2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Round One – Angel Stadium – Anaheim, CA

Report by Trevor Hedge – Images by Jeff Kardas

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450 Heat One

Chase Sexton won the opening 450 Heat of season 2022, while Shane McElrath ran second for most of the bout, until being closed down by Eli Tomac and Justin Barcia as the moto progressed. 

McElrath managed to hold on for second though, ahead of Eli Tomac who finished third on his Yamaha debut.

Justin Barcia was fourth ahead of Webb, Anstie, Oldenburg and Musquin, with Fred Noren scoring the final transfer spot. 

The likes of Josh Hill and Justin Bogle had to contest the LCQ but also failed to make that cut and didn’t make the Main. 

450 Heat One Results

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450 Heat Two

Malcolm Stewart had already celebrated his new ride with Husqvarna by topping the qualifying sessions but he didn’t get a great start in the heat race.  It was Ken Roczen that scored the holeshot while Adam Cianciarulo, Justin Brayton and Malcolm Stewart gave chase.  Plessinger was sixth ahead of Ferrandis and Savatgy. 

Brayton took second place from Cianciarulo a couple of laps into the Heat. New KTM signing Aaron Plessinger then moved past Stewart to take fourth place. Stewart then also started to come under attack from Dylan Ferrandis. 

Stewart eventually responded to take that fourth place back off Plessinger and then went one better, by taking third place from Adam Cianciarulo. Plessinger, Ferrandis, and Savatgy then pushed Cianciarulo all the way back to seventh. 

Up front it was still all Roczen and the German was a clear victor.   

Justin Brayton had a comfortable buffer over Malcolm Stewart in third place with two laps remaining but Stewart almost chased him down to steal second before eventually settling for third. 

Plessinger finished fourth ahead of Ferrandis, Savatgy and Cianciarulo. 

Jason Anderson fell early on and was right at the back of the field but worked his way forward to eventually break into the top nine and earn his transfer to the 450 Main. 

Dean Wilson was the final rider to make the transfer cut with a ninth place finish.

450 Heat Two Results

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450 Main

It was a Honda 1-2 from the off with Ken Roczen and Chase Sexton running through turn one side by side but Roczen maintained the advantage to lead from his team-mate.  Adam Cianciarulo was third ahead of Justin Barcia, Cooper Webb, Jason Anderson, Shane McElrath, Malcolm Stewart and Marvin Musquin while Justin Brayton rounded out the lap one top ten ahead of Eli Tomac. 

Roczen continued to lead Sexton but could not break away from his team-mate. Sexton was right on his tail lap after lap and was looking to pounce on any mistake from the German. 

Eventually though it was Sexton that made a mistake and after challenging for the lead numerous times the #23 was then relegated to third place as Adam Cianciarulo went through, before Sexton got his act back together. 

Sexton then got a bit too frustrated trying to get back past Cianciarulo which saw him drop the bike again and he was then passed by Barcia, Anderson, Webb, Stewart, Musquin and Ferrandis. A massive fall from grace for Sexton. 

That kerfuffle had left Roczen with a huge ten-second lead over his pursuers. The closest of which was now Justin Barcia who was closely followed by Jason Anderson and Cooper Webb.  

With seven-minutes and two laps still remaining Roczen led Barcia by 11.5-seconds.  Chas Sexton had worked his way back up to seventh after Malcolm Stewart and Marvin Musquin both ended on the deck after tussling for position. 

Jason Anderson started to put the pressure on Barcia in the closing stages of the race and Cooper Webb was also looking to capitalise on any mistakes from that pair.  Anderson made his move but a few turns later Barcia returned fire in an aggressive way that left Anderson on the deck and the #21 Kawasaki had been shuffled back to seventh by the time he got back up and running.

The comeback story belonged to early front runner Chase Sexton who after making two falls and drifting right back in the pack, then put his head back down and passed Tomac, Musquin and Cianciarulo to promote himself back up to fourth place with three laps remaining.  

