RJ Hampshire to debut in Supercross 450 class at Daytona Update: Dylan Ferrandis return to racing delayed after Daytona Media Day crash

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida. RJ Hampshire makes his debut this week in the Daytona Monster Energy Supercross while the 250 West series is on hiatus. They return to action March 25 in Seattle.

After finishing second in the 250 East last year, Hampshire have been promoted to the West division and continue to chase 2022 East leader Jett Lawrence.

The decision to try myself in the senior division was easy. Hampshire only needed to drive just over 100 miles from his home in Hudson, Florida for the opportunity to race at one of the sport’s most iconic locations.

“It was just an opportunity and I’m here to learn,” Hampshire told NBC Sports. “I’m trying to capitalize on the race, try to get some experience, learn a new bike. If there’s anything I can do to help the sponsors, I’d rather be here than on the couch this weekend.”

However, this will not be his first race on the track. Hampshire has had four previous starts in the 250 class with a best finish of fourth in 2020. Simply performing on a new bike in a new class would be an achievement in itself.

MORE: Dylan Ferrandis returns to Supercross at Daytona

Hampshire are currently 20 points behind Lawrence. the deficit is largely caused by a disappointing round at Arlington during their second race of the season.. He won the first part of this Triple Crown format but crashed in the second race to finish last. Still suffering from the effects of the crash, he was 13th in the final heat and scored the lowest score, with Lawrence finishing second.

Hampshire’s other three results this season were second.

With the Super Motocross World Championship approaching, which will take place on larger tracks containing elements of both Supercross and Motocross like the Daytona this week, this is also a chance for Hampshire to do some laps on a type of track that could prove critical. .

“Honestly, it’s pretty cramped, it’s not like it’s wide open,” Hampshire said. “It will be hard; it’s sandy there, so more time outdoors.”

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DAYTONA BEACH, Florida. Dylan Ferrandis was scheduled to return to the Monster Energy Supercross series at Daytona International Speedway after missing three races while waiting to complete concussion protocol after a brutal crash in Houston with four of the 17 rounds on the books. Another bad crash on Media Day (see tweet below) will cause him to miss at least one more race as he doesn’tI don’t feel 100% after yesterday’s crash.” according to the Star Racing Yamaha team.

Injuries in the 2022 Supercross series hampered his results and with the SX title unavailable, he decided to sit out the last four races of 2022 to focus on motocross. It was a luxury he had before the two series merged to create a year-end three-race playoff style format called the Super Motocross World Championship. Ferrandis also suffered an injury in the outdoor series and has his sights set on 2023.

“Every season is a reboot,” Ferrandis told NBC Sports ahead of the first round. “You start the first race with everyone at the same point, no one has points in the championship, so everyone is on the same wavelength. So of course it’s a reboot, but you’re also learning from last season. I plan not to repeat the same mistake and want to get better and the new Yamaha bike is a big step forward for me and I am sure it will help me a lot to get better this season.”

The first three races of the season went surprisingly well.

Ferrandis finished sixth or better in every race and was sixth in the standings, one point behind Jason Anderson and the top five. Houston followed, where the race was red flagged after Ferrandis landed on the back of Ken Roczen’s bike and hit the ground face first..

Ferrandis missed his first race the following week in Tampa.

“I was in top form,” Ferrandis told NBC Sports as he looked forward to getting back on the track for a second session at Daytona International Speedway’s indoor Supercross sections. “I lost a lot of physical strength and confidence, but we’ll see. Supercross is a short season, but now we have SMX, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Accidents are a common part of Supercross and Ferrandis was involved in another major crash during Media Day.

Mass crash of Dylan Ferrandis today during media day 😳

(by using @RacerXOnline)#SupercrossLIVE #SuperMotocross pic.twitter.com/G2uAANtpB8

Supercross Live! (@supercrosslive) March 3, 2023

He is reported to be doing well and is expected to travel on Saturday.

Ferrandis has a new life as he returns to Supercross at another track in Florida. The creation of the SuperMotocross series means Ferrandis still has two chances to win the title in 2023.

And as good as Ferrandis is in Supercross, he might be better in the outdoor series after defeating Eli Tomac for the 2021 title by 73 pointswhich is a gap of almost three full races.

Even with four missed Supercross races this season and his penultimate finish in Houston, Ferrandis is 15th in the points standings entering Daytona, 30 points above the 20th-place driver in the standings. At the end of the professional motocross season in August, the SMX series guarantees a start for riders in the top 20 in terms of total points.

“It’s great to be back, especially here in Dayton,” Ferrandis said. “It’s such a great race.”