With the 250SX West series resuming this Saturday at Seattle after a six-week hiatus, catch up on where the championship currently controlled by Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Christian Craig left off in this edition of Rewind.

A key word comes to mind when looking at 250SX West to date – attrition. A number of contenders had been either forced to the sidelines or, at a minimum, been unable to finish a race during the first six rounds.

Namely, last year’s 250SX East champion Colt Nichols was out before things even really began after he injured both arms in a heat race Anaheim 1, providing no indication of returning before season-end.

Image: Octopi Media.

Next, Seth Hammaker added to the list, forced out following a mid-week practice accident ahead of round three in San Diego. The fall caused a number of complications for the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider, including fractures in the T7 and T8 in his back and brought an unfortunate end to his podium streak following the first two rounds. As with Nichols, no return date has been confirmed.

More recently, Jo Shimoda and Hunter Lawrence crashed heavily in separate incidents at Anaheim 3. Shimoda entered the event off the back of his first podium of the season at Glendale’s Triple Crown and was looking to make a move for a heat race win at Angel Stadium when he fell hard on the last lap, forced to miss the main event as a result.

Lawrence went down in the main while running second and was carted out of the stadium by the Alpinestars medical team. Like Shimoda, Lawrence was reported to have avoided serious injury and both riders were able to benefit from the western region break following A3 to recover properly.

Next, Jalek Swoll – who also crashed out at A1 and missed round two as a result – also hit the ground hard at A3 after being ‘bit’ by the whoops, which took him out of the race.

Image: Octopi Media.

However, at the front of the pack and delivering raw speed matched with consistency, crafty veteran Craig has dominated the championship so far in winning four of the six races – most recently A3 – to build a 28-point red plate advantage.

Despite the misfortune of other riders, Craig has been the clear fastest and has managed his own adversities near perfectly, going from last to third in a spirited charge during San Diego’s main, then recovering to P2 in Glendale’s Triple Crown after being taken out by MCR Honda rider Vince Friese. Friese scored his first podium of the season the following weekend in P2, before graduating to 450SX back east.

It’s been a breakout year of sorts for Michael Mosiman, claiming his first 250SX victory at San Diego in a battle with Lawrence, in addition to claiming a further two podiums at A2 and A3. While the TLD Red Bull GasGas rider has been impressive, he’s lacked Craig’s performance overall and now sits second in the point-standings.

A five-round podium streak kept Lawrence within striking distance of Craig until A3, where unfortunately his premature exit from the race while pushing to challenge for the lead. The subsequent low points-haul moved the Australian back to third in points, with a 29-point deficit to the top of the table.

Three rounds remain in the 250SX West title-race of Monster Energy Supercross, starting with Seattle this Saturday, before the first 250SX East/West Showdown takes place in Atlanta on 16 April, with the final round again featuring both regions in Salt Lake City on 7 May.