2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Round Seven – US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis

Report by Trevor Hedge – Images by Jeff Kardas

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450 Heat One

Chase Sexton scored the holeshot ahead of Ken Roczen and Eli Tomac, Justin Brayton and Kyle Chisholm.  Tomac squeezed past Roczen after the German made a small mistake. 

That order up front never changed for the remainder of the Heat.  Sexton taking victory by 1.6-seconds over Tomac and Roczen a further two-seconds back. 

Aaron Plessinger and Marvin Musquin worked their way past Justin Brayton to take fourth and fifth respectively. 

450 Heat One Results

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450 Heat Two

Vince Friese celebrated his first 450 race of the season by scoring the holeshot in his 450 Heat ahead of Cooper Webb, Justin Barcia and Malcolm Stewart. 

Friese held on to that lead for the first two laps but eventually Malcom Stewart made a great move to take the lead.  It took Cooper Webb a little longer to work his way past Friese but he made his way past to take second place.

Dylan Ferrandis and Jason Anderson then pushed Friese further back to fifth on the penultimate lap.

Barcia had been as high as third but a late fall cost the GASGAS man a number of positions, eventually finishing seventh. 

Malcolm Stewart the victor for Husqvarna with a clear six-second buffer over Webb. 

450 Heat Two Results

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450 Main

Cooper Webb scored the holeshot ahead of Jason Anderson, Chase Sexton and Malcolm Stewart when the gates dropped for round seven of the 2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship. 

Championship leader Eli Tomac went down on the face of a triple early on the second lap after having to evade his Monster Yamaha Team-mate Dylan Ferrandis.  Tomac had been relegated all the way back to 20th place by the time he was back up and running. 

Cooper Webb led Chase Sexton by just over a second over most of the opening laps. Sexton was chasing Webb hard and made a few small mistakes but eventually overhauled Webb with just over 14-minutes remaining on the shot clock. 

Shortly after losing the lead Webb was then pushed further back to third by Jason Anderson. Malcolm Stewart and Marvin Musquin were not far behind that pair, running fourth and fifth ahead of sixth placed Roczen. 

Sexton had steadily built a three-second lead over Anderson by half race distance. 

Eli Tomac had worked his way up to tenth by that halfway point of the race. It took quite a few laps for Tomac to get the better of Plessinger but he then made short work of Roczen to move up to seventh.

Malcolm Stewart was looking to have a podium wrapped up but he went down with just under three-minutes left on the clock. That allowed Marvin Musquin to move up and take that third place. 

22-year-old Sexton continued to pull away in the second half of the race, maintaining a gap of around three-seconds over Anderson only to falter just as the shot clock his zero!  

Sexton went down hard after losing the front on the face of the jump situated just out of a left-hander after the finish line. His bike didn’t make the jump but his body did,  slamming into the face of the next jump!  Sexton struggled to get up for a long time and never managed to get back on his motorcycle, but was still credited with a 16th place finish and seven-points.

Sexton’s late mistake saw Jason Anderson the victor over Cooper Webb by three-seconds.

Marvin Musquin rounded out the podium ahead of Malcolm Stewart and Justin Barcia.

Eli Tomac came from the back of the field all the way through to sixth place for 17-points which saw him maintain his championship lead, but his buffer trimmed to only three-points over Anderson. 

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450 Video Highlights

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450 Main Results

450 Post Race Press Conference

450 Championship Standings (Round 7 of 17)

250

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250 Heat One

Josh Osby scored the holeshot to kick off his 250 East campaign ahead of Pierce Brown and Kyle Peters and that trio remained up front over the course of the opening lap. Stilez Robertson also started well. 

Pierce Brown moved through to the lead on lap two and from there was never headed, the GASGAS rider taking victory.  

Jett Lawrence took a steady approach to the start of his season, running seventh in the early laps behind Jeremy Martin and Max Vohland. Jett then worked his way past Martin halfway through the race, then sneaked past Vohland on the following lap to move up to fourth. 

With two-minutes remaining Jett Lawrence was 1.5-seconds behind Robertson, and three-seconds behind Peters, but the young Australian then put the hammer down to pass and pull clear both of them to take second place. Jett crossing the line four-seconds behind winner Brown, but setting the fastest lap of the race by more than half-a-second to underline his speed. 

