The North Carolina native was excited to begin another segment of the SMX championship via outdoor formatting in Joliet, Illinois, with a two-moto ensemble being the means of accruing a significant sum of points...giving him a platform to demonstrate consistency over the course of the evening’s itinerary in front of thousands of fans. Yamaha’s Webb was on-point throughout practice as he carved through the switchback section just before the finish-line, and proceeded to propel his way forward through the earliest laps of moto-one as well, where his pace would stabilize near a standing of eighth. Many inside lines were becoming the fastest way around the circuit, and with Adam Cianciarulo behind him as they sped through the first ten minutes of action, Webb knew that safeguarding the shortest distances would be paramount if he’d hoped to secure a high-profile(d) finish. Floating over the “SX” tunnel jump and flat-landing time and time again, his suspension would be compressed to the fullest extent as he sped down the straightaway thereafter, while continuously monitoring the gap that had amplified between he and his aforementioned amateur rival, Cianciarulo. He couldn’t be discredited as the fifteen-minute mark came to fruition, where he nullified the charge of Kawasaki’s Ty Masterpool (as well) until the checkered flag was set to be cast on the horizon...and with the dust settling for moto-one, it was Cooper Webb who eventually was solidified in an eighth-place residency. The following moto was an absolute brawl amongst adversaries in the top-ten, with athletes reaching for continuous high-speeds upon the Chicagoland circuit despite traction being at a minimum and braking bumps beginning to fill every facet of the raceway. The constant chatter that was on tap before riders exited the infield and onto the outbound portion of the raceway couldn’t be ignored, yet Cooper made sure that his strength when squeezing the handlebars was on par with what the racetrack was forcing. The roost from his rear wheel was pelting none other than Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson who trailed, but the veteran opponent was an athlete who refused to let Yamaha’s Webb go that easily as they made their way through the initial stages of the moto. After an array of passes would present extensive shuffling amongst Webb, Dylan Ferrandis, Aaron Plessinger, and Anderson, Webb would begin to respectively descend through the running order...though he was far from giving up as around five laps remained in this particular segment of competition. The gritty nature of the North Carolina native wasn’t going to allow Colt Nichols (who then trailed) to make his way by, and the multi-time champion “dug deep” aboard his newfound Yamaha while seeing the referee present the checkered flag atop the finish-line double. And as action eventually came to a close in the state of Illinois, it was Webb who was finalized in seventh for both the moto and overall standings, respectively.