Practice – Session One

In the first 250 A qualifier Jo Shimoda was quick initially, but Christian Craig quickly shot to the top of the board with a 52.751. Shimoda immediately responded, logging a 50.858, then lowered it again to a 48.851. Then he went down! He seemed fine though and rejoined the session. Craig meanwhile, had been circulating at a medium pace, than put his head down and went for a fast lap. He was looking good too, but went down in the sand section. Toward the end of the session Hunter Lawrence logged a 48.211 to take over the top spot, and while Craig was able to put in another fast lap, his 48.324 wasn’t quite fast enough to end the session fastest. Lawrence stayed on top, Craig was second, Shimoda third (48.779), Garrett Marchbanks fourth (48.805), and Michael Mosiman was fifth fastest (49.455).

When the 450s rolled out it was Cooper Webb fast early, but Chase Sexton, who was looking great out there, displaced him with a 48.244. Jason Anderson seemed to struggle a bit during the first half of this session. He crashed, then later made a mistake and went into the Tuff Blocks in a berm. His times weren’t close to the leaders, either. Finally he was able to put in a good lap, logging a 46.808, which put him on top. It looked like he’d stay there too, until Sexton snuck in another heater on the final lap, recording a 46.441. Eli Tomac never really seemed to find his groove out there. He didn’t look particularly smooth, over-jumped a few sections, and was in the mechanics area a few times. He was never near the fastest times either, and ended up fifth fastest with a 47.470. Benny Bloss was absent in this qualifier, and will miss today's action due to testing positive for Covid earlier this week.

It should be noted that times will most likely speed up in the second session. The riders normally have a free practice to learn the track, but not this time. Free practice was scheduled for yesterday afternoon due to today’s early start (today is a day race), but it was so windy holding practice wasn’t possible. The track, so far, doesn’t look bad either. Yesterday the wind had dried it way out, but right now it doesn’t look anything like yesterday’s parched lake bed.

Practice – Session Two

After Jerry Robin dominated the 250 B qualifier, Jalek Swoll kicked off the second 250 A qualifier by nabbing the holeshot in the mock start, and times were almost immediately quicker than they were in the first qualifier. Craig was first to set a fast time, but Lawrence wasted no time in knocking him off. This would mark the beginning of a stopwatch slugfest that lasted the entire session. Lawrence didn’t let up, just throwing down fast lap after fast lap, and finally took a break after he dipped below the 46-second range with a 45.959. Next on top was Craig with a 45.983, followed by a 45.676 from Lawrence, and followed by a 45.405 from Craig. It went on like this, with neither rider willing to yield. Finally, Lawrence set a 45.252, which wouldn’t be topped. When the checkers came out Lawrence and Craig were the only two riders under 46 seconds, but Garrett Marchbanks snuck in a quickie right at the end, a 45.872, to take third. Shimoda (46.395) and Mosiman (46.402) rounded out the top five.

Mitch Oldenburg was fastest in the 450B group with a 46.426, with Adam Enticknap, Austin Politelli, Alex Ray, and Kevin Moranz rounding out the top five.

Jason Anderson came out of the gate firing in the final 450 A qualifier, taking the fake holeshot and putting down several fast laps immediately. As a result, he recorded a 45.718 right away. It didn’t stand, however, as Musquin turned a 45.136, only to see Chase Sexton rocket to the top with a 45.055. Justin Bogle had a big moment when he landed on the side of the track, hit a Tuff Block, and almost went down. Fortunately he recovered and gave a quick, funny fist pump to the crowd, then threw a big whip off the next triple.

At the top of the heap Anderson and Sexton were going to war with lap times, and Eli Tomac eventually joined in, with all three riders becoming the first to dip into the 45-second range. Tomac looked much better in this session and was riding more aggressively. As the session neared an end Tomac, after several attempts, put in a scorching lap to take over second place with a 44.677, but it wasn’t quite fast enough to nip Sexton’s 44.624. Anderson was absolutely going for it on the last lap, but lost it in the sand section, ruining his last-lap heroics.