250 Heat One Results

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250 Heat Two

Mitch Oldenburg didn’t even get out of the gates in the second 250 Heat, his Honda failing to fire and leaving him to watch on from the sidelines. 

Rookie Levi Kitchen stole the holeshot from Jordon Smith with a great move in turn one. RJ Hampshire was quickly up to third ahead of Austin Forkner and Phillip Nicoletti. 

Kitchen mate a mistake on the second lap which saw him lose the lead to Smith and RJ Hampshire then pushed him further back to third. Austin Forkner had a huge moment while running fourth but somehow managed to stay on the motorcycle and retain that position. Nicoletti then did squeeze past him but the two had a coming together from which Forkner came out on top.

With two-minutes to run on the shot clock Jordon Smith led Hampshire by just over a second while Kitchen was a further three-seconds back in third. Hampshire closed Smith down though to take the victory. Kitchen held on to third despite a late charge from Forkner. 

250 Heat Two Results

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250 Main

Jett Lawrence kicked off his season in fine style with a good gate and the early running saw the 18-year-old Aussie chasing Austin Forkner around the opening lap before making his move early on lap two to take the lead. 

From there Jett was never headed.  A dominant victory over five-seconds ahead of Forkner and the only rider in the main to record a 48-second lap.

Likewise Cameron McAdoo was soon up to third and then held that position all the way to the flag despite advances from Jeremy Martin and RJ Hampshire. 

A perfect start to Jett’s 2022 campaign saw the youngster throw his goggles into the crowd, followed by his gloves. 

Jett Lawrence – P1

“The run up into this, since I got here, I have been freezing my butt off, I have to give it to the people that live here, I have mad respect for you guys, I am out there with about 15 layers of clothing on. So excited today, I was so excited, even at the gates I was smiling and so happy to be back, so awesome, you don’t get that adrenaline from anything else.  The track is so technical, I cased a couple of times, might have some mud in the back of the pants from those sketchy moments. Can’t wait for next time out in Dallas.”

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250 Main Video Highlights

250 Main Results

250 Post Race Press Conference

250 East Championship Standings (Round 1 of 9)

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Source: MCNews.com.au

2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Round Six – Anaheim III

Report by Trevor Hedge – Images by Jeff Kardas

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450 Heat One

Dylan Ferrandis went down at turn one in the opening 450 Heat when Eli Tomac closed the door on him as they entered the turn. Ferrandis would have to contest the LCQ.  

No such drama for Justin Barcia who dominated the Heat.

Justin Brayton was second for most of the contest before being chased down and passed by Marvin Musquin.   

Eli Tomac had to work his way past Webb and then Brayton to take third place. 

450 Heat One Results

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450 Heat Two

Jason Anderson topped qualifying despite having a crash in practice that saw the Kawasaki man go down towards the end of a series of whoops. Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton could not avoid him and all three clashed. All emerged okay and Webb displayed some great sportsmanship by leaving his own bike in the dirt so he could pull Sexton’s bike off the top of Anderson.

Jason Anderson bounced back from that qualifying mishap to score the holeshot in his 450 Heat ahead of Aaron Plessinger and Shane McElrath. Chase Sexton was fourth at the end of lap one while team-mate Ken Roczen was down in sixth just ahead of Malcolm Stewart. 

Roczen and Stewart managed to pass Anstie in the second half of the race to move up to fifth and sixth respectively. Later in the race Stewart got the better of Roczen to take that fifth position and maintained that all the way to the flag. 

Dean Wilson was in the final transfer spot in ninth but went down and lost a lot of time so would have to contest the LCQ in order for him to make it through to the Main. 

Jason Anderson the clear victor over Aaron Plessinger while Chase Sexton pushed Shane McElrath off the podium. 

450 Heat Two Results

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450 Main

Both Dylan Ferrandis and Dean Wilson had to contest the LCQ to score their spot on the gate for the 450 Main. 

Jason Anderson scored the holeshot with Eli Tomac right on his tail Ken Roczen’s run of bad luck continued with the German dead last at this early point of the race after getting squeezed out into the tough blocks between turns one and two. 

Marvin Musquin pushed past Malcolm Stewart for third place on lap two. Justin Barcia was fifth, Shane McElrath sixth, Cooper Webb seventh, Chase Sexton eighth and Cooper Webb ninth while Aaron Plessinger rounded out the early top ten. 

