Justin Cooper Unplugged | Words with the West Coast Points Leader

Monster Energy/Star/Racing Yamaha’s Justin Cooper turned in a clear-cut and dominant win at the Orlando 2 West Coast 250 Supercross opener, a performance that he admits surprised even himself a little bit as he suffered a broken foot only a few weeks prior. After taking a few weeks off to let the bone heal, Cooper had a special brace made for inside his boot, returned to the track, and got a few days of practice and testing in before heading to Orlando. There, he enjoyed a near-perfect day as he topped both qualifying sessions, holeshot both main event starts (red flag due to Alex Martin’s first-lap crash), and led every lap en route to his second career 250 SX win. Only a botched start in his heat race and an eventual second-place finish behind his teammate Jeremy Martin kept his day from being completely flawless. We caught up with the New York native as the series heads to Daytona this weekend.

Hey man, congrats on an amazing showing at the series kickoff! How did it feel? It was nearly perfect…

Pretty crazy. Honestly, if you take me back five weeks ago now when I broke my foot, I wouldn’t believe that things would have gone the way they did. At that point, I was just trying to get to round one and was going to see if I was even going to be able to salvage a top 10 or something like that. So I don’t know, I can’t believe I’m at this point, that I was able to get through the first round with a win and now we really have this pretty large break. Two weeks is a pretty long time and it’s going by slow, but we’re just trying to put in the work these couple of weeks and really try to catch up a little bit.

We’re in a good spot, but definitely still trying to get better because I know we didn’t really get the full time to prep, so just making little changes here and there and really just trying to get more fit and going from there. It was a great weekend and couldn’t have asked for much more. It’s just the start of the series and there’s a lot of racing left, and the plan is just to go out and put me in that focus again and try to do the same each and every race and take it one race at a time.

When you broke your foot, you had to have been thinking, “Oh shit, here we go again, behind the eight ball.” It wouldn’t have been the first time you started a series that way, but I think I saw you on your second or third day of riding and it didn’t look like you’d taken any time off at all.

Well, I was just so hungry going into this year. I got my shoulder fixed in the offseason right after the outdoor finale at Fox Raceway and I was like, “All right, I’m going to get on the bike and I’ll have a good month and a half to prepare, and I’ll be able to come in fresh and not like I was just coming off a long offseason.” It was all going to plan until that foot injury happened, and I was like, “Man, I just started getting going.” I was in a good spot and it was just going to be getting more fit going into the first round and ready.

So when that happened, I was like, “Now what do I do? Do I try and make it…” There were all these thoughts going through my mind for about two or three weeks, and I guess I made the decision with the team to just go for it no matter what. I even went to the doctor and got an x-ray after two weeks. That was stupid, because honestly what kind of healing are you going to see after two weeks? Even so, I was devastated when they said, “honestly, this looks the same as when you broke it.”

So I was like, “Man, it feels a little bit better, but I don’t know what to do. Is it smart to try and ride?” And actually the next week, it was the third week out, I jumped on the bike and it was definitely sore, but I could manage to ride a little bit. There was a lot of swelling after that and just had to tough through that a little bit, and just every week it got a little bit better and manage more manageable. I was able to get some seat time going into round one, which is nice, so it was four or five days on Supercross.

So it was tough, but right at the end, before we left for the race, I felt that I was even better than when I broke my foot, even fitness-wise. I never took a break. The day after I broke my foot, I was out doing everything I could. I was going to the gym and doing all the arm stuff for cardio.

Were you on the Airdyne with your foot propped up or something?

Yeah, I was on that and I was also on the SkiErg. I was sitting in a chair every morning. So I was sitting in the chair every morning for 45 minutes on the SkiErg. So I was just sitting there listening to music every day, working out and wondering, “Is this worth it? Is this going to pay off?” So it was definitely mentally tough and it really wasn’t looking good until right before the race, luckily everything went according to plan, and right as the race came around, it was go-time and I was feeling actually ready. So it all worked out.

So you got a plastic foot cover or something inside your boot, right?

Yeah. So when I broke my foot, it was because of the bike landing on it. I lost my front end in a corner and the bike came down on it and basically crushed a bone on my foot. This is like two weeks after, I was like, “I’m going for this, I’m going to try and make the Supercrosses.” So I went and saw Dr. Greenbaum and Dr. O’Connor, and he made this thing to go in my boot, it’s an insert. So I put my booty on, it’s like a plastic cast that protects the bottom, it’s a hard surface on the bottom, and then it rolls over the top of my booty where the break is. So if anything… I can’t really move it to where it would hurt it.

