Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Christian Craig charged through the field to take a runner-up finish during the 250SX West Championship’s stop at Lumen Field in Seattle. With three rounds remaining, Craig now sits with a 26-point lead over second place. Nate Thrasher had a solid day going overall, but a mistake late in the main event pushed him back to 11th place for the night.
Monster Energy AMA Supercross returned to the Pacific Northwest for the first time since 2019, and while the rain held off, the track was challenging the riders throughout the day. Craig adapted to the tricky track, scoring second in qualifying. He didn’t get a great jump in his heat race and was outside the top five, but he quickly pushed his YZ250F through the field and was in the lead by the second lap. Focused on not making the same mistake on the start, the Californian pulled the holeshot in the main event. He led the field through the opening two laps but came together with another rider just before the finish line and went down. He remounted in sixth and started charging to the front once again. Just after the halfway mark, Craig found his way into second, but time expired before he was able to get close enough to the leader to go for the win.
Thrasher started the day with a qualifying result of fifth. In his heat race, the sophomore supercross rider proved he had podium speed as he got a great start and challenged for the lead right up to the end. He transferred that same speed into the main event, starting the race in sixth but quickly made it up to fourth by lap three. He was right in the mix with the podium riders, but in the final minutes of the race, Thrasher washed out the front in a turn and went down. He got up quickly but went down in the whoops and finished the night in 11th.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team will get a weekend off to start April before the return of the 250SX East Championship of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross on Saturday, April 9, at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 250 Team Manager
“The day started off pretty good. Christian qualified second and looked good. Nate struggled with the track a little bit, just with finding what the fast lines were in the rhythms. The track was really challenging. The lines were changing all day and night. There were some rhythms that were fast earlier in the day that ended up not being fast later and then got fast again for some reason. He qualified fifth, which was fine, and we felt good going into the night show.
“In the main event, Christian got a great start, and then Mosiman ran him wide in the turn before the finish, and he ended up falling. Christian got up, put his head down, and started charging. Coming away from the night, I just feel like the red plates are heavy, and everybody wants them. They are a big target, and these little things are going to happen; we’ve just got to be smart.
“Nate was sitting in podium contention at one point, and I was pretty excited about that, but then made one small mistake at the end of a rhythm and washed the front. He got up and ended up falling in the whoops. That was rough, and I think it deflated him a little bit. He ended the night 11th, but that’s fine; it was a learning experience. He was going really good all day and was a podium guy – it just didn’t play out that way. We’ll see those guys in Atlanta for the shootout, and we’re excited for that.”
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing
“The night was pretty good. I started off with the heat win, but I had a bad start in that race. So I really focused on getting a good start in the main and was able to holeshot that. I rode a little tight in the first few laps but came together with another rider and went down. From there, I just put my head down, made a charge back, and was able to get back up to second. I kind of challenged for the win, but it just wasn’t enough at the end and finished second. We’re moving on and have a couple of weeks off to get ready for Atlanta.”
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing
“I’m pretty disappointed with how the night ended because I felt like we had a shot at the podium. We struggled a bit earlier in the day, but we had a good heat race and got a good start in the main. Unfortunately, some mistakes cost us tonight, but we’re going to keep working, and I’m excited to go back to Atlanta, where I have some great memories.”
