2022 Seattle Supercross | Kickstart Recap & Gallery

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CHECK OUT OUR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE 2022 SEATTLE SUPERCROSS

All of us on the floor of Lumen Field during the night show shared a feeling that something wild was going to happen during the 2022 Seattle Supercross. It’s not like the day hadn’t been eventful already. Chase Sexton and Cooper Webb stacked it up in separate incidents during the final Timed Qualifying sessions, crashes that took Sexton out of action and hindered Webb’s riding through the 450 Main Event. Light rain came whenever the 450 Class got on the starting line, and while it was never enough to be of concern, it was a reminder that the clouds could open at will. And every rider on the line looked determined to make the twelfth round of the Monster Energy Supercross Championship their night.

TOMAC

Five straight for Eli. This isn’t the first time Tomac has strung together a handful of wins (he swept Toronto through St. Louis in 2017), but the way he’s going about things now shows how much he’s developed over time. The rider has been in the mix at the start of most motos, can knife through the pack when needed, is among the fastest group on track at any given moment, and finally, seems to be free from the mid-race incidents that cost him dearly early in his career. And that’s why he’s now fifty-four points ahead in the championship standings.

Has he switched into conservation mode? “I’m just racing. Yeah, I’m watching the points, but to be honest, now I’m getting close to fifty-two (points), so I’m looking at when I can lock this up,” he told us on Friday afternoon. “As long as I can beat these guys the next three rounds and average a point better than them, I can get it done. That’s the way my mind is right now. I’m not like, ‘Oh my gosh, I need to hang on to this thing and mail it in.’”

The Seattle weekend was another good one for the Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider. Fastest in two of the three practice sessions but ranked second overall in the Timed Qualifying results, he hung back until a battle in the late moments of Heat Race Two pushed him to second place. Everything got put together when it mattered in the 450 Main Event, as he aced the start, led the entire race, was the only rider to put in a 47-second lap, and took the win by a comfortable margin.

“Barcia made a mistake, and that opened up a huge gap, so I was just able to ride and not take too much risk. On a track like this, it was comforting because the whoops were gnarly as usual, and the rhythms got nasty,” he told us as the stadium emptied. “I was able to break away, put down a heater pace early, and pull away from the guys. That felt different to me, I don’t think I’ve been able to put a gap on them like that.”

The ascent up the all-time win list is something Tomac is finally taking notice of, and given his current pace, he could be number two before we know it. “With the all-time list, I’m getting into pretty special company, so it’s cool to be where I’m at there,” he concluded. “I’ve done five wins before, so forty-four is cooler right now.”

BARCIA

Will Justin Barcia get a win? The Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing rider and the team told us at one of the California rounds that they’d trade early victories to be in the thick of the fight later, a scenario that’s strangely come true. Barcia is ranked third overall in the championship as the season winds down, behind Anderson by five points, but up one on Stewart.

He’s clearly trying. Seattle was one of Barcia’s best weekends yet, as he was fourth in Timed Qualifying, got it done in Heat Race One, and stayed within five seconds of Tomac through the first part of the 450 Main Event until a mistake while jumping through the big rhythm lane shot him into the Tuff Blocks and spat him off the bike. “I just jumped wide. I had so much time to think about it, ‘Oh shit oh shit oh shit,'” he explained in HWYW. “It’s tough, because when you catch a Tuff Block going that fast, it’s usually not good. I got off with it pretty lucky because my body got to the downside of the next single, and I cartwheeled down. It stung pretty good, it took me a minute to get up, but I tried to get up quick and recover.” The recovery was okay, as he held off Webb late in the race, salvaged a fifth-place finish, and lost minimal points to Anderson and Stewart.

