Image: Octopi Media.

It’s a case of ‘still trying to build’ for Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson following his podium result at Budds Creek, where a P2 finish in moto one marked his best finish in the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship to date.

A practice crash at the Nashville round of Monster Energy Supercross saw Anderson fracture his C5-C6 vertebrae, ruling him out until round five of 450MX at RedBud.

Since then, Anderson has been in a phase of rebuilding and that remains the case following his standout effort on Saturday afternoon.

“Yeah, for me, even first moto I think I was behind, I was in like eighth place behind [Garrett] Marchbanks and then Jett [Lawrence] came going by me and I just tried to latch onto him and pick guys off,” Anderson reflected.

“I basically started 10th and had to work my way to wherever I was, and coming back you know, I feel like that second moto I got past Adam [Cianciarulo] and I got into fifth and was a little worn out.

“After not racing all year and stuff like that, I feel like I’m still trying to build, you know, just to have two motos to where I could be all out, but yeah, I mean, today was a lot of battles in our class.

“The second moto I think Chase [Sexton] and Jett were quite a ways out front, but that first moto and behind those two in the second moto was an all-out battle. Track was really tough to pass on today, but it was fun.”

Anderson is currently positioned ninth in the Pro Motocross points and is ranked seventh in the combined SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) rankings entering this weekend’s final round of the outdoors at Ironman Raceway.