Jason Anderson kept Eli Tomac at bay until three-minutes into the Main when he made his move but Anderson didn’t relent and took the lead right back. Their tussle was allowing Musquin to keep the pair in sight. 

Jason Anderson made a small stumble with 11-minutes to run but kept it together to only lose a few tenths to Tomac. The gap between the pair 2.7-seconds and they had now left Musquin in their wake.  Moments later Musquin went down in the sand trying to avoid a crossed-up lapper and was way down in seventh by the time we was back up to speed.  The mistake promoting Barcia into third, Malcolm Stewart fourth, Dylan Ferrandis fifth and Chase Sexton sixth with half of the race still to run. 

Jason Anderson made a few little mistakes in the second half of the race but then put it all together in the final five minutes to stretch away again and took a clear 3.5-second victory over Tomac. 

Justin Barcia rounded out the podium ahead of Malcolm Stewart and Marvin Musquin recovered from his mistake to take fifth ahead of Dylan Ferrandis and Chase Sexton.  

Defending champion Cooper Webb again failed to really fire and finished eighth ahead of Aaron Plessinger and Justin Brayton.  Ken Roczen salvaging 11th after his early mishap but never looked comfortable enough to have the sort of pace to threaten the front runners even if he had started well. 

With that victory Anderson moved past Chase Sexon in the championship chase and moved a few points closer to championship leader Eli Tomac.  The #3 Yamaha though still has a handy 12-point lead atop the points table. 

Next week the 450 riders will head 1850 miles across the country north-east to Minneapolis.

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450 Video Highlights

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450 Main Results

450 Post Race Press Conference

450 Championship Standings (Round 6 of 17)

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250 Heat One

Jo Shimoda had finished second in qualifying and chased down Garrett Marchbanks on the final lap of the opening 250 Heat but a mistake while trying to set-up for a move on Marchbanks saw the Japanese rider go over the bars and down quite hard.

Marchbanks went on to take a 20-second victory over Nate Thrasher. 

250 Heat One Results

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250 Heat Two

Christian Craig topped qualifying by more than a second and who was alongside him on the gate, Vince Friese…

Christian Craig took the right line into turn one to hold Michael Mosiman at bay and emerge out the other wise the early leader. Hunter Lawrence had some traffic to deal with but was quickly up to third and broke away from the pack while starting to reel in Mosiman. 

Hunter Lawrence eventually got the better of Mosiman after the GASGAS rider made a small mistake but by that time Craig enjoyed a three-second lead. 

Craig went on to win the Heat from Lawrence and Mosiman, that trio also the top three, in that order, in the championship heading into the Main in this sixth round of the series. 

250 Heat Two Results

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250 Main

Unfortunately Jo Shimoda was ruled unfit after his Heat race crash. A hefty blow for the 19-year-old who was running fourth in the championship before this event. 

Hunter Lawrence scored the holeshot ahead of Christian Craig but Vince Friese then split the two of them to move through to the race lead! Michael Mosiman went down on lap one which saw his podium chances disappear.

Both Craig and Lawrence got back past Friese and immediately started to pull away. The gap between that front running pair was 1.5-seconds at this early juncture.

Jalek Swoll was in fourth place a couple of laps into the Main but then crashed at the end of the whoops section which also took Thrasher down. 

A few laps later Hunter Lawrence suffered the same fate and had a big end over end crash that left the Aussie in a lot of pain and put him out of the race. Lawrence was only eight-points behind Craig when they went into this round but that DNF a costly mistake. 

Christian Craig enjoyed a massive 15-second lead over Vince Friese with seven-minutes still remaining. Michael Mosiman was running third ahead of Chris Blose but then moved past Friese for second place with four-minutes remaining. 

The whoops claimed another victim with just over a minute to go. Michael Mosiman was in a safe second place but then went down.  The GASGAS rider recovered but his mistake promoted Vince Friese into second place. 

Craig went on to take a completely dominant 25-second victory. Only Lawrence had anywhere near the speed to challenge him but that challenge came unstuck early on in the piece when the Aussie went over the bars and down hard. 

Friese took second thanks to Mosiman’s mistake.  Mosiman’s third though was enough to sneak past Hunter Lawrence in the championship chase, 120 plays 119-points. 

Aussie privateer Geran Stapleton made it through to the Main after scoring a third place in the LCQ and collected 11-points for a brilliant 12th place finish in the Main. 