ANDERSON

Have you listened to a Jason Anderson interview lately? They’re funny and informative. A Friday exchange with Jason Weigandt on Racer X started out with him joking about the necessary Q&As of media day, “If I want to ride, I have to do it, know what I mean? Part of it,” and went into a detailed explanation of how he told the Monster Energy Kawasaki team his approach to racing and the next chapter in his career. Our post-race chat took place in the hammered-out whoops, which he remarked, “You think about the whoops when you’re hitting the finish line on the other side of the track. They really are tough. You try not to think to do that, it’s a game you play with yourself, but they’re so treacherous it’s hard not to.” When asked if they looked tougher during a race or after, he remarked, “They’re about as shitty as I saw when I was riding.” The reply to a question about his Detroit crash was expected and defensive, but not the first time a racer’s side-stepped something they didn’t want to talk about.

Another runner-up result, Anderson’s third of 2022, helped him pull five points ahead of Barcia in the championship standings.

MUSQUIN

Three podiums in the past five rounds by Marvin Musquin were enough to erase Red Bull KTM rider’s start to the season from anyone’s mind and points back of teammate Cooper Webb for fifth in the championship. We had our eye on the number 25 going into the weekend, as he’s got an impressive record in Seattle and seems suited for the technical conditions that the track always produces. His effort through the day, from fast laps that put him second overall in Timed Qualifying to an efficient run to third place, was worth watching.

To be honest, we didn’t know what Musquin would do after 2022. The Supercross-only contract he inked with Red Bull KTM seemed like it was going to be a farewell tour complete with podium appearances, but recent results and possible prospects to continue racing and maybe follow the World SX series might be enough keep him around a bit longer.

PRIVATEERS

We’ve spent a lot of time with the privateers lately. Better odds of making the Main Event have put them in good spirits, a vibe shared by many in the back part of the pits that they could have a career-best night and earn some much-needed purse money. Here’s a few things we heard that you might be interested in…

There’s a massive battle brewing between Kyle Chisholm, Vince Friese, Alex Martin, Justin Starling, Max Anstie, Ryan Breece, Cade Clason, and Mitchell Oldenburg.The eight riders are currently ranked sixteenth through twenty-third, respectively, in the championship standings, are separated by eighteen points, and are facing unique challenges in the weeks ahead. Friese looks like he will score big points in the next few weeks, especially with Chisholm and Oldenburg set to return to the 250 East Region, while Martin, Starling, Breece, and Clason duke it out for personal-best results. Add Max Anstie’s expected return in St. Louis to it, and yeah, you’ve got a lot of guys going for the AMA’s top twenty end-of-season payout.

Scotty Wennerstrom’s decision to run a stock exhaust system on his KX450 serves two purposes. First, he’s good with the power the green bike offers and feels an aftermarket part wouldn’t be worth the expense. Second, he can sell the can as a spot to potential sponsors, something he’s done all season. Wennerstrom told us that in an effort to raise support for St. Jude at the Atlanta race, he’d give the spot on the exhaust to the person who donates the most to the organization. If this is something you’re interested in, get a hold of him through Instagram @wennerstrom501

WEEKEND OFF

Woah, where did the year go? The last twelve weeks have gone by in a blur, and we’re shockingly close to the champagne spray in Salt Lake City. Supercross will take this coming weekend off, the only one in the schedule, but remember it’s not for Easter; that’s the day after Atlanta.

How riders feel about the downtime depends on their rank in the running order. Eli Tomac, Jason Anderson, and Marvin Musquin made it sound like the shift in the routine was more of a burden than it’s worth in the press conference, while Alex Martin and Brandon Hartranft told us that they’re really looking forward to the break from traveling and competing.

LAWRENCE

Filming How Was Your Weekend by the podium has been great. With emotions still a bit high and no one to censor their thoughts, guys are at their most honest. Here’s our exchange with Hunter Lawrence after his 250 Main Event win.

SML: “I bet that felt good after so many weeks of sitting and waiting on the couch for the next gate drop.”

