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/1469337
"I fought hard; that was my game plan," said Roczen. "I passed [Sex- ton] in the beginning [of moto two]; I had some really good lines and really good speed, and I hung in there the whole way. He's really strong right now, and really fast, so the most im- portant thing for me was to not give up. This track was really difficult—re- ally tricky and sketchy." Third in both motos went to the recently crowned AMA 250SX West Champion Christian Craig who was moved up to the 450 team by Mon- ster Energy/Star Yamaha Racing. The team was missing defending 450 MX Champion Dylan Ferrandis after he tore a ligament in his thumb while practicing earlier in the week. He was to have surgery on Tuesday and is expected to miss the next several rounds. "Man, I've gotten robbed so many times of overalls, so to get that one was awesome," said Craig of his 3-3 finishes. "Battling with my teammate Eli the entire moto, I'm so proud just to have this moment. VOLUME 59 ISSUE 22 JUNE 1, 2022 P75 HAULIN' HAMMAKER Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawa- saki's Seth Hammaker got off to a promising start to the day after top- ping both 250cc qualifying sessions. Unfortunately for him, he was unable to carry that momentum into the motos. He started off in third place in both motos but slipped back to eighth in moto one and fifth in moto two for seventh overall. Hammaker, who has been off the bike for several months with an injury, said he needs to work on carrying that speed into the motos. JUSTIN COOPER RETURNS Monster Energy/Star Racing Ya- maha's Justin Cooper holeshot the first 250cc moto but his long layoff due to serious foot injury eventu- ally caught up to him in the long motos, and he faded back to 11th for an 11-13 day. He said, "It's been a long time off, and we really had a struggle today. We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but I'm positive." It didn't help any that he tweaked his shoulder during the day, as well. NOT A FIRST Honda has gone 1-2 in a National before, and so have two brothers. In 1973, the year Honda was celebrat- ing over the Pala weekend, Gary and Dewayne Jones finished 1-2 at the Lake Whitney, Texas, 250 Na- tional. Both were Honda factory rid- ers on the new CR250M Elsinores. TOUGH START It was a tough opener for two riders hoping to have a positive turn- around in Pro Motocross as neither Jalek Swoll nor Cameron McAdoo completed a full lap of racing. Swoll crashed heavily at the top of the Briefly... Antonio Cairoli rode well but you could tell he wanted more than seventh overall.