So even if someone came in and hit my foot directly, it would probably save it. It definitely gave me a lot of confidence and I felt that right away. I couldn’t really move my foot though. It was weird, it was different using the back brake and all that stuff, I didn’t have as much flex and stuff like that. I could feel it right away that it was going to be stable, it gave me a lot of confidence from there to go and try and ride Supercross. So that was another big part of it, that’s what made it feel so good for me. It was awesome what they were able to come up with.

Words of wisdom from team owner Bobby Regan.

Okay. If you take the two weeks between Orlando 2 and Daytona, is that then like six weeks, is that when you were officially released from your foot break?

Yes. So this past Monday was the six-week mark for me. (Laughs)

When a normal guy would get a thumbs up…

Yeah. The doctor said it would take six to eight weeks, but after the two weeks, when he saw nothing growing or anything, he said it might even take eight weeks to not feel any effects from it. So that was really a bummer deal for me. When I heard that, I really lost hope, because I was obviously doing everything I could for the two weeks going up to that and I was already over. I was like, “Come on, give me something to work with here,” and there was no good news. So it’s crazy how this is all thrown together.

Were you inside the CVAC machine every day to accelerate healing?

Yeah, every day. I would go for three sessions, so an hour every day. It’s not cool when you’re behind the eight-ball and you’ve got an injury, your days actually become longer because you’re trying to do all this rehab for it. And there’s a chance it’s not going to work, so it’s even more of a bummer. It feels good to finally be healed up, it’s not bothering me when I ride now. It’s very relieving to be in the spot I’m in. I put myself in a really good position.

I have this two-week break to get stronger, I’m really just… I was really just trying to get through that one, and I put myself in a good spot in the main event. I was sitting there at the gate, I knew my situation, but I was thinking like, “Hey, if I got second or third, would I be happy?” I couldn’t just picture it. I felt like I needed to win, and that’s where my mindset was the whole day, so it was good to pull it off.

Cooper holeshot both main event starts.

When you rolled in there, how confident were you?

There are so many nerves at the first round. I don’t care who you talk to, if they don’t say that they’re nervous, then they’re lying. So it was definitely more nerve-wracking with the injury. You tend to overthink things and how they’re going to go and how you want them to go. So I was definitely nervous the whole day. I expected to be good, but even after the second practice, when I saw I was a second faster than everyone, that caught me off guard. The track was terrible, but I wasn’t really laying it down and going for heaters, because I put it in a bunch of those times in. It was cool to see that, it definitely was a confidence booster, was just really nervous about my starts because I didn’t really put the time in I should have on those and the practice start and the heat race start, I screwed up pretty bad, so…

Yeah, I was going to say that. I think the heat race start was pretty miserable, but you came from way back to get second.

I must have been outside the top 10, so I had to make some quick passes there and just… You’re trying to make things happen so fast and there are so many things that can go wrong coming through the pack like that with guys that you’re faster than, they don’t really see you coming and they can move over on you and think you’re someone else. So I went back to what I know on the starts and was able to grab two holeshots, so that was big for me.

So you holeshot the first main event start and then the red flag came out. What goes through a guy’s head when he’s holeshot the main event and it’s red-flagged?

I got the holeshot in my first one, I thought, “Sick. I’m going to just ease into this. I didn’t want to throw it away on the first lap. I want to get into this and work my way through as the main goes on.” I knew I had the speed. So I started out at a good pace and just was feeling the track out a little bit because I knew they made some changes or graded some sections up. I’ve only been in a couple of red flag situations, I think one was in a heat race in 2019, and then this is, I think, I want to say it’s my second one.

And to be leading the main event at the first round and get red-flagged, I got back to the gate and I was talking to my mechanic. I was like, “Seriously? This happened?” But it was pretty gnarly watching the first start on TV later. You never like to see that; you never want anyone to get hurt. You’ve got to put yourself in their position. Obviously, with what I saw, there had to be a red flag, it was pretty bad. So once we got back to the gate, there was not much to complain about, it was over and done with. I just had to put myself back in the groove and do it all over again. And that’s exactly what I did, which is pretty hard to do.

I feel like a red flag and restart flusters you a lot. To get back up front and ride as I did, I was really proud of that, because it was… There’s a lot of nerves at the races, a lot of things are different than at the practice track. So to go out and be calm and do that all over again and ride really well during the races was perfect for me. I didn’t ride over my head and I didn’t try to do anything crazy. I just let the race come to me and was able to find a good, comfortable flow out there and keep an eye on second and just manage my race from there.

Okay. So I know that as a championship contender/favorite, you want to beat everyone. You want to beat the best of the best, but at the same time, when you see Jeremy Martin out—your teammate but also your biggest rival for the title—what does that do to your mindset when you’re lining up for the second start?

Honestly, when I saw that, it just reminded me how fast things can change in Supercross and how actually sketchy it can be in the middle of the pack like that. So it definitely really made me try to get a holeshot again, that’s for sure.