HL96: “Fuck yeah. Especially how A3 ended, because that was the night I felt I could have pounced later in the moto but I crashed. This one felt good, but it was a tough one. The track was insane, the whoops were, I don’t know if you’ve seen Rad, but the whoops were like Hell Track. I can’t think the team enough because today was tough, we were really grafting during the day, and I had to rely on them for a lot of decisions where I was scratching my head. This was special and was for everyone because it was a team effort.”

We noticed that Hunter had the same production lugs on the bottom of the Showa forks that his brother used at Indianapolis, an attempt to dial in the feel of the CRF250R’s front-end.

How does HL96 fare through the final three races, which include two East-West Showdowns and a single “standard” Main Event in Denver? This will be a big time in the rider’s career.

CRAIG

Christian Craig didn’t take his eyes off Michael Mosiman after the 250 Main Event. The Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider kept his attention fixed on Mosiman for what felt like minutes, even as Jo Shimoda came over to talk to Mosiman and members from the team tried to give him water, towels, and podium goggles. The two never said a word to each other, but both knew the other was there and had plenty on their mind.

Although Craig caught the usual flack for his podium interview, his HWYW quotes were fair, direct, and understanding. He admitted that Mosiman was faster in the early part of the race and that hard racing is fine, but said the move was a bit aggressive and that it wasn’t the first time he had to race through the field this year.

Craig’s outlook for the next three races is exactly what one would expect: he wants to go head-to-head against Jett Lawrence, the guy he sees as the best on the East Region, and sees more wins as the easiest way to win the title. Having a twenty-six point lead helps, too.

MOSIMAN

Michael Mosiman can remember and has an explanation for almost that happens on the track. The Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing rider was the center of attention in the 250 Main Event in Seattle after he caught Christian Craig, collided with him in a turn, took off with the lead, and dropped through the field as the laps clicked off. What happened?

“I was trying to make do with no rear brake and it was tricky. Just to be able to adapt to the track, to cut down, to charge into stuff, it was a tough few laps and it slowed me down quite a bit,” he explained of the mid-race slide. “I’m not happy, because I think I could have won that race, especially with the lead at the beginning. The mistakes I made after I passed Christian were because of the rear brake.”

Mosiman’s reasoning for the bump and run was just as through, if not a bit revealing about the balance a rider must find within themselves on the track and in the spotlight. “We all want to improve our spots, whether that’s for the podium or for the win, and I’m going for the championship. I don’t intend to ride dirty, and I don’t think it was particularly dirty, but it was definitely an aggressive move. He knew I was coming in, he absolutely knew, and decided to hold it in there. I think it’s largely because I’ve ridden him really respectfully. It’s tricky, because I have one side of fans, friends, and the team that say I’m being too weak and need to make it happen when the time is there. And then I have the whole other side of people that are telling me I’m dirty or overly aggressively. You can’t please everyone, so I’m just going to do my best, go for wins, let the cards fall where they may, and let the noise be what it is.”

SHIMODA

It was good to see Jo Shimoda back in action, especially after early word about his A3 ankle injury made it seem like he’d miss considerable time. Instead, the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider made a quick recovery and was fit enough to put in MX and SX laps ahead of Seattle. There didn’t seem to be any sort of timidness or lingering pain from the injury, as Shimoda was among the fastest riders in the 250 West Region’s return and he ended the weekend with a fourth place result.

Something Shimoda said to us on Friday about the injury was interesting: he said it gave him a much-needed reset for 2022 as a whole. “Everyone has to go through this injury stuff, but this is my first one since I turned pro. It was a good thing for me, honestly. It reset the mind,” he acknowledged. “Because since I got podiums and a win last year, it put me into high expectations. Every time I go racing, I need to be there, and that makes me rush and rush. Even though I’m not thinking I need to be on the podium, with the adrenaline and stuff, I was going crazy. It was a good time off, for sure.”

“Everyone talks about riders riding over their head, and I didn’t get that, but I know the feeling now and can control it,” he continued. “I for sure don’t want to do the same mistakes again and that woke me up.”