It only took eight rounds for Benny Bloss to position his factory Beta RX 450 inside the top 10 of a Monster Energy Supercross premier class main event, and the timing couldn’t be better with marquee signing Colt Nichols finally fit to debut in Alabama tomorrow.

The Liqui Moly Factory Beta team first recruited Bloss last June and then added Nichols to its roster by August in preparation for its first entry into 450SX competition. The promise was there from the outset, but the package remained largely an unknown despite spending three years prior in MXGP.

Nichols was then injured late in the pre-season and announced on the eve of Anaheim 1’s 2024 opener that he’d be out for some time while his shoulder recovered, but stopping short of confirming a return date, and his addition comes as an intriguing one in Birmingham.

“It’s been long overdue,” admitted Nichols on press day this afternoon. “I thought this was going to be a shorter injury than it was, but it was just never good enough. That’s what we’ve been waiting on, once I got enough strength in the shoulder, and up to speed a little bit – I was off the bike eight or nine weeks.

“I needed to get back into it and the last two weeks have been really good, with progress on the bike and myself. Finally felt like we were at a point where we were able to compete and here we are in Alabama. The bike, pre-A1 to now, is completely different. For me, the comfortability has grown dramatically and the team has been awesome. They’ve been really good.”

Thats left Bloss to lead development – joined by longtime privateer John Short as a fill-in rider – and results had been mixed until his breakout ride in Daytona. His first main event start came in San Diego with a 15th place finish, followed by 20-20-17-17 scores until his encouraging P10 on Saturday night.

“The main event was the gnarliest track I’ve ever raced in my life,” reflected Bloss. “P10 was the first top 10 for Beta and I couldn’t be happier – the happiest I’ve been in a long time. I really want to keep the work going, hopefully we can stack up some good results in a row. I really want to do good and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

So, can Bloss keep that type of form up and will Nichols – the 2021 250SX East champion who spent last year with Team Honda HRC – manage to take the team to another level? For Nichols, with the first of his two-year commitment largely affected by injury, time is of the essence at this point.