2022 St. Louis Supercross | Kickstart Recap & Gallery
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CHECK OUT OUR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE 2022 ST. LOUIS SUPERCROSS
The St. Louis Supercross isn’t the most renowned round in the Monster Energy Supercross Championship, nor is it the best attended, but what it lacks in buzz is more than made up for by the excellent dirt, big stadium, and close racing that always comes in the Show-Me State. This year’s race served as the beginning of the end, as it was the first of five rounds that will shape the run to Salt Lake City.
MUSQUIN
Marvin Musquin became a contender for the win shortly after his tires hit the track on Friday, as the Red Bull KTM rider figured out the flow of the rhythm lanes in a short amount of time and spent most of the media session throwing whips over the tunnel jump and triple. It’s no secret that Musquin’s season started off slower than normal, especially after his questionable tenth place finish at San Diego, but the experienced rider’s results have always been consistent, have improved greatly in recent weeks (his record so far is 4-8-10-6-7-5-3-14-6-4-3-3-1), and are enough to put him in the fight for a top-five overall finish in the championship.
“My starts were good and that paid off, because it would have been tough to pass,” the winner shared with us at the end of the evening. “In the second moto I got the holeshot. Anderson was behind me, and I knew he was pushing, but I stayed up front and actually built a gap. I was able to ride really good, was just floating. I really, really enjoyed that second moto and winning. I pulled a heel clicker because it had been a while.”
Musquin looks like he should be the highest-ranked Red Bull KTM rider in the 450 SX point standings when the season ends, an unlikely outcome when word of his SX-only contract was first announced, and that makes the two things about his future even tougher to predict. Will he continue to race in 2023, and if so, what brand of bike will it be on?
SEXTON
Chase Sexton was solid in St. Louis. The Team Honda HRC rider was among the fastest in the 450 Class in every session, and now fully fit from his Seattle slam, never seemed to push the limits on the track. His effort in 450 Race One was stellar, as a perfectly timed launch out of the gate, tight line through the first turn, and fifteen near-perfect laps resulted in a four-second advantage at the checkered flag. Although it proved to be Sexton’s only win, his pair of third place finishes pushed him to second overall in the results.
Team Honda HRC and Sexton have tried a few different things on the rider’s CRF450R in the last few weeks, including the factory triple clamps that have been re-installed, but per Sexton, it’s part of the process. “All week I had a really good week. We did some testing and I’m excited to keep it moving forward,” he shared post-race. “It’s a learning experience. We’ve been chasing the same problem and haven’t been figuring it out. It’s mentally taken a toll on me, not being able to figure out what I’m feeling and connecting it with the bike. This week Suspension Trey (Canard) somewhat figured it out, it’s not perfect but it’s better, and as soon as we found that setting, I was way more comfortable.”
The missed races have taken a toll on Sexton’s championship standing, and with four rounds left, he’s now slotted in seventh place.
TOMAC
Although another win streak was snapped in St. Louis, as Eli Tomac’s charge through the middle of the season was halted by longtime rival Marvin Musquin, the weekend was still good for ET3. The Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider took his time getting used to the track, which he said offered little for passing, worked on the setup of the YZ450F with the team, claimed a checkered flag, and added a few more points to his advantage in the championship standings.
We have to say how planted the blue bike looked on the STL clay. Take the flat left sweeper turn, for example. While other motorcycles bounce over the braking bumps at the entry of the corner, Tomac’s bike stayed connected to the ground, no matter how hard he pushed, and allowed him to hold the preferred line into the awaiting rhythm section. The bike looked just as good at the end of that lane, too, as he used the banking of the off-chamber turn as a jump landing. It’s the little things that make a big difference.
What kept him from winning? “The guys were better,” he bluntly stated at the podium. “In the first two motos I put myself behind, but I also wasn’t making up the time that I wanted to. I wasn’t quite fast enough. Once I thought about it after the second moto, I wasn’t turning really good and wasn’t on it, we changed one little thing. I’m not going to say that fixed it, because a holeshot makes like easy, but for me it was hard to make up time on the track.”