250SX Heat One

Christian Craig kicked off the first gate drop of the day with a holeshot, with Dominique Thury on his tail. Craig immediately started getting away while Thury fell under fire from Jo Shimoda, who made the move into second after a couple laps. Thury then felt pressure from Vince Friese and Derek Kelley but hung tough for quite a while. Every time it looked like Friese was going to throw it inside, Thury would squirt away. Finally Friese pulled alongside of Thury in the sand section and made the pass in the next corner. On the final lap there was a great battle for the final transfer spot. Jesse Flock was in the final transfer spot but made a mistake, which put him on the business end of a block pass from Jerry Robin, who’d gone down on the first lap. Unfortunately for both of them, Flock got ripped from his bike and his legs got caught in Robin’s rear wheel. Just like that, they were both out of it. Flock was finally able to get back up and on his bike. Craig went on to win by a mile, with Shimoda, Friese, Thury, Nate Thrasher, Derek Kelley, Jy Roberts, Devin Harriman, and McClellan Hile filling the remaining transfer spots.

250SX Heat Two

Hunter Lawrence holeshot this one with Carson Brown, Michael Mosiman, and Jalek Swoll following. Mosiman immediately went on the offensive and snagged second about a lap in. Mosiman was flying and after a lap had closed in on Lawrence, although he wasn’t close enough to show him a wheel. He kept creeping forward but after a few laps he went down all by himself in a corner. He remounted right away after losing two spots and quickly got those spots back, but Lawrence was gone. Lawrence took the win with Mosiman, Garrett Marchbanks, Chris Blose, Swoll, Brown, Robbie Wageman, Mitchell Harrison, and Ryan Surrat filling out the final transfer spots.

450SX Heat One

Eli Tomac exploded out of the gate with a clear holeshot in this one and half a lap in he already had a couple seconds on Justin Brayton in second. Marvin Musquin, who had a mediocre start, was working his way forward and after getting by John Short for third, went after Brayton. As the race was drawing to a close Musquin finally went by Brayton for second, but was nowhere near Tomac. Alex Martin, who was running seventh, was having a problem with his bike. It didn’t seem like it was slowing him down, but his bike was smoking quite a bit. He finially started to slow down on the final lap. J

Justin Bogle, who was running in qualifying position early but fell, was tenth on the final lap. Two turns from the finish Bogle came in hard on the inside of Austin Politelli and knocked him over. Fair play for the final transfer spot, but Politelli definitely didn’t feel that way and reached out and tried to pull Bogle down with him as he was going down. It didn’t work and Bogle took the spot. Tomac won, with Musquin, Brayton, Justin Starling, Kyle Chisholm, John Short, Martin, Henry Miller, and Bogle filling the transfer spots.

450SX Heat Two

Chase Sexton took command early in this one. Justin Barcia gave chase early, but Sexton was on rails. That left Barcia to battle Jason Anderson, but Anderson wasn’t having it and quickly knifed by Barcia for second. At that point the top five of Sexton, Anderson, Barcia, Malcolm Stewart, and Cooper Webb were somewhat spaced out. In fact, just about the entire field was spread out and there wasn’t a whole lot going on. That started to change toward the end when Anderson started reeling in Sexton. With one lap left Anderson was all over Sexton as the two fought through lappers. Stewart, meanwhile, had caught and passed Barcia, but the battle everyone was watching was up front. Anderson was giving it everything he had to win the heat race, but Sexton was able to hold him off. Sexton, Anderson, Stewart, Barcia, Webb, Brandon Hartranft, Mitch Oldenburg, Ryan Breece, and Fredrik Noren all transferred to the main.

