We knew Adam Cianciarulo was entering the 2022 Supercross tilt at under 100-percent. Unfortunately, AC9’s injury luck has not gotten any better. During his heat race at Petco Park, Cianciarulo suffered an undisclosed knee injury. That ended up forcing him off the bike for the rest of the evening. Now, after undergoing some tests, he will miss the entire Supercross season with that knee injury.
Monster Energy® Kawasaki’s Cianciarulo Sidelined for Remainder of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship – https://t.co/JzUkoSa2CY pic.twitter.com/Q1HUkrt38o
— Kawasaki Racing (@RaceKawasaki) January 26, 2022
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Right on Track
Despite entering 2022 with an AC joint sprain, Monster Kawasaki team manager Dan Fahie was happy with how Cianciarulo was doing.
“As we’ve seen from Adam through previous years, he displayed exceptional promise and heart in his riding this season. His performances at the first couple of races were right on track with our hopes for him and he was progressing nicely into the swing of things. This injury will unfortunately stall that progress until Adam is healed up and ready to return to racing but, we will continue to fully support him through that time and look forward to his return.”
Looking at some of what AC did, Fahie is right to feel how he does. As of now, he’s the only rider not named Chase Sexton to have a 450 Main Event Holeshot. In addition, he is just one of five riders who have Main Event laps three rounds into this season. The final results don’t blow you away but Cianciarulo did what he could while battling a significant shoulder injury. Speaking of whom here’s what he had to say in the press release.
“The start of this year has been challenging for me mentally and physically as I’ve done my best to overcome a slowly recovering shoulder injury. I’m proud of what I’ve been able to achieve given the situation but, I’m obviously now faced with a big setback. I’m looking at this as an opportunity to fully rehab my body, so I’m focused on maximizing every day of recovery to get back to doing what I love at my best.”
Contingency Plan?
In recent years, factory teams have opted to not go with fill-in riders with riders out with long-term injuries. Monster Energy Kawasaki however has a legit option, that is also in-house. That would be none other than their test rider, 2011 250 West Supercross Champion Broc Tickle. Last year he ran Supercross with MCR Honda and ended up finishing 13th in the final standings. Given that he is the team’s test rider, Tickle probably knows the ins and outs of the KX-450 just as well as Cianciarulo or Jason Anderson. It would be more stunning if we didn’t see Tickle line up at some point this season.
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Main Image via Kawasaki
