Adam Cianciarulo will miss the remainder of the 2022 Monster Energy Supercross season after suffering a knee injury in Round 3 at San Diego, according to a release by the Monster Energy Kawasaki team.
Cianciarulo sustained the injury to his right knee while practicing in the whoops. He attempted to race his heat, but left the track early and was credited with a 19th-place finish. He did not start the Last Chance Qualifier.
Cianciarulo was already riding injured. He sustained a grade 3 AC separation in a practice crash before the opening round in Anaheim. In the first two rounds, Cianciarulo’s races were characterized by fast starts in his heats and features, but as the shoulder weakened, he fell back to 11th in Anaheim 1 and 12th in Oakland. Cianciarulo led laps in both features.
“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,” said Cianciarulo in a team release. “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.”
By finishing just outside the top 10 at Anaheim and Oakland, Cianciarulo earned 23 points, which ranked him 13th after the first two rounds. He was four points outside of the top 10.
After Oakland, Cianciarulo posted on Instagram: “Sometimes your best looks like first to 12th.”
“As we’ve seen from Adam through previous years, he displayed exceptional promise and heart in his riding this season,” said Kawasaki Racing Senior Manager, Dan Fahie. “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.”
Cianciarulo was also forced to sit out much of the 2021 Lucas Oil Motocross season, completing only six rounds, before retiring to have surgery on his ulnar nerve.
Before his practice crash in January, Cianciarulo believed his ulnar nerve was completely healed and said it was one of the most productive off seasons of his career.
Cianciarulo’s retirement from the 2022 Supercross season comes one week after his 250 teammate Seth Hammaker was sidelined indefinitely with injuries sustained in a practice crash ahead of the San Diego race.