Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1466689
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 18 MAY 3, 2022 P141 there's no doubt about that. And for good reason, too. We saw so many players enter the 450SX class, nearly all of them with an actual shot at being a race win- ner. Seven of the 22 riders in the 450SX main at Anaheim 1 had previously won races with anoth- er six on the line having former championships on their resumes (if you count 250cc Supercross and MX). That's 65% of the field being valid contenders for wins. Crazy. Many of us still remember the days of Reed, Carmichael and Stewart, or Dungey and Villopoto, where realistically only one to five guys had a shot at getting the win. Times have changed, that's for sure. Wheth- er or not it's raw speed, training or a deeper level of talent pool, is for you to decide. But what I find most interest- ing this year is two contrary story lines. One being how the two main 450SX title contend- ers are on new bikes and the other being a 12-year age gap between the 250 winners. Both Jason Anderson and Eli Tomac opted for new teams after sev- eral seasons, and wins, on their former brands. Jett Lawrence and Christian Craig are 12 years apart in age, but both will hold championship trophies by the end of the year. In a world where consistency is key, 2022 has almost proved otherwise. Possibly the two biggest news stories this off-season were that of Jason Anderson joining Monster Energy Kawasaki and Eli Tomac teaming up with Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha. Shockingly, both riders made these big changes well into their careers. Anderson had previ- ously only ridden for the Rockstar Husqvarna team during his pro career starting back in 2011. Yes, it was formerly Rockstar KTM and Rockstar Suzuki before that, but team owner Bobby Hewitt remained the same throughout. Anderson earned two champion- ships with the team, the 250cc West title in 2014 and the coveted 450cc trophy back in 2018. After Hewitt left the team, Anderson alluded that things just weren't the same on the Rockstar team. An offer came about to ride for the factory Kawasaki effort and Anderson jumped at the op- portunity to change his scenery. Despite being on a drastically different machine (a steel framed Husqvarna vs. the aluminum frame Kawasaki), success came soon for Anderson. He quickly grabbed the win in Glendale at just the second round of the 2022 Supercross season. Sev- eral wins so far certainly quieted those who doubted Anderson's switch. Eli Tomac is another rider who changed colors this year. After six years with Monster Energy Kawasaki, ET3 made the move to the Star Racing Yamaha brand. The Colorado native hit his stride on the green machine, winning three Pro Motocross Champi- onships in a row (2017-'19) and racking up his first 450cc Super- cross title back in 2020. Things became a bit stagnant at the end of his run perhaps and rumors of Tomac making the switch began to circulate. I doubted success in the move due to the Yamaha's differences from the Kawi and