2022 SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP FLASHBACK: THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS

By Trevor Nelson  Photos By Trevor Nelson & Brian Converse

The 2022 Supercross season was one for the books, as it returned to normal after two hectic years of canceled races, no fans and COVID tests every weekend. Oh, there was still the occasional COVID-19 test, but, for the most part, the stadiums were filled with fans, the riders lined up behind the gate, and the series didn’t visit the same venue three times in a row or have to race in the middle of the week. It was a by-the-book Supercross season—starting in Anaheim and ending in Salt Lake City 17 races later. 

Hopes were high at the start of the 2022 season, and if you told us how it would play out before it began, we would’ve called you crazy. How could anyone predict what would happen during a season of massive change? Before it even started at round one, riders jumped ship, often swapping factory rides. Jason Anderson, Aaron Plessinger, Malcolm Stewart and the most pivotal rider of the 2022 season, Eli Tomac, all changed teams for the 2022 Supercross season. You couldn’t tell the players by the color of their bikes anymore—Tomac from green to blue, Anderson from white to green, Stewart from blue to white, and Plessinger from blue to orange. It was a whole new ballgame. Everything was looking fresh for 2022. 

The premier 450 class was awaited with eager anticipation as some of the old hands, who had been plying the trade for a decade or more, were suddenly under pressure to perform as a handful of younger riders were trying to break through to the big time; one of them was Honda’s Chase Sexton. There was no doubt that the 450 class was getting a little geriatric, and after the first round, the top five in the 450 ranks were filled with 30-plus-year-old athletes. And that was just the tip of the iceberg, because as you went back in the places you could find 14 riders who were or would be 30 years old before the season ended—and one who was 38 years old. For a sport built on wild and crazy 16-year-olds, this was a very uncommon rider demographic.

Typically, the young guns can perform exceedingly well because of their age and health. But, in 2022, wisdom and experience dominated throughout the series, while the younger riders found creative ways of getting injured. After the halfway point of the season, the 450 class was looking like the survival of the fittest, or maybe just the oldest.

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