Team Honda HRC’s Colt Nichols scored three eighth-place finishes on his way to P8 overall in Glendale’s Triple Crown, with strong starts a positive as he made his Monster Energy Supercross return.

Nichols had been sidelined since round eight of the season at Daytona where he was ruled out of the event after a head-knock in the first qualifying session.

In his return to 450SX at Glendale, the number 45 qualified seventh fastest and launched to second in the early stages of the first race. He was shuffled wide in the opening corner of race two, but in the final bout jumped to the early lead, with his consistent top-eight scorecard landing him his second-best result of the season to date.

“It was nice to be back racing,” said Nichols. “The Triple Crown was fun, even though I was basically just an eighth-place guy tonight. Overall, it was good though. The starts were there.

“I struggled with some little things, but I’m just happy to be back racing. I was excited to make some improvements each time we were out there. I’m pumped for next weekend.”

Nichols, a former 250SX East champion, landed a prized opportunity to step up to the premier class with the factory Honda outfit for Supercross in 2023, with his best result of the season to date coming at Anaheim 1’s season opener where he finished sixth.

He will have the opportunity to take another step towards the front of the field when Monster Energy Supercross resumes this Saturday in Atlanta.