Image: Octopi Media.

The 250MX return of Colt Nichols is set for round nine of the 2022 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship at Unadilla, marking his first professional appearance since Anaheim 1.

Nichols crashed heavily in the first heat race at A1 while leading and underwent surgery on a pair of broken arms, as well as requiring a skin graft on burns to his back sustained in the incident.

Now healed, last year’s 250SX East champion will join what is expected to be a complete Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing roster in the final outdoor rounds, with Matthew LeBlanc targeting a return in August following a broken collarbone and injured left arm from a crash in moto two at Southwick, and reigning 450MX champion Dylan Ferrandis also aiming to come back at the ninth round.

“We’re excited to have Colt back for Unadilla, he’s been working hard to get back to racing, and we can’t wait to see him out there,” Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 250 team manager Jensen Hendler said. “Matt [LeBlanc] also looks to return by Unadilla, so we’re looking to have our full roster back in action in New York.”

No set return date has been announced for the recently-injured Levi Kitchen, although hoping to return – potentially also at Unadilla – before the season’s out after undergoing surgery on his broken wrist this week.