Image: Octopi Media.

Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper has been left feeling there was more on the table during Seattle’s 11th round of Monster Energy Supercross on Saturday night, with a late race fall relegating him to sixth place after battling for a podium.

Cooper was third with four minutes remaining in the 450SX main event, having been in the fight with the front-runners since the gate dropped. A deteriorated Lumen Field circuit eventually caught out the 27-year-old, who cross-rutted through a rhythm lane and crashed out of podium contention.

After taking a lap to regroup, Cooper would cross the finish line in sixth place to conclude the Seattle main event.

“I was in a good spot in the main event – third and fourth for most of it,” Cooper recalled post race. “I got around Kenny [Roczen] and into the podium spot with around four minutes left, and that’s pretty much when I crashed.

“I definitely felt like I could have at least gotten a podium tonight, but I felt like I had another push in me to fight with the top two. I was really waiting for mistakes, and that’s what I did myself. It was a tough track, I was hoping for more, but there was a lot to take away from it.”

The second-year 450SX class racer was in arguably the best form of his career in Seattle, posting the fastest qualifying time in the afternoon before making a pass on teammate Cooper Webb (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) in his heat race and capturing the win.

The main event incident cost him fourth place in the 450SX points standings, as he currently sits one point behind Malcolm Stewart (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing) entering round 12 in Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium this weekend.