Okay, for hard-charging RJ Hampshire, there’s still going to be a moment of toughness on race day. At practice in Glendale, he cased the massive double over the start. It was not good.
“I had a big case that kind of set me back the rest of the day, like I was not feeling the greatest,” he said. “I caught a Tuff block off the face and I hit so hard. My jaw was off to the side and my lower back was smoked. I hit hard. Then I did a fast lap on the next lap and I was P1! But after that, I was like, ‘[Doc] G, look dude, I need some work.’ It was one of those nights that I’ve had too many times in my career. I was hurting. It was going to be a painful kind of day. I got smoked in my heat race. It was ugly, really ugly.”
Hampshire then got a pep talk from his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team manager, Nathan Ramsey. “Nate hyped me up before we went down there. He was like, ‘Stop being an idiot. You know you’re the fastest guy.’ I was like, ‘I need to stop being a bitch here and figure some stuff out. Stop worrying about my back and focus on this main event.’”
So once again there was some pain for RJ to deal with, but in the main event he was back to the guy we’ve seen him morph into the last few seasons in supercross. Yes, he can get wild at times, but overall he’s much better at managing these races these days. When Levi Kitchen and Jordon Smith got out front early, RJ just settled in behind them. He and the team made some bike changes after the heat, and he felt those out early.
“I got smoked in the heat race. Like, dude, I was struggling pretty bad. So I was like, ‘Okay, let's see the changes that we made.’ I could trust my bike, and once I figured that out, okay, I can match their speed. Just hang right in there and hopefully, you know, it kind of gets given to me, and that's really what happened. They made some mistakes and then, yeah, I found myself out in the lead pretty quick.”
Smith passed Kitchen for the lead, but then he slid out. Hampshire had also made a move on Kitchen, which put him out front once Smith went down. Later, Kitchen got confused on the yellow flag/medic light rules and didn’t jump the start of a rhythm section. Smith crashed into the back of him and this left Hampshire with a bigger lead.
“I heard the crowd go crazy,” said Hampshire. “The gap was about five-six seconds from there. And, I was able to manage it, which I'm stoked I'm able to do that right now. And, yeah, just a solid end to a tough day.”
If you go back to Anaheim 1, Hampshire was not the spectacular guy, he was the steady guy. He rode in control the whole time. Then came wild mud races and a weird flat-tire situation that cost him a shot at winning the Anaheim 2 Triple Crown. Finally, Glendale was back to what we saw at A1. Other riders were fast, but they made mistakes and RJ did not.
That’s not what he’s known for, but he’s come a long way, and was even darned consistent last season in supercross. That was overshadowed by Jett Lawrence dominating the season, but RJ finished first or second in all but two races last year. Right now he’s still third in points and five points back, but it’s that calling card, consistency, that makes him a compelling case for this title.
That’s going to have to wait, as the 250SX West Region takes a big break. Hampshire said he’s waiting on a 450 to get built for him so he can at least practice with it during the week. He probably won’t race it, but he’ll keep his skills sharp and hope to keep it in control at the next race, in Seattle, on March 23rd.
