Image: Octopi Media.

Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Christian Craig was crowned 250SX West champion in a main event nail-biter won by teammate Nate Thrasher.

With the western regional title on the line, it was Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) who took the Showdown holeshot and led the opening few laps, before Thrasher stormed to the front.

That left Lawrence in second and champion-elect Craig directly behind him in third, which would be exactly what the latter needed to get the job done.

However, things got interesting on lap six when Craig went down in the turn after the whoops, dropping back to fifth in the process – Jo Shimoda (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), teammate Austin Forkner and Michael Mosiman (TLD Red Bull GasGas) making their way by him in proceeding laps also.

Up front, Lawrence kept the pressure on, but it wasn’t to be as Thrasher went on to hold on by 0.432s, with Pierce Brown (TLD Red Bull GasGas) charging to third position in his home race.

Fourth was the end result from RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) despite falling on the final lap in the whoops, ahead of Shimoda, Forkner and Mosiman. Eighth place was enough for Craig to clinch, as Chris Blose (AJE Motorsport Motul GasGas) ended his career in P9 and Jalek Swoll (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) completed the top 10.

Detailed results