Image: Octopi Media.

After well-documented struggles in the opening portion of the 2021 Pro Motocross championship, Cooper Webb made progress ahead of Southwick that led him to his first top-five finish of the season.

As the 2021 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship came into round five, the reigning 450SX champion had a seventh-place as his best finish so far this season.

Webb found his rhythm in the sands of Southwick, notching 6-5 moto scores en route to a fifth-place overall, stating his riding was better than previous rounds.

“I made a lot of progress this week so I came into today pretty happy with things and I felt like my riding was a lot better than it has been,” Webb explained. “Today was definitely a lot better of a day and I’m happy with the progress in a short amount of time, so hopefully we’ll continue to get better from here.”

While it’s unclear what changes led to , Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas) alluded to big changes made on the GasGas side of the KTM Group umbrella following Southwick that led him to a podium finish.

Admitting that he was unsure what the Red Bull KTM team was running, he noted their improvement in round five as well.

“I think, you know, everyone has been struggling a little bit,” Barcia explained. “I think Cooper [Webb] was struggling a little, Marv [Marvin Musquin] maybe a little and they seemed like they were a little better this weekend.

“I’m not really sure what they were on, I don’t really keep up to date on that. But at least for me, super stoked on the direction we went and everyone working together and yeah, super happy with the changes.”

Webb now sits eighth overall in the championship, as the series heads to Millville for round six at Spring Creek.