The first round is always chaotic, it always settles down after the first round. Everyone has a point to prove at the first round, and it’s really about getting through that chaos because you can lose the championship at the first round for sure. But I had a good start, so I just tried to maximize what I had. You got to take what you have and you got to maximize it. So that night, it was a holeshot and a win. It was three extra points, they are they’re important. For me, I’ve done it all. I have 15 podiums in Supercross, so I’m not really looking to rack up anymore, I’m looking to go after the wins.

Absolutely.

That’s where my mind has been since last year. I obviously had a lot of competition with Dylan Ferrandis and Austin Forkner last year, those guys were really pushing the pace. I feel like it’s my time this year and I’m really just trying to use my experience from the last couple of years. I feel like I’m just a better overall rider this year, even though I didn’t have it come so easy coming into the season, I feel like everything’s going perfect right now, everything’s lining up for me and I’m just going to take it practice by practice, race by race, and try to put myself in the safest best position I can and use my skills to finish off the job.

You and JMart were the senior riders on the team and you got the two rookies with you. Have you spoken to Jarrett Frye or Nate Thrasher about how their first rounds went? And then did they do as well as you thought they would?

It’s hard to tell. I’ve been a rookie. In my rookie debut, I got ninth, which is not what I was supposed to do. I was beating all the guys at the test track and everyone thought I was going to podium my first race. The nerves really get to you as a rookie. You don’t know what to expect and you don’t really know how it works yet. So I’m not really surprised, I’m glad they both made the main, but now I’m not really surprised that it didn’t go their way because they have a lot to learn. They’re going to get a start and they’re going to be able to run upfront and feel it out little by little.

They’re actually pretty close to me in practice days back at Yamaha, but you also have a track that they’ve been riding for two to three months. So it’s definitely a track they’re used to, but overall, I think they did well. I think they’re looking for much, much more, but in time, that’s going to be up to them. They’re going to have to put their focus on what they got to do, and whatever their goals are, I’m sure they’re going to reach them if they want it bad enough.

So we’ve got a lot of racing left, they’ve got a lot more opportunities, but I’m just trying to… They’re riding with me now, I’m trying to help them out with what they need help with. They have a lot of questions for me, so whatever they have questions for, I try to answer to my best capability and really just trying to help them. It is tough coming to the pros like this, so I’m here for all the advice they need. They look at me to try and follow what I do at the track and I guess whatever questions they need with the track, the rhythms, stuff on the bike, I’m here to help. So it’s good to play that role. I want to see them do good, obviously, we’re mates, and definitely would be nice to have some help with JMart also. If they’re out by the front, that’s better for me.

You took my GoPro at the Yamaha truck a couple of weeks ago, and when I was watching the footage, you were riding the same six-inch wide line, every lap. Is that just because on the test track, that’s the only line with good traction, or is it that you’re that precise all the time? If you followed your GoPro at the races, are you riding the same six inches the whole main event?

Yeah. So with the test track, there were about four or five bikes out there. So they water the track really good and it’s muddy in the beginning. So it gets that one main line, and it’s really hard, if you cut under that, it’s like ice. So almost all the guys are doing it with me, almost… It gets really deep and bumpy and it’s like, “Ah, this is really slow and I’m messing up every lap.” Then you’ll see all the riders start cutting down to the next line, and that’s really the only time they change, because the rest of the track is, we all have that one line and if we go anywhere else, there’s not a line there and we’re losing time.

So we’re trying to go as fast as we can for the motos that we do and the only time really is when a rut gets blown out or something like that, we want to find a little bit of a fresher line. If a bunch of people are taking that, then it’ll work itself in and that’ll be the new fast line, but not very much changes there. But at the race, before the night show, they grade everything and everything’s pretty tacky, there are not many places that are overwatered.

So you have a bunch of guys trying to make passes on the insides of the turn, so everything is cut in and you can go where you want to, but I would say it’s pretty similar. When I got out front, I used the same line every lap, I didn’t really switch out much unless one rut got a little bumpy, then you’d see a new line form and you just cut down a little bit, but I try to keep it the same. The only reason I’d really change up is for lappers or if I was coming through the patch, I think.

When you said you were managing the lead, how much of the main event did you say you rode at 100% effort?

100% effort, I would say three laps, the first three laps.  After the restart, I ran a 50… I was getting a lot of good times in, 50 to 50.5, and then something close to that. And no one else is in the 50s, so I got a little bit of a gap there. I was just trying to get a three-second gap so I didn’t have anyone coming on the inside of me or anything like that and I can focus on my own lines. I would say once I got the halfway board, I was just managing the lead from there. I wasn’t pushing hard, I was just focusing on hitting my marks and nailing every rhythm section and just keeping an eye on my gap.

