2022 Arlington Supercross | Kickstart Recap & Photo Gallery

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CHECK OUT OUR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE 2022 ARLINGTON SUPERCROSS

The annual trip the Monster Energy Supercross Championship makes to AT&T Stadium always delivers. Everyone has their own reason for wanting to get to Jerry World, either for the dirt, the vibe of the Lone Star State, or the Triple Crown, and all of that made the 2022 Arlington Supercross another instant classic. What caught our eye at round eight?

OVERALL RESULTS

RC will tell you that consistency is key for the Triple Crown, and that’s something the one set of races had figured out much better than the others. How so? In the 450 Class, the night’s podium of Eli Tomac-Jason Anderson-Cooper Webb had one point between each rider (Tomac – 7, Anderson – 8, Webb – 9). The 250 East Region podium of Cameron McAdoo-Jeremy Martin-Jett Lawrence, however, had some bigger gaps between the top three (McAdoo – 6, Martin – 14, Lawrence – 15).

ENTRIES

Like we noted last week, there’s something about the 250 East Region that makes guys want to line up. A total of 56 guys signed up in the little bike class, a staggering number considering only 18 were taken to the night show from Timed Qualifying and the other four had to earn their spot on the gate through the LCQ. This is curious to us, especially because some of the guys in the 250 East Region are faster than their counterparts in the 450 Class, but they’re willingly racing the division that’s got more riders, costs more to build a competitive bike, and pays less purse money. For a comparison, Marshal Weltin put in a 52.379 in Timed Qualifying and was ranked 30th overall; this same lap would have put him 25th overall in the 450 Class. This might be a moot point, considering Weltin raced his way into the night show through the LCQ, but still.

MCADOO

Cameron McAdoo, Mr. Consistency. The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider was one of the few riders in the smallbore class to be steady from start to finish in Texas, as he was third-fastest in Timed Qualifying, battled repeatedly with teammate Austin Forkner for positions at the front of the field, avoided serious issues, and got a crucial win in the night’s third race that earned him the overall victory.

What was it like to be in a three-way tie for the overall going into the last race of the night? “That’s what we work for. All of us out there, every single one of us, work so hard for this. You strive off that pressure and tonight we made it happen.” McAdoo’s 3-1 results to start the season have tied him with Jett Lawrence for the top spot in the 250 East Region championship going into Daytona.

MARTIN

It wasn’t Jeremy Martin’s best day at the races, something he admitted to us in How Was Your Weekend, but the 9-2-3 results were enough to get the Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider a second-place overall result. JMart took a few soil samples early in practice, partly due to being unsatisfied with the bike setup, then rebounded to put in the fourth-best lap of the afternoon in the 250 East Region. You could see his frustration about it all after he collided with Jace Owen and went down in Race Three, though he quickly got up from the spill and benefitted from the chaos that happened late in the moto to cross the line in third place.

“The beauty of sport is that nothing ever goes the way you want it to,” he told us by the podium. “You train and try to have a perfect offseason, but sometimes that’s not enough to win. That’s sports. I think as I get older I understand that. You’re trying to climb a mountain and it doesn’t always go the way you want it to. You go up-down-up-down and it’s a process.” Unfortunately, Martin’s SX season may be cut short due to a practice crash on Wednesday March 2 that left him with a significant shoulder injury, one that will keep him from lining up at Daytona.

LAWRENCE

It’s important to remember when reading the Jett Lawrence hype that the Team Honda HRC rider is still a teenager. That was evident in Arlington, as he went through plenty of ups and downs on the way to a third-place overall result. Lawrence and Forkner were split by the blink of an eye during the final Timed Qualifying session, something that Lawrence noticed and responded to through a 48.513 lap late in afternoon; he was the only 250 East Region rider in the 48-second range.

Things were tougher in the night show. He went down in the very early moments of races one and three, crashes that were partly caused by the freshly prepped track, was balls-out across the whoops, and then collided with Forkner over the finish line in a crash that’s sure to be replayed over and over during the Daytona telecast. His 4-1-10 finishes still got him on the podium, but the celebration was subdued due to his frustration with his riding and that his error resulted in someone else getting hurt. Every race is a learning lesson for Lawrence, and Arlington was probably one of the biggest yet.

FORKNER

You have to feel for Austin Forkner. The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider was very good through the start of the season, as he looked within his limits on the track, reduced the number of “oh shit” moments to only a one or two a weekend, and was second overall in Timed Qualifying. The passes in Race One were excellent, as he got teammate McAdoo over the tunnel jump and blitzed by Stilez Robertson moments later in the whoops, moves that got him the win in the moto and put him in contention for the overall. Alas, an accidental cross-jump by Forkner over the finish line in Race Three sent both riders to the group, with Forkner’s collarbone getting the brunt of the impact.

