Oakland Supercross Goes to Jason Anderson and Christian Craig

RingCentral Coliseum, Oakland, CA — January 14, 2022

Round 2 of the 2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season returns the series to Oakland after skipping last year due to the pandemic. The first 250SX Class moto held in Oakland was on January 29, 2011, and Holly, Michigan’s Broc Tickle won the race on a Kawasaki. Oakland held a 250SX Class race every year from then until missing the 2021 schedule. 250SX Class racing returns to Oakland in 2022 for the 11th time in 250SX Class history.

Christian Craig got his season off to a flying start taking the opener of the 250SX West division in Anaheim. Seth Hammaker and Hunter Lawrence shared the podium with Craig at Angel Stadium and will be looking to break into the win column in the early rounds from the West Coast.

The track layout takes advantage of the traditional baseball confines of RingCentral Coliseum, the diamond configuration has riders crossing the opening in front of the starting gates three times.

250 SX

Updates from hard crashes in last week’s opener. Colt Nichols broke both of his arms and his Supercross season is over just as it started. Jalek Swoll suffered a concussion and will miss this week’s event, but is expected to return next week.

Heat #1 saw Joe Shimoda(30) take the early lead followed by Michael Mosiman(29) and Seth Hammaker(47). Mosima worked his way around the leader with just over a minute to go. Shimoda fought back only to be passed again by the #29 bike with two laps to go.

Mosiman moved away to secure the win with Shimoda 2nd and Hammaker 3rd, well ahead of the rest of the field.

Christian Craig, after becoming the fastest qualifier, got a big jump on the start of Heat #2 consistently pulling away from Hunter Lawrence(96). Garrett Marchbanks(35) passed Vince Friese(62) mid-race to finish 3rd.

250 SX Main

Joe Shimoda pushed Christian Craig wide on the start and took the early lead in the 250SX Main Event. Craig shadowed him waiting for Shimoda to make a mistake. It did not take long, Shimoda stalled his bike heading into the whoops and Craig pounced for the pass. Shimoda flipped his bike a few minutes later and fell out of contention for the win as he crashed off the course.

Midway through the race, the top three were the same as last week with Hammaker and Lawrence the only riders within 10 seconds of the leader. Lawrence, twice made runs at Hammaker, managing to pass for the 2nd spot with two minutes to go in the moto.

Lawrence cut the interval between himself and the leader, but Craig rode smart and took the checkered flag back-to-back for the first time in his career. Shimoda recovered to finish 7th.

250 SX Main Event Results

250 SX West Point Standings

450 SX

Nine of the 10 250SX Class winners in Oakland are active 2022 450SX Class Championship contenders. Broc Tickle, who is the test rider and potential replacement rider for Kawasaki, is the lone exception of the list: Eli Tomac, Ken Roczen, Jason Anderson, Malcolm Stewart, Joey Savatgy, Justin Hill, Aaron Plessinger, Adam Cianciarulo, and Dylan Ferrandis.

Last week’s 450SX winner Ken Roczen(94) escaped serious injury in qualifying earlier today when he lost control of his bike and went down only to have his teammate Chase Sexton(23) run over his helmet in the incident. Both riders were shook up but are expected to make it to the starting gate for their heats.

Sexton showed he was good to go, taking the holeshot and opening a quick lead over the rest of the competitors in the 450SX Heat #1. Jason Anderson(21) and Malcolm Stewart(27) contested for the 2nd spot until Stewart hit a tuff block and exited the track. Up quickly, Stewart maintained a position in the top 9 (finishing 4th) to move on to the main. Aaron Plessinger(7) finished 3rd. The win for Sexton was his 2nd in a row as he also took his heat in the opener at Anaheim.

In Heat #2, Adam Cianciarulo(9) grabbed the early lead. But it was the fastest qualifier, Eli Tomac(3) that established himself as the man to beat two minutes in. Tomac finished 6th last week in what was a disappointing start to his season.

Ken Roczen also passed Cianciarulo to take 2nd but he had nothing for Tomac. Justin Barcia moved in 3rd with two laps to go. Cianciarulo held onto 4th over defending series champion Cooper Webb(1) in 5th.

Cianciarulo suffered a broken collarbone at Orlando last year and just before the 2022 season, he experienced a grade 3 AC separation of his shoulder. He is riding after being assured by doctors that being on the bike would not cause further damage to his shoulder. However, he is racing in considerable pain as the injury continues to heal.

450SX Main

Adam Cianciarulo again was out front early with a great start in the 450SX main event. Of course, the question is can his body hold up through the 20-minute moto. Four minutes in, Jason Anderson caught and passed the injured rider. Two minutes later, Aaron Plessinger put Adam back in the 3rd position.

Eli Tomac got a bad start and was 11th exiting the first corner. He improved to 8th at the end of the first lap, but a lot of good riders were positioned in front of him. One of those riders, last week’s winner Ken Roczen, crashed into a tuff block at the end of the whops section and fell back to 16th, and defending champion Cooper Webb was mired in the 10th position.

At the halfway mark of the race, Justin Barcia(51) and Tomac had moved into third and fourth as Cicanciarulo began fading back in the pack. Chase Sexton, recovering from stalling his bike early, worked his way up to 9th as the race entered its final stages.

Just under five minutes to go and Anderson had stretched his lead over Plessinger to four seconds. Barcia, Tomac, and Stewart rounded out the Top 5. Anderson was showing the effects of his ride over the well-rutted Oakland course. With his shirt tale untucked and flapping in the wind, he exposed a bit of “plumbers crack” over the final laps and as he crossed the finish line to take the win.

Tomac failed to make the podium finishing 4th behind Barcia. Defending series champion Cooper Webb finished 7th. Chase Sexton again failed to repeat his heat performance in the Main Event, he placed 9th. Last week’s winner, finished a disappointing 13th and dropped out of the points lead.

450 SX Main Event Results

450 SX Points Standings

250 SX Futures

Eight-time Loretta Lynn champion, Ryder Difrancesco (23) won the 250SX Futures Main event with a comfortable half-lap margin over Nicholas Nisbet(117) and Dylan Cunha(55). Konnor Visger(99) from Bellevue, MI finished 6th.

Next week the California motos roadshow moves to San Deigo for Round 3.