Image: Octopi Media.

Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb has explained that he left it all on the line during Saturday night’s 450SX main event in Philadelphia, as a come-from-behind ride left the current championship points leader with second place.

Caught up in the first-turn incident triggered by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Aaron Plessinger, both Webb and title-rival Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) spent the rest of the main event making their way to the front together.

A pass on race leader Ken Roczen (Progressive Ecstar Suzuki) and a couple of sprint laps by Sexton left Webb with a four-second deficit by the time he made the move on the number 94, which at that point was too much to overhaul.

“It was definitely a unique race, we were both coming through the field together,” recalled Webb of his main event. “I knew that when Chase [Sexton] made the move on Kenny [Roczen], he’d throw down a couple of fast laps, which is exactly what he did, right? So, perfectly executed by him, and he got the better of me tonight.”

Two weeks in a row, Webb has been asked whether there was any intention of riding conservatively with a championship mindset, to which he has dispelled on both occasions.

“I was going for it,” continued Webb. “There’s a fine line of risk management, but it was all-out effort [for me], that was everything I had in trying to win and I think it was the same for him [Sexton], we were on the limits of what the track would give us.”

With his second-place ride, Webb’s lead atop the 450SX class standings was cut to 12 points, with four rounds to go in this year’s season.