Next week is the opening round of the 250 East Championship. The 250 West competitors will not be back in action until March 26 in Seattle and Christian Craig will head to Seattle with a 28-point lead in the championship. 

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250 Main Video Highlights

250 Main Results

250 Post Race Press Conference

250 West Championship Standings (Round 6 of 10)

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Source: MCNews.com.au

2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Round Five – State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona

Report by Trevor Hedge – Images by Jeff Kardas

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250 Qualifying

The first Triple Crown round of 2022 unfolded overnight as Supercross hit Arizona for round five of the 17-round Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship season.

Under the Triple Crown format there are no Heat races, instead riders pick their gates on the back of their qualifying time. It was 23-year-old Australian Hunter Lawrence that topped the qualifying sessions ahead of Nate Thrasher and Christian Craig. 

While they were heading for three Mains, each one would be only a 10-minute plus one lap duration. 

250 Qualifying Results

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250 Main One

Vince Friese scored the holeshot between the two Yamahas of Christian Craig and Nate Thrasher while Hunter Lawrence gave chase just behind in fourth. 

A terrible start to Michael Mosiman’s night, the San Diego winner on the ground and all the way at the back of the field after tangling with Carson Brown. 

Hunter Lawrence squeezed past Thrasher for third place a minute into the race and then immediately started to attack Friese for second but, as always, the #62 was hard to pass and it took the Australian longer than he would have preferred to take that second place. Hunter had to get a little aggressive to finally force his way through three-minutes into the race, but by that time Craig had already pulled the pin and had a five-second lead. 

Jo Shimoda made his way past Thrasher for fourth place and a couple of laps later then forced his way through on Friese, but Friese returned fire shortly afterwards and forced Shimoda off the track. Shimoda had slipped back to sixth by the time he recovered. 

Christian Craig continued to pull away out front and took a dominant 14-second victory over Lawrence while Friese completed the podium. 

250 Main One Results

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250 Main Two

Vince Friese scored the holeshot ahead of Christian Craig and Hunter Lawrence but only a few turns in to the race Vince Friese hit the back wheel if Christian Craig in the berm of a long left-hander and the impact took Craig’s Monster Energy Yamaha YZ250F down, but Craig kept going! The championship leader was ejected not only over the bars, but flew over the berm and off the track right down onto the concrete surface of State Farm Stadium below! Friese was also off the bike and lost a lot of time, but Craig lost a lot more as he scrambled his way back up to the track and sparked his YZ250F back into life. The pair had gone from leading the race to the back of the field…

The benefactor of that incident was Hunter Lawrence who now led the race from Jalek Swoll and Robbie Wageman. 

Craig and Friese had fought their way back through the field and were up to 13th and 14th respectively by the halfway point of the race. 

Michael Mosiman closed down Hunter Lawrence late in the race and was challenging for the lead two laps from the end but Lawrence was able to respond and hold on for victory.

Lawrence the winner from Mosiman and Jo Shimoda third ahead of Christian Craig. The Yamaha man coming from dead last to scythe his way all the way up to fourth in yet another remarkable comeback. 

250 Main Two Results

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250 Main Three

Christian Craig scored the holeshot ahead of Vince Friese, Hunter Lawrence and Jo Shimoda in the third and final 250 Main of the night. 

While Hunter Lawrence looked for a way past Friese, while giving the unpredictable 30-year-old a wide berth, Christian Craig was pulling away out front.   Lawrence finally found his way through on Friese just over two-minutes into the contest, but by that time Craig had a three-second lead. 

The battle for third place was where all the action was. Jo Shimoda and Michael Mosiman all over the back of Friese but struggling to find a way past. Shimoda finally found a way through halfway through the race, Mosiman then relegated Friese further back to fifth on the next lap. 

Mosiman made a mistake a couple of laps from the end while chasing Shimoda, going down and losing a lot of time. His safe fourth place gone and the GASGAS man was left to try and salvage a couple of points. Eventually finishing 15th.

Lawrence did not have the speed to close down Craig, the #28 Yamaha continued to pull away and by the last lap board his buffer was almost six-seconds. He cruised his way to the flag for a clear and concise victory.

The overall round win though does go to Hunter Lawrence with his 2-1-2 results. Craig’s coming together with Friese in the second bout costing him his chance for the overall, that has allowed Lawrence to trim the gap in the championship back down to eight-points.

