Red Bull KTM's Cooper Webb has one hand on the 2019 Monster Energy Supercross championship trophy after racing to victory at the penultimate race of the season held at East Rutherford New York.
In a thrilling race that had the crowd on their feet from start to finish, Webb claimed the main event holeshot and commanded the lead of the race, while championship rival and team-mate Marvin Musquin's championship run officially came to an end, as the French racer crashed in the first turn.
Webb's closest championship rival, Monster Energy Kawasaki's Eli Tomac, however, kept himself very much in championship contention and quickly moved into second position before attacking Webb for the race lead.
Tomac and Webb played a game of cat and mouse for a number of laps with the race lead changing a couple of times before Tomac built a comfortable lead.
At the halfway mark of the race, all of Tomac's hard work came undone with a crash in the whoops leaving him back in 5th place.
Up front, Webb came under pressure from Rockstar Husqvarna's Zach Osborne with the 450 rookie taking the lead away from Webb and looked on track to claim his maiden 450 victory until a mistake pushed him back to third.
Blake Baggett was the next rider to move into second place, but a fast charging Tomac had other ideas and worked his way back into second position to keep his championship hopes alive, while Baggett took his turn at a dirt sample.
With the race coming to a dramatic conclusion, Tomac for the second time in the race crashed in the whoop section, allowing Webb to cruise to a comfortable victory ahead of Osborne with Tomac able to recover and finish on the final step of the podium.
Bagget crossed the line in 4th, while Musquin recovered from his first turn fall to finish in 5th.
‰ÛÏOverall, I felt like it was a good race," Webb commented. "I felt like I rode in a nice pace that was consistent and I‰Ûªm not saying that the other guys weren‰Ûªt, but the mistakes they made were definitely the difference.
"I‰Ûªm happy, another win is incredible, and we‰Ûªre inching a little closer to the final goal.‰Û
