fallen
Webb was definitely better in moto 2
that's all that really matters. one race a year won't tell us anything, which is why it's so silly when anyone brings up the MXDN.
- 1978 Tripes. Hannah, Ellis decimating the Unadilla 250 USGP Field. Hannah fell in first turn broke a lever and went from last to 5th in a 45 +2 on a track slightly rougher than current day. Waxed everyone in 2nd. Americans 1-2-3. Carla, Mosiev, Falta etc etc finished behind
-1980 O'Mara took down all comers at a very muddy Mid-Ohio 125 USGP track. Everts, Rond , Geboers Rahier etc etc. finished behind
-1980 Moates wins perhaps the most important USGP - Carlsbad 500 class. The list of guys he beat is staggering.
There are many more examples. Beating Herlings is a great accomplishment, and Webb is going to be a major player in the sport moving forward.
Race times
1
Herlings 1,49.026
Webb 1,49.922
Forkner 1,49.971
2
Herlings 1,50.614
Webb 1,49.891
Forkner 1.51.027
From the 2 races,Webb maintained pretty much the same pace,he was as fast in both motos ,whereas Herlings put out significantly slower times in the 2nd race compared to the 1st
Herlings dropped the hammer on Webb with that fastest lap a string of 1.49's and 1.50's
2nd race he only got into the 1.50's 3 times
Whatever is said and done he wasn't quite the same rider,weather he gave 100% or not
Pit Row
There's been so much talk and rubbing salt in the wounds on here lately, people seem to forget about Forkner and his ride. For me, I'd have to say he was most impressive.
Webb and Forkner were both outstanding. I think we just witnessed the future 250 champion for the next few years coming out party and as for Webb this type of ride and win just adds to securing his legacy of US racers IMO.
Tomac crushed it and seemed to have his mojo for this race. Looking forward to the 450 class for next year.
I cannot wait to see him on a 450 full-time.
He's got the right stuff with his never-give-up attitude and never makes excuses.
Got to give credit to Cooper Webb though, he's a racer in every sense if the word. Any races like this that come up, whether it be USGP, MXoN, AUS SX etc. he always excepts the challenge and gives it 100%, and of course there is nothing to say that Webb couldn't have beaten Herlings if he was at his absolute best. He won the overall at the end of the day and that's what the record books will show
The number of riders that participate in MX2 yo-yo's throughout the season, The season typically starts with all the strongest riders present and when they move on to the European based GPs the gates are full. But over the course of time injuries and team budgets start to play a factor. When the last two GPs are staged outside of Europe riders and teams who have nothing to gain from racing don't tend to travel either, which means you're left with the situation we have now, with eleven MX2 riders taking to the gate. That's not representative of a typical MX2 field of riders however you slice it.
RV's performance at Budds Creek, O'Maras at Maggiora... even Dungeys ride at Southwick in 2011, those are what I would call 'all time' performances.
Forkner was faster 2nd Moto too,granted he had a blip and was generally slower that Herlings and Webb so may have let up later on but his times before were similar both motos
+1. I am not a big fan of both but TBH Herlings didnt get challenged like that since Roczen and Musquin. So now I rank Webb's performance next to Roczen and Musquin, which I would not have done before this race. I just hope now that his 450 will be as competitive to go for some podiums in his rookie season.
Post a reply to: Where does Webbs performance at USGP rank all time?