Marvin Musquin scored his first win of 2022 in Round 13 of the Monster Energy Supercross series by finishing 2-1-2 in the final Triple Crown format race of the season.
Chase Sexton earned the hole shot in Race 1 and beat Musquin into Turn 1, which is how the riders finished that race. The start was critical again in Race 2, but this time it was Musquin that got the advantage as Sexton allowed Jason Anderson to also get past him. That gave the advantage to Musquin with one race to go. Musquin 2-1 put him in position to capitalize in the final race so long as nothing went wrong.
“It’s tough to win these things,” Musquin told NBC Sports’ Will Christien after the race. “My starts were awesome, and the riding was good. I was trying to apply the best technique as possible.
“This track was awesome today in St. Louis. Super technical with all the off-camber and double-doubles.”
Finishing second in Race 3 capped off the near perfect night for the French rider.
Hear from your 450SX Triple Crown winner, @MarvinMusquin25 🗣
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) April 10, 2022
Monster Energy 450 Main Event LIVE fueled by @SchnuckMarkets#SupercrossLIVE pic.twitter.com/Dug7GsugZn
Sexton finished third in the final race, which gave him second position overall in this format that combines the three events. The rider with the lowest average finish wins.
For Sexton, second-place may have felt almost as good as a win after several hard crashes earlier in the season has stranded him deep in the points in seventh. Most recently he hit the ground in the Detroit main and finished well down the order in 22nd.
Click here for complete 450 results
Eli Tomac had bad starts to his first two races, but in what has become commonplace for the championship leader, he easily rode into the top five in the first two races. He finally earned his first hole shot of the night in Race 3 over Musquin and beat him to the checkers.
Tomac saw a five-race winning streak come to an end with his third-place overall finish, but that was not the most important thing for the evening. Tomac finished ahead of the two riders closest to him in the standings - albeit by the smallest of margins.
Anderson’s 6-2-5 placed him fourth in the overall standings. His runner-up finish to Musquin in Race 2 was the difference between fourth and fifth in the final rundown. And that is where points are paid in the Triple Crown format.
Third in points, Justin Barcia went 5-5-4 to finish fifth overall.
Tomac now holds a 56-point lead over Anderson and is 62 ahead of Barcia with four rounds remaining. He can’t walk to the finish of the season, but he barely needs to jog.
The 250 East riders grabbed the spotlight after turning the track over the 250 West riders for the Seattle round.
Like Musquin, RJ Hampshire scored his first win of the season, but he needed to dig deep to get it. In fact, it was the first win of Hampshire’s 250 career.
“This is unreal,” Hampshire told NBC’s Daniel Blair. “I can’t even get words out. I bust my ass every day for this, I have to give it up to everyone on my team. My wife, and my daughter, I told her I’d have a good race. If she’s still awake this goes out to her.”
Emotional first career 250SX win for @Hampshire21 🏆 #SupercrossLIVE @HusqvarnaUSA pic.twitter.com/1Rihi1Pe7d
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) April 10, 2022
Hampshire closed the gap on second-place in the standings after Cameron McAdoo was unable to race this week due to injury, but he still trails Lawrence by 41 points as the 250 series heads into a part of the schedule that features two East / West Showdowns in the final four rounds.
Championship leader Jett Lawrence won the first two races and carried a two-position lead into the final race over Hampshire, who finished second in the first two races. Lawrence’s undoing was his starts. After completing Lap 1 of Race 1 in ninth, he raced through the field and won that feature. He wasn’t as fortunate in the third race. Dropping to 12th on the opening lap, he crashed hard into Jace Owens in the whoops as he tried to make up ground.
Lawrence remounted and climbed to fifth with torn riding pants. That was enough to earn second-place overall.
With a 3-3-4. Mitchell Oldenburg stood on the final step of the podium.
With a 4-4-3, Kyle Chisholm finished fourth with Phil Nicoletti rounding out the top five.
RACE RECAPS
ROUND 1, ANAHEIM: Ken Roczen renews battle with Cooper Webb by winning the opener
ROUND 2, OAKLAND: Jason Anderson wins for first time since championship season
ROUND 3, SAN DIEGO: Chase Sexton (450s) and Michael Mosiman (250s) deliver first career wins
ROUND 4, ANAHEIM: Four races, four winners as Eli Tomac solidifies points lead
ROUND 5, GLENDALE: Tomac wins back-to-back races in Arizona Triple Crown
ROUND 6, ANAHEIM: Anderson ties Tomac with two 2022 wins
ROUND 7, MINNEAPOLIS: Anderson does it again and closes to within three of Tomac
ROUND 8, ARLINGTON: Tomac wins overall as Anderson takes two features
ROUND 9, DAYTONA: History made as Tomac sets Daytona Supercross record
ROUND 10, DETROIT: Tomac wins incident-filled, third consecutive
ROUND 11, INDIANAPOLIS: Tomac extends lead as competition falters
ROUND 12, INDIANAPOLIS: Tomac wins fifth straight and sets sights on 2022 championship