2022 St. Louis Supercross Recap
First time winners highlighted Round 13 of the 2022 Monster Energy Supercross season on Saturday held at Dome at America's Center in St. Louis which hosted the final Triple Crown event of the year.
In the 450 class, veteran Marvin Musquin got his first win of the year and extended his podium streak to three taking the overall on a 2-1-2 night. The Triple Crown incorporates a three Main Event structure that's calculated based on Olympic style scoring awarding the round's winner to the racer with the least points totaled from their finish in all three races.
Musquin rides a Supercross only contract with KTM and at 32 is on the tail-end of his career. His last win was Round 16 in 2021 but he has not announced whether he will retire at the end of the year and hopeful speculation on his late season surge might have him behind the gates for 2023.
Chase Sexton, who sat our Seattle two weeks ago because of a crash during qualifying, finished second overall with 1-3-3 scores. Sexton was expected to compete for the Championship but has suffered numerous crashes this year. The second overall marks his best finish since a Round 3 win. Eli Tomac had his five-round win streak ended as he took third overall on a 4-4-1 night but he did extend his points lead in the standings by two to 56 over Jason Anderson (6-2-5) who raced well except for two get-offs in the first and third races leaving him fourth overall. Tomac was awarded the Triple Crown Champion for 2022 based on his two previous Triple Crown wins.
2022 Supercross 450 Class Standings after Round 13
- Eli Tomac - 302
- Jason Anderson - 246
- Justin Barcia - 240
- Malcolm Stewart - 235
- Marvin Musquin - 232
In the 250 East Class, RJ Hampshire qualified fastest for the first time in his career leading to his first career win. Hampshire grabbed all four holeshots (Race 2 was red flagged) and despite crashing in the first race while leading, held on for the overall with 2-2-1 scores.
“This is unreal. This has haunted me for so long, I can't even get words out,� Hampshire said. “I had good times in practice and felt a lot more comfortable on the bike. My starts tonight were unreal and you could tell we made a lot of progress because I (grabbed the) holeshot every time I was on the track and led a lot of laps. I'm just so dang stoked for the team to finally get one of these.�
Hampshire finished second in the first two races to points leader Jett Lawrence who had a spill while riding mid-pack on the final race which dropped him to last with about nine minutes left. Lawrence worked his way to fifth to secure second overall. Lawrence looks to have clear sailing for the 250 East championship as Cameron Mcadoo was injured during press day and was unable to line up. Lawrence now has a 34 point lead over Mcadoo and leads Hampshire by 41 points with three rounds remaining.
Mitchell Oldenburg finished third on a 3-3-4 night for his first podium of the year. Kyle Chisholm 4-4-3 and Phil Nicoletti (5-10-2) rounded out the Top 5, respectively.
Kyle Peters broke his C5 and C6 vertebrae in Race 2 which led to the Red Flag for that race. He has undergone surgery and has complete movement.
2022 Supercross 250 East Class Standings after Round 6
- Jett Lawrence - 148
- Cameron Mcadoo - 114
- RJ Hampshire - 107
- Jordon Smith - 95
- Pierce Brown - 94
The MotoSport Sponsored Muc-Off / FXR / ClubMX Team
In the 450 class, Alex Martin crashed out of the first race and did not return. In the 250 East class, Phil Nicoletti (5-10-2) took fifth overall including a second-place finish in Race 3. Jace Owen (8-8-9) finished seventh overall and inadvertently helped Hampshire when his rear tire nipped Lawrence's rear tire leading to Lawrence falling off the bike. Enzo Lopes (20-6-12) managed a 12th overall after a gnarly get-off in Race 1.
Supercross heads to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for Round 14 on Saturday.
2022 St. Louis Supercross
