Image: Octopi Media.

Newly-crowned 250SX West champion Justin Cooper said his night ‘felt a little like a disaster’, following a crash in his heat race and an eventual ninth-place finish in the final Supercross race of the season in Salt Lake City.

A championship night to remember was a night to forget prior to winning his first 250SX championship, as Cooper saw struggles throughout 250SX Showdown at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

The first of which was an opening lap crash in the heat race after contact with title-rival Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) that forced a comeback ride from last to eighth in order to secure his spot in the 250SX Showdown.

In the main event, the Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha rider’s gate tough gate pick didn’t make anything any easier for him and he eventually found himself hovering around 10th for most of the race.

“It honestly didn’t go that well tonight and the night show felt a little like a disaster,” Cooper explained. “I just stayed mid-pack and knew what I had to do to bring it home.”

Cooper started the championship slightly under-prepared, lining up for the first race in Houston just three weeks after breaking a bone in his foot during a practice crash, with many questioning if he’d be able to be competitive in the opening rounds of the series.

“Really, really pumped for the team and for myself to pull this year off like this seeing where we were before the season,” he continued. “It feels great, like Colt [Nichols] said, it’s really not setting in yet but I’m sure it will over the next few days.”