250SX LCQ

Geran Stapleton shot out to the early lead, and as things started to shake out Carson Mumford made is way into second and started reeling in Stapleton. Just when it looked like he was closing in on Stapleton, he made a big mistake entering the sand section and nearly went down. He saved it though and resumed the fight. Back in the fight for fourth Brandon Ray was pressuring Max Sanford. Ray smacked into Sanford pretty good a couple times before taking over the spot and sprinting away. Up front Mumford had made the move on Stapleton and checked out for the win. Mumford took the win, with Stapleton, Alexander Nagy, and Ray taking the four transfer spots. Nagy celebrated making the main by pulling a Nac-Nac over the finish line.

450SX LCQ

Cade Clason was leading this one but Justin Rodbell came hard into the third turn and absolutely cleaned Clason out. After a couple laps it was Rodbell, Kevin Moranz, Deven Raper, and Austin Politelli in the top four. Politelli was able to displace Raper, and Marshal Weltin quickly came up the inside of Raper a few turns later and took the final transfer spot. As the clock started to wind down Moranz caught Rodbell and knifed inside him for the lead. Politelli was next to shuffle Rodbell back, but it didn’t matter. Moranz won, Politelli was second, Rodbell third, and Weltin fourth in the final transfer spot.

250SX Main Event

Close start between Jalek Swoll and Hunter Lawrence in this one but Lawrence edged him out. Christian Craig started in third, but quickly moved into second. Just like that, the stage was set for a battle between the top two in points, with Craig winning a championship if he won the race. Lap after lap Craig dogged Lawrence, applying heavy pressure, but every time he tried to put a wheel in Lawrence held him off. And for Craig’s part, he wasn’t trying to push the issue, either. Michael Mosiman held third, about a straightaway behind the lead duo, but it seemed as though he was slowly creeping up on them. Then disaster struck for Craig, who got squirrely as he was jumping into the sand section and went down. He wasn’t hurt, but his shot at winning the race, and clinching the title, was gone.

Following Craig’s crash it was Lawrence up front followed by Mosiman, Jo Shimoda, Garrett Marchbanks, Swoll, and Craig in sixth. Craig went to work, and with about five minutes left he was reeling in Shimoda for third. Soon he was all over him and hounding him hard. It looked like Craig would make the pass fairly quickly, but Shimoda did NOT want to give up the final podium spot and was giving Craig all the fight he could handle. Finally Craig blasted by him in the whoops and that was that. Craig was closing on Mosiman on the final lap but ran out of time. Lawrence took the win, with Mosiman and Craig rounding out the podium.

450SX Main Event

Chase Sexton narrowly took the holeshot ahead of Eli Tomac, but you could tell Tomac really wanted to win this thing. Tomac was all over Sexton in the first few turns before seeming to settle down a bit. Jason Anderson lurked in third, just a few lengths behind Tomac. It looked like Sexton was going to hang in there for a while, but unfortunately he went wide in a left turn and got hung up on a dirt lip. He tried to slow down and save it but the went into a Tuff Block and went down. Just like that Tomac took the lead and the crowd exploded. Every section Tomac went by the crowd there would go nuts, and this went on for several laps! Anderson decided he was going to rain on the Colorado parade, however, and went up the inside of Tomac in a bowl turn. Malcolm Stewart was in third and was slowly catching Tomac too. After a few laps Stewart went to the inside of Tomac after the whoops, but Tomac wanted to part of the smoke, went way wide, and let Stewart go. Behind them it was Justin Barcia leading Marvin Musquin by about a second-and-a-half, but Barcia ended up crashing and losing about four spots. Barcia would crash in the sand section again toward the end of the race.

The track was hard, dusty, and pretty deteriorated at this point, making it tough for anyone to be aggressive. That didn’t stop Musquin from going after Tomac with seven minutes left, however, and when Musquin went in for the pass, Tomac politely got out of the way. Sexton would later get by Tomac, but Tomac would hold on for fifth and clinch the 2022 Monster Energy 450SX Championship. If you're keeping score, Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha has now won every championship there is.