RJ Hampshire on: Podium, Red Flags | Interview

RJ Hampshire of the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing team rebounded from a disastrous first race in Tampa, Florida, with a podium finish at the sixth round of 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross. Hampshire's third place was more impressive than it appears on paper: a mistake in the first quarter meant that he had to push quite hard to take bronze. Not only that, but he was also moving closer to Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Levi Kitchen before the restart.

In an exclusive discussion after the race, Hampshire revealed that he is far from where he needs to be with bike set-up and will strive for more comfort in areas like the whoops. Interestingly, he claimed that he wanted no part of the battle for Detroit's win as he knew that neither he nor FC 250 were positioned to charge that hard. Thanks to the 20 points secured inside of Ford Field, he has launched to eighth in the 250SX East standings and sits 23 points adrift of the red plate. 

Vital MX: Lost in all of this craziness is the fact that you made a mistake early in the 'actual' race and came back pretty good. Your charge was quite impressive so, everything else aside, that was a positive to take from tonight.

RJ Hampshire: Yeah, definitely. I have struggled all day really. Whenever I went out, we were trying something new and did not have comfort getting through the whoops. My starts were good though. It was good in the heat race and decent in the main event. Once I got into third it felt like I was going forward and could have made a pass. I just tucked the front coming out of the long rhythm. Once I got up, I thought, "Alright, let's go. I need a podium badly." Before the red flag Levi was coming back to me, so I was making up good time. Then, two weekends in a row, the results have been dictated by a red flag. I got screwed last weekend. Absolutely screwed. Again, Max [Anstie] got screwed tonight. It is insane – the rule change or whatever it is.

I do wish I had a little more aggression or strength at the end. I was not going to risk going for a pass and losing it all after a solid main event. The most important thing for me today was to get a podium but, man, I wish I had a little extra strength at the end, because they almost gave it to me a couple of times. It felt like all it would take was me being a bit better in the whoops to make a pass stick. I knew I would have had to send it through the whoops to keep Max behind me, if I would have passed him, and I did not have the strength to save it if it was going out on me. Yeah, all in all, a crazy night.

Were you aware the 90% rule had been scrapped and as long as the time is not expired, we will restart?

I do not get that at all. The whole red flag rule needs to be rewritten or something. Last weekend I should have gotten 10th and that bugs me a lot. Just as I said, I was happy with third. I thought, "Oh, the main event is over." Yeah, it is terrible for Cameron [McAdoo] but, also, we are done – Max won this. Move onto Daytona. Then they said line them back up. You see in NASCAR when there is a green, white, checkers and there is a massive pile-up. It is like, "Is that what you guys want, because that is what you are asking for." If I had more strength then it would have gotten ugly, because it would have been three deep into those corners instead of two.

This says a lot, because you arguably had the most to gain as the race was given back to you. For you to see it from this perspective is quite fascinating. 

Again, I wish I had more strength. If I could have sent it, I would've been happy with sticking a pass and holding them back. I just did not have it tonight. We have two weeks now and I will get stronger. This week I was stronger than last and, honestly, I felt better last weekend than all-day today. I struggled today and still put together a decent main event. 

How hard was it to mentally reset before you went again? Had your mind cooled down so hard to get back into the racer's mindset?

Yeah, but I expected Levi [Kitchen] to be a bit flat because he had been coming back to me before the red flag. I did not expect him to come out guns blazing at the beginning, but then he did. I was like, "Oh crap! Alright, let me sit back here." They ran it into each other and I thought, "Oh no! I am about to go to the lead." I felt fine there again, and they did it again. I passed Max before the whoops at one point, but he had me handled there [in the whoops]. The green, white, checkered was tough. Something needs to be done about that.

I guess bike set-up issues are a result of lack of time during the off-season and that will come with more practice laps. As the pace increases, your pace increases and you will have to adjust the bike to go along with your newfound speed.

Definitely. My set-up coming into Tampa was pretty soft in the forks due to my wrist situation and the track required the opposite. The whoops were gnarly and it was hard pack. My set-up was not great, but it was whatever. I ran it because I knew what it was. We tried to change it quite a bit this week but never felt comfortable. Finally, for the main, I said, "Do not mess with it from the heat. Raise the sag and let's go out see what it is." The team is coming back to Florida this week to do some testing and it will be the first time that they have tested with me.

Previously, it was what they had come up with and thought was good. They told me to see what I thought and changed some clickers. I have three days of riding next week and all three will be testing, then I will stick with whatever we come back with. We were close to going all the way back to last year's setting this week. I made the call and said, "If I’m not comfortable we are throwing everything back on it." We did not go that far, but who knows after this week. We will see.