A gritty performance from Cameron McAdoo in Anaheim 2’s Triple Crown saw the 250SX West contender salvage sixth overall after a sizeable qualifying crash spelt doubt over him even taking to the gate on Saturday.

McAdoo entered the round eager to improve on 3-3 results notched across the opening two Monster Energy Supercross rounds this season, but during qualifying at Angel Stadium his arm came off the ‘bars in the whoops, which resulted in a heavy impact.

With nothing broken and major injury seemingly avoided, McAdoo completed the first Triple Crown of the year with 8-7-5 finishes, the 17 points gained vital for keeping him in the title-frame and elevating him to P2 following misfortune of RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna).

“I felt really confident coming into this weekend, so the crash was tough to swallow and started things off on the wrong foot,” said McAdoo. “It ended up being a survival night, but we made it happen. I am thankful that nothing was broken and now we have a few weeks to get back to 100 percent to come out swinging in Oakland.”

Following the races at Anaheim 2, McAdoo shared the immense extent of swelling around his elbow caused by the qualifying crash. With 250SX West not returning until the rescheduled Oakland event on 18 February, McAdoo – who trails red plate-holder Jett Lawrence by 16 points – has three weeks to recover before mounting a charge at RingCentral Coliseum.

McAdoo’s incident is the latest of Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s injury woes, with Austin Forkner, Jo Shimoda and Seth Hammaker already sidelined. The team has called in Carson Mumford and Chris Blose as fill-in riders for the coming races.