“Same one from last year just broke around the plate and through a couple screws. I knew it was broken as soon as I got up,” he stated on Instagram. “I really was trying to make changes this year to my riding and my mentality to be ok with not being the fastest guy at every race, or settling for a 3rd or a 5th at times so I would be at every race and make it to the end of the season. And if that left me with a championship then great, but if not then so be it. But that’s why this sport is so damn tough because sometimes none of that matters and things just happen.” It’s unclear how much time Forkner will miss due to this; last year’s injury at round three sidelined him for the rest of SX.

HUSQVARNA

It was a hard night for Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s 250 squad. Stilez Robertson and RJ Hampshire both had moments of excellence on the track in Arlington, like the laps Stilez led in Races One and Two or RJ’s third place finish in Race One and his speed throughout the day, but run-ins with Phil Nicoletti near the tunnel jump took both riders down. Robertson fared the best of the two because he managed to remount and finish 10th overall through 8-8-12 results; RJ’s incident in Race Two left him dazed, confused, in the care of the Alpinestars Medical staff, and out for Race Three. Both riders will be back for Daytona.

TOMAC

No wins, but still a winner. Eli Tomac got his third victory of the season through hard-earned 3-2-2 finishes and tacked another three points to the advantage over Jason Anderson in the championship. He went on a tear in Race One; after a small incident pushed the Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider back to 15th place on the opening lap, he made 12 passes in the remaining time and crossed the line in third place. The rest of the night was even more exciting. Tomac moved all around the track during a three-way tussle with Chase Sexton and Jason Anderson for podium positions in Race Two, then went head-to-head against Anderson for the win in Race Three. Once again, Eli knew a second-place ride in Race Three would be enough for the overall, but this time he engaged with title rival Anderson in a 16-lap fight to the finish line.

We’d love to watch his run Timed Qualifying over and over again. Ken Roczen was at the top of the scoring pylon with a 48.187 when Tomac crossed the line for a final flying lap, and instantly, everyone’s attention went to ET3 as he hammered around the track. The result? A 48.151, just enough for P1.

ANDERSON

Jason Anderson is fast when it matters. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider was noticeably off during the afternoon practice sessions, something we later learned was because he was trying a new setting on the KX450SR that didn’t work out, and a 49.243 time put him eighth overall in the final results. We probably weren’t alone in wondering what the night would bring for El Hombre, but every time the gate dropped, he got to the front of the pack, cut tighter lines in turns than anyone else, and put up a fight for every single position.

Two things to note about Anderson’s night. First was the incident with Malcolm Stewart in Race One, something he rightly took full responsibility for in How Was Your Weekend and that ultimately cost him the overall win. “I went on the inside, jumped in, and gassed it on the landing. And I was like, ‘Oh, fuck.’ I went in there and it was my fault, it was over as soon as I landed off that jump. I hit the brakes, but yeah.” The second was his lap times with Eli Tomac in Race Two. Anderson’s average time of the 16 laps was a 49.415, with his best being a 48.373 on lap seven. Tomac, meanwhile, ran a 49.569 average and clocked a 48.372 on lap 13. Yeah, 0.001 difference between them. Wild.

WEBB

With a win in Race One and another podium finish, things are clearly getting better for Cooper Webb. The Red Bull KTM rider was part of Friday’s media riding session, where we again watched he and the team tinker with the clickers on the 450 SX-F Factory Edition, and the bike did look better around the Arlington track. Like usual, Webb put himself up front early in each of the three Races and when the Stewart-Anderson collision occurred, he was one of the first to pick up their positions. Although he only led one lap the entire night, it was one that mattered most, as tight pass on Justin Barcia late in Race One got him the lead and a 0.735-second margin of victory.

The defending champion has 147 points to his total this season and is currently ranked fourth overall in the standings. Can he close the gap on the top two? We’ll find out with round like Detroit, Indianapolis, and Seattle coming up soon.

SEXTON

The Team Honda HRC rider made a statement one week after that hard crash in Minneapolis. Sexton was a question mark going into the weekend, but when the first Timed Qualifying session ended with him at the top thanks to a 48.621 lap, everyone figured that he was going to okay for the night show. Keeping Anderson and Tomac at bay for most of Race Two was the highlight of the night for Sexton, yet his fastest time (48.537) came at the very last lap of the moto. Race Three went well until lap 12, when he tucked the front trying to avoid Stewart in a tight turn. The 4-3-5 results put him fourth overall on the night.

MALCOLM

It was another good night that could have been great for Malcolm Stewart. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider continues to be a force at the front, as he hammered by Marvin Musquin in Race One (the Red Bull KTM rider stalled entering the whoops), got together with Anderson while leading, then went 5-6-3 for fifth overall. Malcolm was fired up about the crash with Anderson (strangely enough, it happened within feet of where the two got together in 2021), as it ended up costing both of them much-needed numbers for the championship. Still, Stewart is third overall and is the “leader” in a four-rider, seven-point spread between himself, Webb, Barcia, and Sexton in the rankings.