How long until he clinches title two? He’s ahead fifty-six points with four races to go, so while Denver is most likely, it could even come at Foxboro.
HAMPSHIRE
Like many of you, we didn’t believe STL was RJ Hampshire’s first SX win. But it was and the timing couldn’t have been any better, as it was a much-needed bargaining chip for an upcoming contract negotiation. RJ’s adaptation to the new FC 250 has not been easy, and after an admitted lack of confidence in it after a podium in Indianapolis, we figured it was going to be a long year for him, if not the beginning of the end between rider and team. Instead, he might end up staying there for a while longer.
The group used the break between East Region races as a much-needed test session and their efforts got the bike closer to where Hampshire wants it. It’s not perfect yet, but the rider told us that it’s the best it’s been in his emotional post-race interview. “I’m very outspoken on my choices and my bike, but it’s because I put in the work. I bust my ass to be in this situation, to battle at the front,” he said moments after the checkered flag.
It wasn’t any easy night, though. Hampshire was lucky to walk away from a wild crash in Race One with nothing worse than a missed win, while a wash-out while chasing leader Jett Lawrence was a frustrating end to Race Two. Determined not to suffer the same fate in Race Three, Hampshire aced the start, withstood pressure from Phil Nicoletti, and claimed the moto and overall win. “So much weight is lifted off of my shoulders because this has haunted me for so long,” he shared. “I slowed down a lot there at the end. On lap four or five, I saw that Jett was a way back, so I just had to hold this dang thing together.”
“It’s so special. We were at rock bottom a few weeks ago. I was knocked out at Arlington, had some broken bones, but that’s why we show up on the weekends. If I hadn’t showed up the next race, who knows if we would have gotten this win,” he concluded. Hampshire is now third overall in the championship standings, down seven to the injured Cameron McAdoo.
LAWRENCE
Like Tomac, Jett Lawrence’s weekend was good as a racer can get without winning. The Team Honda HRC rider was fast, avoided most of the major issues that plagued him at past Triple Crowns, got the checkered flag in Race One and Two, and put a lot more points between himself and the others in the standings (enough that he could win the East Region title at the Atlanta Showdown, should things all go his way). But he wasn’t perfect, particularly at the start, and that put him in the thick of the chaos more than a few times and he got out of a crash in Race Three with nothing more than a scrape on his backside.
We asked Jett about the cast fork lugs on his CRF250R, a production part that’s been matched to his expensive Showa suspension. Why stock? The Lawrence brothers are trying to get a certain feel from the front-end. “A lot of people don’t realize how good sometimes the stock parts are. There are a lot of guys that run the factory levers, but Hunter and I love the stock ones because they have a better feeling for us. You don’t always need the factory stuff,” he explained.
OLDENBURG
Mitchell Oldenburg went from being on the ground in the first lap of practice session to the podium at the end of the night. The Smartop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts/Honda rider was lucky to avoid injury after another rider cross jumped and collided with him while going down the long rhythm lane, a sequence of carnage that we’ve added to the gallery below.
Oldenburg’s program with MCR in 2022 has paid off. Sure, it’s forced him to split time between the 250 and 450, California and Texas, his family and the team, but his confidence improved with every gate drop and it’s reaffirmed his place in the paddock. “I don’t know if it’s having kids now or what, but the last two years my nerves have gotten so gnarly that I threw up before every race behind the starting line,” he noted of the pre-race stress. “I talked to Zach Osborne at Daytona and he told me to let it go, because that’s when you’re ready. And I was ready tonight. It feels good and was a long time coming.”
“It’s a good feeling. It’s been a long couple of years and you start to doubt yourself, if this is it for you, but I’m proud of sticking to the plan,” he concluded. With twelve races to his credit (he missed Oakland), Oldenburg is twenty-third in the 450 Class standings and ninth in the 250 East Region.