With a fourth-place finish at the season-ending round of the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing competitor Cooper Webb nailed down his third AMA Supercross 450SX Championship. Upon doing so, Webb, at age 29 years and six months, became the oldest racer ever to claim the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship. Furthermore, with the possession of the 2025 title, Webb joined full-on legends Bob Hannah and Jeff Stanton as three-time SX Champions.
By Eric Johnson
A championship season underlined by determination and extraordinary consistency—Webb won five main events and stood on the podium 13 times—the native of Newport, North Carolina, now enters the 2026 season ready to make a run at Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship number four.
I caught up with Cooper during the off-season to discuss the 2025 Supercross season, the “off” season, and the upcoming championship.
“Yeah, man, busy. Busy for sure,” said Webb, several days after placing third overall in round three of the 2025 FIM Supercross World Championship at Cbus Super Stadium in Australia. “We just went to Australia, and then we had our 2026 team photo shoot, and we’ve also been developing the 2026 YZ450F. It’s a new bike, and we just have stuff to run through. Last year’s bike was awesome, so it’s just whenever you get a new bike, there is always a little bit to run through and all these goods and bads. I’ve been doing that kind of thing, but other than that, it’s all good.”
“This may never happen again, so I’m going to enjoy the heck out of this one.”
Webb has had the hammer down, and it is all systems go well into a month of testing and training in December.
“Yeah, it is wide open,” explained the 30-time 450SX main-event winner. “I had the Yamaha Wall of Champions dinner in Georgia. Then we started back to our normal training after that. We also had the Feld Supercross media day over in Anaheim, California, so December has been wide open. Then you have Christmas, so it is kind of the crunch time before it gets really hectic. Obviously, for me, having a great year last year, there are a lot of obligations we have with sponsors and the team and stuff like that. That’s part of it when you are the Champion of the Supercross series.
“And I’m glad I just did the Australian World Supercross race. It was cool. It was honestly killer in Australia. We had a great time on the Gold Coast. It was a beautiful area. The beaches were stunning. The event was sold out. The fans were awesome. The track was pretty good. Honestly, it was a lot of fast guys. It was me and Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen and Jason Anderson. We had the young gun Haiden Deegan there. A lot of top-notch talent and a lot of champions. It was kind of strange to race Haiden and then to race Eli Tomac on his new bike. It was definitely kind of crazy with the feelings. It was good. I was able to get on the podium and got a race win in one of the motos. Overall, it was a great experience. My wife went and we had a great time.”
Looking back on 2025, Webb says, “Yeah, 2025 was incredible! It really was. It was an awesome year. For me, the Supercross Championship is what I strive for year after year. To be able to achieve that was excellent. It was my third one, which is incredible to think about. It’s a short list of people who have been able to do that, right? Just the way it happened on this Star Racing Yamaha team was so fulfilling. It had been four years between championships for me. I’m now the oldest Supercross Champion in the sport. I made a lot of incredible memories with the Supercross season. Overall, with the motocross and SMX, those were consistent. We were top five in those races. So yes, I’d say overall, it was a solid and amazing year. We checked off the big box with the Supercross Championship, and I couldn’t ask for much more.”
“For me, the Supercross Championship is what I strive for year after year. To be able to achieve that was excellent.”
Webb’s first AMA Pro race took place at Hangtown on May 18, 2013. The 12-year veteran explained that the 2025 Supercross title fight took all the experience and wisdom he’s accumulated over the years and put it to very good work.
“2025 took everything I had experience-wise. We’re racing some of the best of all the generations now. We’re racing against the younger guys, the guys my age, the guys like Eli and Kenny who are a little bit older. I mean, it’s by far the most stacked this class has ever been. There was some injury stuff I had to deal with here and there, but I put myself in a good position. To go head-to-head there with Chase Sexton at the end was pretty gnarly because he’s such an amazing athlete and champion of our sport. He’s probably one of the most talented guys to ever do it. For me it was perseverance. After four years of not winning, with ups and downs, ebbs and flows, injuries, team changes, and all that kind of stuff, just winning was awesome. Things were kind of stacked up against me, so when I was able to push through it and get a championship, not only for myself, but for everyone involved, it’s awesome. As I said, for us, year after year, the main goal is Supercross, and I was able to accomplish that goal in winning the Supercross Championship.”
So, what does it feel like being the oldest Supercross Champion in the 54-year history of the championship?
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, if I’m honest!” said Webb, who was born on November 10, 1995. “It’s pretty special, you know? It is a record, and I don’t know if it will last forever, but for the time being, I’ll hold onto that, right? I just think it shows how good we are. I just turned 30, and there are guys two and three years older than me who are still winners and champions. I honestly think that shows what caliber of riders we are. We can still do it past our prime. I think your prime is usually 23 to 27 years old, right? So, for us to extend that and still be winning a little bit past the prime is super special.”
Webb recently stated in the global motocross media that, he is not Jett [Lawrence], or Chase or Eli, but he is “Cooper Webb.”
“Yeah, I think each racer, we all have our specialties and some of us do things better than others, but yes, as I said, I am Cooper Webb. I have a lot of great talents and attributes myself. Maybe I’m not the flashiest guy when it comes to style and all that, but right now I am currently the most winningest racer in the sport. I’ve got three championships, right? I must be doing something right.”
And for Cooper Webb, that something is focusing purely on winning.
“That’s 100 percent right. I strive for that every time I’m on the line. I want to be competitive and go for the win. There might be races where I’m winning, and everything is great, but there might be some bad races too, where you’re not jelling and maybe competing as well as you want to be. I think once you win, especially when you become a champion, it becomes addictive, right? You strive to have those feelings year after year, and as long as I feel that I can still win championships, that’s what’s keeping me motivated to keep going. There can only be one champion, right? We all work hard, have great equipment, and sacrifice a lot, but as I said, I do pride myself on that. In Supercross, I probably am one of the most mentally tough competitors on that gate. Even right now, I’m headed home from the track at 5:15 in the evening. There are other riders who might not want to do that. Trust me, I have a wife and two kids at home, and I would have loved to be home four hours ago, but the effort it takes to be successful and be the champ at the top of this sport requires you to be all-in across all aspects. But that’s what I enjoy about it. It’s honestly pushing the body and suffering. And mentally, I go to the starting line, checking all the boxes.”
The great Ricky Carmichael recently referred to Cooper Webb as a “warrior and fisher.” Certainly, a high praise from the GOAT that didn’t go unnoticed by Cooper Webb.
“It means a lot,” said Webb. “He’s the GOAT. I might not be as successful as he was by any means, but I think maybe my mentality and the way I do things does remind Ricky of himself. He was willing to do whatever it takes to win, and it might not be the prettiest, but he’s going to learn and push himself to be there every time. For me, it’s important that every time I line up in Supercross that I feel like a contender and can win the championship. That means a lot. Bring on 2026 Supercross. I’d love to repeat, right? That’s the goal.” CN
Click here to read the Cooper Webb Interview in the Cycle News Digital Edition Magazine.
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