Cooper Webb, Jason Anderson On Lappers Following Tampa Supercross

Since the dawn of Supercross, lappers have been a seemingly insolvable problem. Some races more than others, but it is inevitable that at points in the season, this problem rears its ugly head.

Saturday night in Tampa was one of those times.

Late in the main event, Ken Roczen tried to split two lappers entering the sand section and collided with Jeremy Hand. Roczen and Hand both hit the ground hard. While Roczen was able to get back up quickly, his chain derailed in the crash and he was unable to finish the race. He was credited with 21st place, earning just one championship point.

In the thick of the title chase entering round 4, this was massive as Roczen is now 18 points behind Chase Sexton heading into Detroit this Saturday.

After the race, Cooper Webb and Jason Anderson talked about the situation with lappers in the main event.

“In the heat of the moment, I probably said some stuff,” said Webb who finished second in the main event. “I mean the bottom line is, we saw what happened to Kenny [Roczen] and it ruins a championship riders’ night. It’s plain and simple, it really is. I get they are going for their positions. They are going for paychecks. I have a lot of respect for anybody that’s on the track but it’s the age-old question: what is the right or wrong thing? I personally feel like there should be penalties enforced. Whether its points or money. And that’s my personal opinion. In every other form of motorsport, the lapper always moves over… in my opinion that’s how it should be here at this level. We just costed Kenny, you know, one his health potentially and two, a championship potentially.

“I think it should be as simple, if the blue flag is out, in my opinion… these guys are racing the guys behind them,” he added. “You should not be allowed to gain time or position if you’re a lap rider. You have to make way, no one can pass you, you can’t pass anybody until the race of the leaders get by you and then you race on. And I think if you don’t abide by that, there should be a penalty, whether it’s a position penalty or a time penalty… something along those lines.”

Anderson, who finished third, said the following:

“I just feel whenever I have a bad night and I’m getting lapped, I’m going dam near off the side of the track because I know the situation that we’re in. Like Coop said, I completely respect when they are on the track and stuff like that, but you catch up to some guys and you see them trying to make time up on the other guy when the blue flags are out. Like they are using it to their advantage. It’s just tough when the main race is going on right there with them. So it’s hard to knock them for it because obviously they are making a living what they are doing, but at the same time we are threading the needle these guys to win the race and when they are trying to cut off the guy in front of them and we are trying to pass them and we are lapping them it’s just… two different races and it can cause havoc. You know it sucks for Kenny because I was right behind him, and he literally did nothing wrong. You know, it was just a crappy situation.”

Images: @octopi.media