Remember Kyle Chisholm? About 10 months ago or so, Chisholm was the lapper who ran into Chad Reed at Salt Lake City last year as Reed chased Chisholm’s then-teammate James Stewart, only one round before the championship finale in Las Vegas.
Chisholm had offers to return to the Lites class, but because of the AMA Rule that stated that 450cc rookies like Chisholm who finished in the top 20 in points the previous season could not race the Lites class, Chisholm was forced to turn down those rides and attempt to go it alone on a 450. Fortunately, the Rock River Yamaha team stepped up to help him out for a couple rounds starting in Phoenix (he was racing in Germany the weekend of Anaheim 1 with Jason Thomas and many other notable American privateer types), and by San Francisco, round four, Chisholm landed on the MCRMX Yamaha team, which at the time had both Matt Goerke and Dan Reardon out injured.
Now, only two rounds later, Chisholm has already been paying dividends to the team for giving him a go. At Anaheim 3, Chisholm grabbed a solid seventh place, not too far behind JGR/Muscle Milk Yamaha’s Justin Brayton, and in front of Brayton’s teammate Michael Byrne, and his own teammate Reardon, as well as notable 450cc veterans Nick Wey and Ivan Tedesco.
Of the six people in front of Chisholm at Anaheim 3, half of them have won main events this year, and the other half were co-points leader Josh Hill, superstar veteran Kevin Windham, and Brayton.
It was Chisholm’s second top-10 finish in a row, and he now sits 11th in points, only three behind Rockstar/Canidae Suzuki’s Tommy Hahn, who missed A3 with the flu.
And perhaps most importantly, Chisholm has been the top rider on the MCRMX team since he joined – albeit by default the first round.
So while everyone is going on and on about how no one would’ve predicted a tie atop the points standings between Josh Hill and Ryan Dungey as the series heads east out of California, how many people would’ve predicted the re-emergence of Kyle Chisholm, and this time as an actual top-five threat in the 450cc class – while still riding Yamahas?!
This is a crazy season, and it seems like it’s only getting crazier as we go, doesn’t it?
Chisholm had offers to return to the Lites class, but because of the AMA Rule that stated that 450cc rookies like Chisholm who finished in the top 20 in points the previous season could not race the Lites class, Chisholm was forced to turn down those rides and attempt to go it alone on a 450. Fortunately, the Rock River Yamaha team stepped up to help him out for a couple rounds starting in Phoenix (he was racing in Germany the weekend of Anaheim 1 with Jason Thomas and many other notable American privateer types), and by San Francisco, round four, Chisholm landed on the MCRMX Yamaha team, which at the time had both Matt Goerke and Dan Reardon out injured.
Now, only two rounds later, Chisholm has already been paying dividends to the team for giving him a go. At Anaheim 3, Chisholm grabbed a solid seventh place, not too far behind JGR/Muscle Milk Yamaha’s Justin Brayton, and in front of Brayton’s teammate Michael Byrne, and his own teammate Reardon, as well as notable 450cc veterans Nick Wey and Ivan Tedesco.
Of the six people in front of Chisholm at Anaheim 3, half of them have won main events this year, and the other half were co-points leader Josh Hill, superstar veteran Kevin Windham, and Brayton.
It was Chisholm’s second top-10 finish in a row, and he now sits 11th in points, only three behind Rockstar/Canidae Suzuki’s Tommy Hahn, who missed A3 with the flu.
And perhaps most importantly, Chisholm has been the top rider on the MCRMX team since he joined – albeit by default the first round.
So while everyone is going on and on about how no one would’ve predicted a tie atop the points standings between Josh Hill and Ryan Dungey as the series heads east out of California, how many people would’ve predicted the re-emergence of Kyle Chisholm, and this time as an actual top-five threat in the 450cc class – while still riding Yamahas?!
This is a crazy season, and it seems like it’s only getting crazier as we go, doesn’t it?
