Image: Octopi Media.

RJ Hampshire believes a series of errors in the 250SX East main event at Atlanta’s Monster Energy Supercross denied him of claiming victory on Saturday night.

The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing entry led the opening half of the 19-lap affair before relinquishing the lead to defending champion Chase Sexton (Geico Honda), while further mistakes saw his second position come under threat by Shane McElrath (Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing), however he was able to hang onto runner-up honours.

“Everything is new [for me] from the frame up, so it’s a lot of learning,” Hampshire explained. I think we’re close and I felt pretty good tonight, I mean there’s no taking away from these guys, but I almost felt myself.

“There were a couple of little mistakes that cost me pretty big – if we cleaned them up, we may have had a win tonight. I’m just happy to be in this situation and be progressing each week.”

Hampshire sits third in the standings, 14 points behind series leader Sexton as the series heads to Daytona International Speedway this weekend in Florida.