race three and led all 11 laps.
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/
Kawasaki's Jo Shimoda finally
secured a podium at round five.
He's shown speed all season but
mistakes and crashes have held
him back every time. A crash in
race one resulted in a fifth, but
thirds in races two and three saw
Shimoda bounce back and put it
on the box at the end of the night.
"Today my goal was to just
stay clean," Shimoda said. "We
can't really change anything
that's really huge. Just cleaning
up the mistakes or small line
choices, maybe a start. A little
place, which included a hard
pass (but could have been much
a lot harder) on Friese, who had
re-entered the race after their
get-together ahead of Craig.
Craig wanted to engage Friese
right after the race, but cooler
heads prevailed. Craig's ride
looked familiar to his San Diego
performance and ultimately
saved his overall position.
"I'm very sour about it [the
crash with Friese]," Craig said.
"I was really mad about it… just
because of where it happened
and how it happened."
Craig again started up front in
Craig. The points leader put
on a clinic in race one, hole-
shotting and leading every lap.
At the checkers his lead was
nearly 15 seconds over second
place. Things were looking
promising for Craig until Friese
dive-bombed him in race two.
The take-out put both riders
on the ground with Craig flying
off the track. He remounted in
last place and was somehow
uninjured. With a shortened
time of only 10 minutes plus one
lap, Craig knew it was do-or-
die to save his overall score.
He charged from 21st to fourth
ROUND 5 / FEBRUARY 6, 2022
STATE FARM STADIUM / GLENDALE, ARIZONA
P60
SUPERCROSS I MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES
Vince Friese (62) took out points leader Christian Craig (28) in the second 250SX race while
fighting for the early lead. Craig came back from last to finish fourth and salvage second overall.
