Image: Octopi Media.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s RJ Hampshire kicked his 2023 Pro Motocross Championship off with a varied 1-11 scorecard, still salvaging P3 on the 250MX podium.

Hampshire won the opening moto by 6.126 seconds over Maximus Vohland (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC), but fell victim to a mediocre start in moto two, going down twice in the opening lap.

“I’m stoked on the riding and on the bike,” Hampshire told MotoOnline. “That second turn is probably the dumbest second turn in the whole series, it’s so tight. My start wasn’t even bad, yeah it was my fault I didn’t have a great start, but man it’s just so tight coming in there. I checked up too, cause I didn’t want that to happen, but someone just shot right into me.

“I made a bunch of passes right away, then over the back, someone kinda got hairy and shot across the track, I don’t even know if they showed that, they took my front wheel right out. So now I was dead last, by a lot. But, I felt really good on my bike and was plugging away.

“The first moto is where I should’ve been in that second moto too. Like, I truly felt like today was a day where I had a shot at a 1-1, I think I’m at that point in my career, and my riding on the bike.

“But, man I’ll take it, I’m not going to be bummed about it, it’s a solid start to the season. I’ve never started the season on the podium, so I’ll take that and be ready at Hangtown.”

As the series heads to Hangtown this Saturday for round two, Hampshire sits third in the 250MX standings on 35 points, but the 11th place in moto two means he’s already 10 points behind series leader Lawrence on 45 points.