With three main events on the evening race schedule, race starts were more important than ever, and both Cooper and Oldenburg struggled all night to get out of the gate, which meant that the pair had to play catch-up as the laps wound down.
In main event 1, Cooper was fifth at the start, and Oldenburg tenth. Undaunted, both riders put their heads down and focused on moving towards the front. Although just his fourth Supercross round, Cooper showed some maturity in running his own race and was able to cross the line third after another rider went off the track on the final lap. His teammate also made great strides forward to finish sixth.
Main event 2 saw the teammates battle for position from the start with Cooper in seventh and Oldenburg right behind him in eighth. Oldenburg managed to get around Cooper, but Cooper re-passed him and won the battle for fifth at the finish with Oldenburg behind in sixth.
Once again, both riders came out of the gate in tandem in main event 3, with Oldenburg in sixth and Cooper seventh. Oldenburg unfortunately washed out his bike in a turn, which shuffled him back to ninth, but he was able to regroup and improve by one position with an eight-place result at the finish line. Meanwhile, Cooper got past two riders in succession and put himself in fourth. Then, on the final lap, he made a perfect pass for third and capped of his night with his second podium result.
The Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing team heads south to Atlanta, Georgia, where all four of the team’s 250SX East and West riders—Dylan Ferrandis, Colt Nichols, Justin Cooper, and Mitchell Oldenburg—will compete in round nine of the 2019 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship. The East-West Showdown takes place Saturday, March 2, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