At the flag Musquin stole that fourth place back at that final juncture which saw Sexton finish fifth but the Honda man was well ahead of Eli Tomac, Malcolm Stewart, Joey Savatgy and Aaron Plessinger while Jason Anderson rounded out the top ten ahead of Cianciarulo, Wilson and Brayton.

As Ken Roczen got the last lap flag he backed things off which allowed Webb to get the gap back down to under ten seconds as the German just cruised home to a dominant flag to flag victory. 

Cooper Webb’s second place came with a reasonable buffer over third placed Justin Barcia, who rounded out the podium. 

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450 Main Video Highlights

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450 Main Results

450 Post Race Press Conference

450 Championship Standings (Round 1 of 17)

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250 Heat One

Taking the step down from 450 to 250 this season, Vince Friese scored the holeshot in the opening 250 Heat ahead of Colt Nichols and Seth Hammaker. 

Colt Nichols squeezed past Friese halfway through the heat, Hammaker then followed him through to push Friese back to third.  Friese came back at him though and Mosiman benefitted from their tussle to move up to third place, pushing Hammaker back to fourth. 

Colt Nichols then went down hard, handing the lead to Mosiman who led Hammaker and Friese home 1-2-3.  Mosiman pulled away in the closing laps to make it a clear six-second victory.

250 Heat One Results

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250 Heat Two

Carson Mumford got off the line well and led the field into turn one on the RM-Z250 but Christian Craig had a better exit and quickly moved through to the lead, immediately starting to pull away from the field.  

Marchbanks moved up to second place, while Hunter Lawrence recovered from getting caught up with some other riders on the opening lap to move past Thrasher and then Mumford to move up into third place. 

Hunter Lawrence then made a mistake though and dropped the bike, the Australian losing a few positions before getting back up to speed.  

Riders had been lapping under yellow flags since an early incident with Jalek Swoll saw him go down hard. Eventually officials brought out the red flag just before the third lap was completed thus riders headed around to the gates for a full re-start. 

At the re-start it was Hunter Lawrence that got the jump through the inside line to take the early lead from Dylan Walsh but Jo Shimoda moved up to that second place on lap two. Christian Craig then made short work of both of them to move up to second place and the Yamaha man set about chasing down Hunter Lawrence. 

Craig had the pace to wait and take his chance, but when he did he took Lawrence up high and the Honda man dropped the CRF250R. That left Craig to streak away to an easy win while Lawrence was relegated to fourth place by the tussle.  Shimoda took second, Marchbanks third. 

250 Heat Two Results

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250 Main

Vince Friese got another Holeshot to lead Seth Hammaker and Christian Craig in the Main. Michael Mosiman made a mistake on the opening lap and lost a heap of ground. Hunter Lawrence was stuck back in the pack around tenth. 

Craig made his way past Hammaker to move up to second place after nearly eating dirt himself through the whoops, pulled off a great save to stay on the bike and was quickly all over the back of Vince Friese. 

Friese defended well but Craig eventually made his way through to take the lead.  Hammaker then started to attack Friese for that second position and it didn’t take him long to push Friese back to third. A lap later Marchbanks pushed Friese further back to fourth. 

Hunter Lawrence had been steadily working his way forward and was up to fifth by half race distance and shortly thereafter moved past Friese to relegate the early race leader to fifth. 

Christian Craig continued to set the pace and pulled away from Hammaker who as the race progressed started to come under attack from Marchbanks. Hunter Lawrence beat him to the punch though! 

Hunter took third place from Marchbanks but ran out of time before he could get Hammaker and had to settle for third despite a final corner challenge that nearly came off for the Australian. 

Jo Shimoda had got stuck on the gates and was way behind the pack at the start but steadily worked his way forward to a seventh place finish to still bag good points despite that disastrous start. 

Mosiman also recovered from an early stumble to finish sixth. 

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250 Main Video Highlights

250 Main Results

250 Post Race Press Conference

250 West Championship Standings (Round 1 of 10)

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Source: MCNews.com.au