250 Main Three Results

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250 Round Results

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250 Video Highlights

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250 Post Race Press Conference

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250 West Championship Standings (Round 5 of 10)

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450 Qualifying

It was a Yamaha 1-2 in 450 Qualifying with Dylan Ferrandis heading Eli Tomac on the combined time-sheets. Next best was Jason Anderson ahead of Ken Roczen and Chase Sexton. 

That was the first time in his 450 career that Ferrandis had topped qualifying, and with no Heat races it was a good time to do it! 

After Qualifying they had three Mains to contest, each one only a 12-minute plus one lap duration.

450 Qualifying Results

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450 Main One

Eli Tomac got the best gate of his career, blasting off the line and the YZ450F picking up the front wheel again halfway down the chute before he tipped into turn one ahead of Ken Roczen, Jason Anderson and Malcolm Stewart.  

Anderson got the better of Stewart to move up to third place two-minutes into the race but Stewart got him right back after the Kawasaki man made a mistake. A couple of minutes later Anderson moved back up to third after Stewart on the gas a little too hard and lost some time.  Then with just under three-minutes to run that pair both squeezed past Ken Roczen, demoting the German back to fourth. 

Eli Tomac backed things off on the final laps to save his energy for the races to come but still took the flag more than two-seconds ahead of Anderson.  Malcolm Stewart third, Roczen fourth.

450 Main One Results

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450 Main Two

Eli Tomac scored the holeshot once again in the second bout. Jason Anderson second, Marvin Musquin third. Cooper Webb was fourth before being deposed by a charging Malcolm Stewart who then made short work of Musquin to move up to third. 

Chase Sexton made his way past Cooper Webb a couple of minutes into the race, shortly afterwards his HRC team-mate Ken Roczen then pushed Webb further back to seventh. Dylan Ferrandis was the next rider to pass Webb, then moments later Justin Barcia added further insult to relegate the defending champ to ninth. 

Jason Anderson was running a strong second place at the halfway mark of the race but then made a mistake through a rhythm section and got hung up on a tough block. His team could only look on with their heads in their hands as rider after rider passed him as he tried to get his machine off the tough block. When he finally got going again he was outside the top ten and eventually finished 12th.

Eli Tomac had a five-second lead over Malcolm Stewart with five-minutes to run. Chase Sexton third, Musquin fourth, Roczen fifth and Ferrandis was now up to sixth.

Ferrandis got on terms with Roczen and took that fifth place from the Honda man with a couple of laps left to run. 

Tomac the clear victor once again.  Malcolm Stewart second ahead of Chase Sexton while Musquin came home fourth with a three-second buffer over Dylan Ferrandis. 

450 Main Two Results

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450 Main Three

Could Eli Tomac make it three from three?  

Tomac got closed down by Malcolm Stewart heading into turn one but it was still a reasonable start, third at the end of lap one while Chase Sexton led the way thanks to the holeshot and Malcolm Stewart was second.  Cooper Webb fourth ahead of Marvin Musquin. The Frenchman folded the front a couple of laps later though and was relegated all the way back to 18th. 

Eli Tomac steadily reeled in Malcolm Stewart and made his way past at the halfway point of the race. By this time though Chase Sexton had a four-second lead and was looking safe out in front. 

Jason Anderson then made his way past Stewart before catching and then passing Tomac to promote himself up to second place with four-minutes to run and he kept Tomac at bay all the way to the flag to claim that second.

A flag to flag victory for Chase Sexton. The 22-year-old backed it off on the final lap but still took the chequered flag by 2.5-seconds while Eli Tomac’s third place was good enough for the round win thanks to his two wins earlier in the night. Tomac now leads Sexton by 11-points in the championship chase.

Eli Tomac the round winner ahead of Malcolm Stewart and Chase Sexton.  Jason Anderson fourth overall ahead of Ken Roczen, Justin Barcia and Marvin Musquin while defending champ Webb bagged 15-points for eighth. 

Supercross returns to Anahaim next weekend for round six.  If Tomac takes the form he displayed tonight through to the following rounds he will firm up as the championship favourite in what will be his first year with Yamaha. If he pulls it off he will be one of only four riders to have claimed the title on two different brands of machinery. The GOAT, Ricky Carmichael, did it on three different brands…

450 Main Three Results

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450 Round Results

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450 Video Highlights

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450 Post Race Press Conference

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450 Championship Standings (Round 5 of 17)

Source: MCNews.com.au