Justin Cooper Wanted The Mammoth Wins More Than The Competition

Justin Cooper believes that the secret to his success was that he wanted to win more than the Mammoth Mountain MX competition and one would be hard pressed to argue.

Jun 28, 2017 by Race Chapman

Justin Cooper Wanted The Mammoth Wins More Than The Competition

By Race Chapman

If you've been living under a rock, you might not have known that the 50th annual Mammoth Motocross took place last week near Mammoth Lakes, CA. And in that case, you also wouldn't know about the unbelievable accomplishments of Justin Cooper, an amateur (for the next few months) Yamaha racer who won every single race he entered against some of the fastest motocrossers in the country.

Mammoth is known as an "amateur event," but the Pro class is still a Pro class. Riders such as recent factory racers Darryn Durham and Zach Bell, current Supercross racer Nick Schmidt, RJ Wageman, and blazing fast up-and-comers including Joey Crown, Chase Felong, and Enzo Lopes all signed up for the event. For Cooper to put his name in front of every single one of those fierce competitors and to do it in every one of the six Pro motos is nothing short of extraordinary.

Suffice it to say... we had to chat with Cooper.

FloRacing: What were your expectations going into the event?
Cooper: Well, being my last year as an amateur, I expected to do good, but obviously it's pretty hard to think you'll go 6 for 6. But that was the plan, and I took it moto by moto and that's pretty much how it went down. You can't look into it--you can't get too far ahead of yourself before it happens, so you just got to take it one moto at a time. And I expected to win, but I didn't really expect to go undefeated.

Where was your head at before the last moto? Having won 5 of 5 were you pretty nervous or just confident that you would get the win?
Well, yeah, for sure after the fifth moto, going into the sixth moto I was definitely the most nervous, and I felt a lot of pressure going up to that moto. It was definitely hard. The competition was tough, so I put a lot of pressure on myself to get out front early. I think the most pressure was on the start to be honest and cause I had to get a holeshot and then put my head down and charge for like half the moto and then just stabilize the lead from there.

What do you think made the difference for you compared to the rest of the competition?
It's just wanting. You just want to be out front. So if you don't get the start then you really have to put your head down and make quick passes and be aggressive early. Because you need to be out front and you can't wait, because then it's just kind of out of your control from there. If you settle, then it's hard to get to the front. So basically just being aggressive and getting out front as fast as you can is key and take it from there.

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Had you raced Mammoth in past years?
Nah, actually I had to do this race for my team and my first time out there and I figured I'd give it a shot since it's my last year. And I've always wanted to go there; I've watched it pretty much every year and I haven't gone. So it was cool to definitely get out there and race the track.

What do you think makes Mammoth unique compared to other big events?
Well, first of all it's like it's the 50th year. It's the longest-running amateur race, so there's a lot of hype around it, I guess. It's just different! It's in the mountains so the altitude affects all the riders, and it makes it a lot harder. And the longer motos for the pro classes make it pretty unique. I was pretty happy to get out there and especially to get 6 for 6 there.

Did you get a chance to do any of the "fun" stuff outside the racing?
Being that it's my last year of amateurs, it's pretty much coming down to strictly business--to just racing. But I had some fun while we were there. I explored the town a little bit and was able to get out to the pit bikes races, too. My mechanic was actually racing the pit bike races so he borrowed my helmet and all that, and that was a good time. I was able to get out there and watch that.

Where will you be carrying this momentum?
I'll be doing Loretta's, and then I'll be going straight to the last three pro nationals.

What was your favorite part of the Mammoth event?
Just being somewhere new, that's always fun. And I mean I really enjoyed the town, to be honest. It's probably one of the coolest towns around a race, and just all the scenery and all that was pretty nice to see.

Who helped you accomplish this amazing feat?
Yamaha, Cycle Trader, Rock River, Blu Cru, Thor, 6D, Scott, Roost, FMF, Tamer, Alpinestar, GYTR, Adrenaline World, Slakawear, Boyesen, Twin Air, Dunlop, Renthal, Motion Pro, VP Fuels, Enzo, GUTS, Yamalube, Ryno Power, Asterisk, Ethika, and my family!