Image: Octopi Media.

The time of Colt Nichols at Team Honda HRC officially came to an end following Salt Lake City in what was a Supercross-only deal, claiming 450SX rookie of the year honors despite having to sit out the final round.

Former 250SX East champion Nichols finished 14th in the 450SX standings after missing a total of five rounds throughout the series, including the Monster Energy Supercross finals.

“Well, I’m pretty bummed to not be racing tonight, but this was a cool little surprise,” Nichols said on Saturday. “I am all good, just tweaked my knee up a little last weekend on the crash and we decided not to risk damaging it more.

“Pretty cool to win rookie of the year and super thankful for the opportunity to race for Team Honda HRC. This team has been nothing short of top tier – we’ve had some ups and downs as expected, but we all kept working and I’m proud of that!”

Nichols finished inside the top 10 in five races, including a 450SX career-best coming at round 15 in Nashville, where the Honda rider finished fourth in the main event, only 4.618 seconds behind third-place finisher Ken Roczen (Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki).

With the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship set to commence on 27 May at Fox Raceway, Jett Lawrence will step up to the premier class at Team Honda HRC to pair with 450SX champion Chase Sexton, while Nichols is tipped to be heading to World Supercross in the second half of the year.