Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Kyle Chisholm made the most of the two-weekend break for the 250SX East Championship, racing to a fourth-place finish (4-4-3) at the final Triple Crown held at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis. Heading into the final main event of the night’s three-race format, Chisholm was in contention for the overall podium but was narrowly edged out with just a few laps to go.
With little time on the bike at his previous gate drops, Chisholm went to work with the team to set up his YZ250F for the final push of the season. The hard work paid off with a third-place qualifying position to start the day. In the opening main event, the Florida rider got a good start off the gate and came around the first turn in third. He would move back to fourth a few laps later, where he held on until the end of the first race.
The second main event had a red flag after just two laps making it a full restart, which benefitted Chisholm. After the first lap shuffle on the restart, he came out sixth and started to work his way forward. By the halfway point, he had made it up to fourth, ending up matching his first race score of fourth when the checkered flag came out.
Going into the final main of the three-race format, Chisholm was in contention for a podium finish. He got a great start that put him fourth after the first turn and was able to move up to third before the end of the lap. Although he was shuffled back to fourth a lap later, he kept battling and reclaimed third to end the night fourth overall for the best finish of his career.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team will rejoin the West riders as they head to Round 14 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross on Saturday, April 16, for an East/West Showdown at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 250 Team Manager
“The day started out really well. Kyle would have actually qualified second, but he jumped on a red cross flag, and they took his fast lap, so he ended up qualifying third which was still good. In the first main event, he didn’t get a good start going into the first turn, but he made it work and rode a pretty solid race to fourth. He had the same result in the second one, but the start coming in was a little bit better. Then in the final race, he was running third for quite some time and then was back and forth and yo-yo-ing a little bit, but kept pushing and ended up third for fourth overall.
“We made a lot of improvements during the week with setup, and it showed tonight. We are super happy with Kyle and are very happy moving forward. In just a short amount of time, he is exceeding our expectations threefold.”
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing
“With the weekend off, we had a little bit more time. I went up to the farm, spent time with the team, and spent more time on the bike. So I felt super comfortable and like I could actually race around the track and not just make it around. In qualifying, I was feeling good. I was second, but I jumped on a red flag, so they took that time, but I was still third. That’s super good for me because I’m not that great at doing the one-lap thing. I didn’t get a great start in the first race, but I got through the first turn pretty good. I had some good starts in the other ones and went 4-4-3.
“I was pretty bummed, though because I was really close to a podium. Mitchell Oldenburg and I were close in points going into the last main. I just needed one guy in between us, and close to the end, Pierce Brown was between us, but then Mitchell got by Pierce right at the end to knock me to fourth. Again, I’m bummed to not get on the podium, but all in all fourth is good and is much improved over the other couple of races that I got to do. It’s great to feel good on the bike, and I’m super grateful for the opportunity to work with such a great team.”
