Image: Octopi Media.

After relinquishing the points lead in the 250MX class at Ironman, Justin Cooper spoke about his struggles over the last two rounds, admitting things have been ‘spiraling out of control’ in his bid for the championship.

As he makes a run at his first Pro Motocross title, Cooper has managed to land on every overall podium in Pro Motocross this season and avoiding any major drama along the way.

That is until rounds nine and 10 of the season, with the Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha rider finishing fourth in the most recent three motos, citing an illness as his demise in recent rounds.

While it’s not clear what’s ailing him, Cooper has now given up the points lead to Jett Lawrence, after holding it since round six at Spring Creek. He explained after round 10 in Indiana that he’s continued to leave everything out on the track despite the dip in results.

“Of course I’m just going to give it everything I have every time out and if I don’t have it I don’t have it,” Cooper explained. “That’s kind of what happened today, it’s very frustrating but I did what I could. I gave it my all in each moto and was just kind of floundering out there after about 15 minutes.

“So it’s a bummer and not how I planned the day to go, but we’re just going to keep fighting and make sure we keep giving it our all and that’s all we can really do. We can’t be mad at that.”

The reigning 250SX West champion evaded going into much detail, aside from explaining that he’s not had much time aboard the bike in the last two weeks.

“The last couple rounds have been rough. It’s a long season and it’s kind of been spiraling out of control these last couple of rounds. But we’re doing our best every time out and the sickness I caught last week, I really wasn’t feeling too good at all this week either.

“I didn’t get much time on the bike and kind of just not really myself out there today. So we’re gonna get some time in back in California this week, get back on the bike, get back on the program and come out swinging for Pala and make this thing come down to the wire.”

With the final two rounds taking place in California, a place where the New York native has spent a lot of time, he’s got a familiarity with both venues on his side as he looks to bring the championship down to the wire.

“I’m a California guy so those tracks, I’ve raced at them a bunch of times, so they’re pretty familiar to me. Just need more time on the bike this week, I kind of came into this race without any prep since Budds and it really hurt me today.

“Just going to put some motos in this week and turn this thing around, because the day didn’t go as planned and we’ve got to get right back into this. We’ve got two more rounds and we can’t let it go this easy.”

The penultimate round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship is set to kick off this Saturday, 3 September with the second stop of the year at Fox Raceway in Pala, California.