Cooper Webb made it two Wednesday wins in a row, scoring a convincing win in the 14th round of the 2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship Series. Webb’s victory in SLC4, coupled with a P5 finish for Ken Roczen, moves Webb into P2 in the standings. Series leader Eli Tomac, who finished in P3, has a race+1 lead over Webb—27 points—and Webb is two points clear of Roczen, with three rounds remaining.
SLC4 started as a barn burner, with Roczen scoring the holeshot and Webb quickly slotting in behind Roczen. Webb’s lead over Roczen did not exceed one-second for the opening nine laps. Although Roczen was able to seize the lead briefly from Webb, Webb led all 26 laps at the finish line.
Webb was able to kick up his lead over Roczen to more than one second on lap 10, and laps 13 and 14 proved pivotal. Webb extended his lead over Roczen to 1.6 seconds on lap 13, and then to 4.2 seconds on the following lap when Roczen had a run-in with the Tuff blocks. At that point, Roczen’s challenge was over, and Webb breezed to the win.
“It was a great race,” Webb said. “I almost got the holeshot and led every lap, which is the first time I’ve been able to do that this year. Kenny was riding really well at the beginning. I made a few mistakes and we battled there for a second, but I regained focus and I was able to ride my laps and ended up getting a decent lead, which is nice. I feel like the first three [rounds] we’ve been battling down to the last lap, so it was cool to be able to enjoy that one a little bit more—not so stressful.”
Hindered by a breathing problem, Roczen’s woes mounted. On lap 17, Roczen surrendered P2 to Zach Osborne, and lost the last podium spot to Blake Baggett on lap 19. Two laps later, Roczen was dropped to P5 when Tomac effortlessly went by on the left-hand 180 after the finish line jump. Roczen finished over 16 seconds behind Webb, a considerable improvement over being lapped twice in SLC3.
Tomac suffered from a poor start after lining up on the inside of the gate and getting pinched off in the first corner. Finding himself in P13 after one lap, Tomac methodically moved through the pack as Roczen and Webb battled up front. Tomac hit the top 10 by lap 3, and was in the top five by lap 11 when he passed Martín Dávalos. From there, he got by Roczen on lap 21 and Baggett on the penultimate lap for the podium.
Osborne continues his rapid improvement at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. He has gone 5-3-4-2 in the four races, and led much of SLC3. Osborne went back and forth with Baggett for P3 for the first 11 laps before establishing himself in the spot for good. Osborne breezed past the fading Roczen on lap 17, and he was set for P2 for the night. Osborne finished five seconds off Webb’s pace, and over three seconds ahead of the charging Tomac.
Baggett was a huge surprise, as he had been battling fatigue issues in Utah. His 7-14-12 run in the first three SLC rounds did not suggest a P4 finish in SLC4. However, Baggett secured a strong start and kept himself in the mix, losing the podium spot to Tomac by less than one second. It was Baggett’s first top-five finish since San Diego.
Dávalos was able to convert a P8 start to a P6 finish, his second P6 in SLC. To get there, he dispatched with Justin Brayton, Jason Anderson, and Chad Reed, though Dávalos did lose a spot to Tomac on lap 11.
Anderson started in P7 and got by Brayton on lap 2. However, Anderson went down on lap 5, dropping him to P13. Anderson was only able to rebound to P7, only his fourth finish outside of the top five in 2020.
Dean Wilson, Aaron Plessinger, and Benny Bloss rounded out the top 10 in that order. Chad Reed ran in P5 for the first six laps before dropping back to P11—still his best finish of 2020.
Malcolm Stewart dropped out early with mechanical issues, while Justin Barcia crashed hard and out on lap 20. Barcia’s P21 finish moved Anderson ahead of him and into P4 in the 2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship Series.
The series resumes on Sunday for SLC5 with Tomac holding a commanding lead. In the unlikely circumstance that Tomac wins and both Webb and Roczen DNF, Tomac could win the championship this weekend. Check out our 2020 Supercross TV Schedule to make sure you don’t miss a moment of racing as the season concludes.
Photography courtesy of Feld Entertainment and Align Media
2020 Salt Lake City 4 Supercross Results, Rice-Eccles Stadium
- Cooper Webb (KTM)
- Zach Osborne (Husqvarna)
- Eli Tomac (Kawasaki)
- Blake Baggett (KTM)
- Ken Roczen (Honda)
- Martín Dávalos (KTM)
- Jason Anderson (Husqvarna)
- Dean Wilson (Husqvarna)
- Aaron Plessinger (Yamaha)
- Benny Bloss (KTM)
- Chad Reed (Honda)
- Justin Brayton (Honda)
- Justin Hill (Honda)
- Tyler Bowers (Kawasaki)
- Vince Friese (Honda)
- Kyle Chisholm (Yamaha)
- Broc Tickle (Suzuki)
- Alex Ray (Kawasaki)
- Kyle Cunningham (Suzuki)
- Carlen Gardner (Honda)
- Justin Barcia (Yamaha)
- Malcolm Stewart (Honda)
2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship Series Standings (after 14 of 17 rounds)
- Eli Tomac (Kawasaki), 322 points (7 wins; 10 podiums)
- Cooper Webb (KTM), 295 (3 wins; 11 podiums)
- Ken Roczen (Honda), 293 (3 wins; 9 podiums)
- Jason Anderson (Husqvarna), 245 (4 podiums)
- Justin Barcia (Yamaha), 241 (1 win; 3 podiums)
- Malcolm Stewart (Honda), 199
- Dean Wilson (Husqvarna), 191
- Zach Osborne (Husqvarna), 186 (2 podiums)
- Justin Brayton (Honda), 184
- Justin Hill (Honda), 179
- Aaron Plessinger (Yamaha), 173
- Blake Baggett (KTM), 164 (1 podium)
- Martín Dávalos (KTM), 153
- Vince Friese (Honda), 135
- Adam Cianciarulo (Kawasaki), 129 (2 podiums)
- Chad Reed (Honda/KTM), 80
- Benny Bloss (Yamaha/KTM), 77
- Tyler Bowers (Kawasaki), 77
- Kyle Chisholm (Yamaha), 69
- Kyle Cunningham (Suzuki), 48
- Ryan Breece (Suzuki), 34
- Alex Ray (Kawasaki), 30
- Broc Tickle (Suzuki), 24
- Justin Bogle (KTM), 24
- Chris Blose (Honda), 18
- Adam Enticknap (Suzuki), 16
- Daniel Herrlein (KTM), 8
- Ryan Sipes (KTM), 7
- James Weeks (Yamaha), 7
- Henry Miller (KTM), 6
- Carlen Gardner (Honda), 6
- Jimmy Decotis (Suzuki), 4
- Freddy Norén (Suzuki), 4
- Ronnie Stewart (Husqvarna), 3
- Jason Clermont (Kawasaki), 3
- Cade Autenrieth (Honda), 3
- Jerry Robin (Honda), 1
- Logan Karnow (Kawasaki), 1
- Josh Cartwright (Kawasaki), 1