You don’t get extra points for winning by 15 seconds, although it is nice. I was trying to get through that round and there was no reason for me to push any harder than I needed to. You get the same amount of points for each one. And that was a big one for me, I’ve only had one other win in my career and that was at Anaheim 1. This is only my second win, so it’s a big deal for me and I’m not going to do anything to throw it away. So once I felt comfortable with the lead, I just managed it from there.

Say McAdoo caught fire and started closing in, how hard is it to say, “Oh, I’ve got to up the pace?” Is it hard to go faster once you settled into a pace?

Yeah, definitely, but not something I couldn’t have done. I dropped pretty far off my best lap, which is a little bit strange, but I definitely was keeping an eye on it, and if it did happen to where he was going to come up and catch me, I had big enough of a lead to where if I saw he was catching me more than I liked, then I would have definitely stepped it up, it’s just a good spot to be in.

So I know not all of them are going to come easy like that, so I’m putting in all this work to weather nights where I face some adversity where maybe I don’t get a good start or something happens. There’s always going to be something that… It’s not going to go perfect all the time. So that’s what I’m trying to do for sure, but I’m also preparing and putting in the work to where I have to make a charge late in these races. So just trying to put everything I have into this and make the most of it and try to be really smart about it and think about it each time out.

You’ve been spending the time in between races in Florida, training and riding at the Goat Farm now, which you guys have taken over, correct?

Yeah. So the Star Racing team took over the Goat Farm and we rode there three days this week. I was bummed we didn’t race last Saturday; it’s gone by so slow these last seven days; it feels like Orlando was two weeks ago already. But I think overall, I think it’s better for me. I put in a really hard week this week with the guys and I really pushed myself this week. So we’ll take it down a notch this week, it’s going to rain here, I think. And we’ll get a couple of days in and then we’ll have press day at Daytona.

So that’s going to come quick and I am just really trying to get as prepared as I can. I know I was a little a bit behind, so just trying to do a little bit extra in this week off that we have before we knock it back down for next week. So we had a really productive week, we’ve pushed really hard and just, again, trying to prepare for the days that don’t go a hundred percent perfect.

Coming out and doing what you did in Orlando, not completely healed and not 100% fit, has to be encouraging because you’re going to get better and better.

I was really good last year. It was still my second full season last year and I really wanted to go after the championship, at the same time, I really didn’t have… I just feel like I wasn’t mentally where Dylan was at. I felt like he had something on me, his riding was definitely amazing.

I think it’s my time, and I feel like I’ve put in the results, put in the work, and I feel like I know what I need to do in order to win. Each practice means a lot to me, so just trying to make the most of every chance I get out on a racetrack and even the practice track, and just trying to use all the team’s info and resources.

What are your thoughts on the team acquiring Ricky Carmichael’s Goat Farm? You just bought your house in Southern California, but I think this week you were shopping for a house in Tallahassee, right?

Yeah, I put my deposit down today, actually.

Wow. You found one.

Yeah, I found one, it’s a good spot, it’s right in between my trainer’s house and the farm. So it’s exciting, it’s a new chapter for me and I feel like it’s a new opportunity to… I haven’t really trained on the East Coast much, I really haven’t had a facility to train at out here, so it’s going to be cool to get on some different dirt. It’s something we can do here from the East Coast. I’ve wanted to be on the East Coast for a while, I’ve been really jealous of the riders that stay in Florida.

When we come to the outdoors, we have five East Coast rounds, and flying back and forth to California gets old. I feel like the guys who live here are gaining something on us there, so I’m excited. Even this week, I’m driving to Daytona instead of flying from California. It’d be nice to be in the time zone and not having the three-hour time difference that always screws with you. So it’s cool, it’s different, it’s, again, a new chapter and looking forward to it.

Are you going to keep both houses?

Yeah, that’s the plan right now. We’re probably going to be here for quite some time, so once I… I think we’re going to make the full move probably after outdoors, I might come here in between a couple of rounds, but the full move is going to be in October. So I plan on renting my house out there in California. It’s already gone up a bunch in value. It’s in a good area and I want to keep it for now. And who knows, maybe I don’t see myself going back there anytime soon and I’ll sell it, but until then, I’m just going to keep it for now and see how things go in the next few years.

How do the property values and housing costs differ between SoCal and Florida?

They’re pretty similar. It’s really hard to buy on the main highway in Tallahassee. It’s really hard to get off that kind of highway, and everything boosts in value. You have to go out a way and you can get nice land and a nice house pretty much out of the way of where you need to be, so in order to find both, was actually pretty difficult, but we were able to secure a spot that has a really good location and it’s a new community going up. So the house won’t even actually be done until September. So it all worked out perfectly, so I’m really pumped about it. It took a while, but finally, I found a spot.