Image: Octopi Media.

A crash in 250SMX moto two at Playoff 2 has effectively ended Cole Davies’ title chances entering this weekend’s Monster Energy SMX World Championship Final in Ridgedale, stating that ‘it’s definitely not how we wanted it to go’ following Los Angeles.

With his bike malfunction – followed by a moto win – in Columbus and now after crashing out of Carson, the 19-year-old is 34 points behind Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) entering Saturday’s decider, and is currently seventh in the standings.

“It was a disappointing day in LA,” reflected Davies. “I finished fourth in the first moto, and then unfortunately crashed in the second one, which I’m gutted about. It’s definitely not how we wanted it to go, but there’s still one round left. We’ll come back stronger for the last one and give it our all.”

After clinching both the 250SX East and 250MX championships, Davies was the number one seed heading into the post-season, but has been struck by misfortune at the pair of playoff rounds to date. He is expected to continue racing in Missouri.

Davies was the sixth-fastest qualifier at Dignity Health Sports Park this past weekend, then charged from a fifth-place start to third and closed in on the leaders in moto one. An untimely crash in the sand halted his progress, eventually claiming fourth.

After starting third in race two, Davies quickly climbed to second position early on, only to suffer a high-speed impact moments later and elected to withdraw from the race altogether – placing him 14th overall for the weekend.