Cooper Scores Second, Oldenburg Sixth In 250SX East at Arlington

17-02-2019

Cooper Scores Second, Oldenburg Sixth In 250SX East at Arlington

Justin Cooper kept his momentum rolling tonight, making another appearance on the podium at the second round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East Championship, Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. His Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing teammate Mitchell Oldenburg took another solid sixth-place finish to score valuable championship points.

Oldenburg and Cooper went 1-2 in heat race 1, with Oldenburg notching the win over his teammate at his home race. In the main event, Cooper came out of the gate fourth, while Oldenburg was sixth.

Cooper maintained a steady pace throughout the 19-lap main, in what was only his third-career supercross race. While a couple of riders ahead of him got caught off guard by the technically challenging track, he kept his cool and was able to advance to cross the line second at the checkers. It was the New York native’s second podium result in a row as he improved on his third-place result from last weekend in Minneapolis to finish in the runner-up position in Arlington.

Oldenburg got passed by a couple of hard-charging riders, but he held his composure and took advantage of some of his competitors’ mistakes to regain sixth position all the way to the finish line.

The Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing team’s 250SX East riders will race again next Saturday, February 23, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.

Wil Hahn

Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team Manager

We really started out strong going 1-2 in the heat and set the tone for the night. Unfortunately, when it counted, our start in the main hurt us. Luckily Justin came back to second, another podium for him and the YZ-250F. Mitch did what he could after letting the race go in the first few laps. He’s looking to learn from tonight and get the results he’s capable of.

Justin Cooper

Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing

It feels great to get two podiums in a row. Compared to last year we were sitting out the second round, so to start the season out like this is pretty cool. The track was pretty tough today, we just had to take what we could get out there. Still, big improvements, and we’re not going to stop here. The bike was great all day again. We’ll just keep searching for new things and keep trying to better our self each time we get out on the track.

Mitchell Oldenburg

Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing

The track conditions were tough tonight; it was super soft and rutted. I kind of got off to a slow start in the main again this week, but I was able to regroup fairly well and finish with a decent sixth. I’m really pumped on my heat race and how the practices went this morning. So I’m looking to build on this race and go to Detroit for the Triple Crown next weekend and come out swinging.