Founded by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1974, the AMA Supercross Championship races are held from January through early May. Supercross is an offshoot of the sport of motocross, which takes place on natural terrain. Supercross racing, while related, involves off-road motorcycles on an artificial, man-made dirt track consisting of steep jumps and obstacles. The tracks are usually constructed inside a sports stadium. The easy accessibility and comfort of these stadium venues helped Supercross surpass motocross as a spectator attraction in the United States by the late 1970s.
Among the obstacles, riders must navigate through every lap. The track takes a combination of obstacles such as whoop sections (where riders skim along the tops of multiple bumps), rhythm sections (irregular series of jumps with a variety of combination options), and triple jumps (three jumps in a row that riders normally clear in a single leap of 70 feet or more). Many of the turns have banked berms, but some are flat. It takes roughly five hundred truckloads of dirt to make up a supercross track. Soil conditions can be hard-packed, soft, muddy, sandy, rutted, or any combination thereof.
With a pair of 250SX Western Division Championships on his mantle, Cooper entered the rough and tumble world of 450SX competition last season to cut his rookie teeth. Webb didn’t start as strong as some would have hoped, but, by the Oakland round, he found himself on the podium and riding with a ton of confidence. He would win his heat 
race the following weekend in Arlington and had a lot of eyes on him to possibly win the main event. Instead, Cooper suffered a flat tire and his chances were dashed. Unfortunately, he would have a crash and injured his shoulder the following weekend in Minneapolis.
Webb would miss a few weeks, then he began working his way back into form worthy of placing on the podium. He was on fire at the Seattle round, running in the second position for most of the 450SX Main Event before crashing spectacularly. That would be about the end of the flashes of brilliance during his rookie campaign, but he had already proven that he has what it takes to win races and place on the podium.