Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Christian Craig overcame adversity to keep his perfect podium record in 2022 with a third-place finish yesterday at the penultimate Monster Energy AMA Supercross round in Denver, Colorado. The 250SX West Championship leader scored valuable points to maintain a healthy lead heading into next weekend’s series finale. His teammate Nate Thrasher came back to ninth in the challenging conditions.
After qualifying just shy of the top spot, Craig came out swinging in his heat race and grabbed the holeshot to lead from start to finish. The Californian got a good start in the main event in second and was on the heels of his championship rival. Needing three points and therefore a win to secure the title a weekend early, Craig was pushing to claim the lead but unfortunately went down in the sand section on Lap 6. He rejoined in seventh and put his head down, weaving his way back to third to maintain his podium streak and head into the finale with an 18-point advantage.
With limited track time after Friday’s practice sessions were canceled due to extreme winds, Thrasher and the team worked on getting dialed in for the day race at the Empower Field at Mile High. The Tennessee rider fought his way back to a top-five finish in his heat race, giving him a 10th gate pick for the Main Event. From there, he got a decent start and was 13th after the first lap. Thrasher kept pushing and fought his way to ninth on a track that was difficult to pass on.
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing Team heads to Rice-Eccles Stadium on May 7 for another East/West Showdown and the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season finale in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 250 Team Manager
“It was a good day overall, with Christian qualifying well and having an awesome heat race. Unfortunately, he went down in the main, but he got back up and made his way back for a podium finish and scored some good points. We’re going to come back stronger next weekend and look to wrap it up in Salt Lake City.”
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing
“Denver went pretty well, overall. I qualified second and was only a tenth off, so I was confident heading into the afternoon. Then in the heat race, I got the holeshot and checked out pretty quick, which was nice. I just put in my laps and felt really comfortable and brought that feeling into the main event. I got off to a good start in the main and was running second, pressuring for the win, and then ended up making a small mistake in the sand and going down. I got up around seventh place and came through the pack to third and minimized the damage. I’m kind of bummed, but we’ve got to take it for what it is and move on to next week and get the title there.”
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing
“It was a frustrating race in Denver. I kept working on making my way forward but it was a tough track to make passes on and we ended up ninth. We’re going to keep working to get the result we are looking for and end the season on a high note next weekend in Salt Lake City.”
