Image: Octopi Media.

The opening race of the Monster Energy SMX World Championship post-season marked a successful return to racing for Joey Savatgy, with a ‘no expectations’ mindset leading the Quad Lock Honda rider to a top-five finish in 450SMX after more than four months on the sidelines.

A dislocated wrist sustained during Q1 at the Denver Monster Energy Supercross round in May saw Savatgy undergo a lengthy rehabilitation process, describing how a less-is-more approach was needed in order to let the injury heal.

“I dislocated my wrist, which wasn’t ideal,” Savatgy recalled. “I then flew back on Sunday and had surgery on a Wednesday, then I was in a cast for eight weeks. And then it has been roughly another eight weeks or so since.

“It’s one of those things where it’s a slow injury… It’s not an injury where more is better, so I have had to really chew on my cheek for a bit to settle down and let God do its thing, work and heal me.”

Having spent just four days on a supercross track leading into Columbus, and with his participation not confirmed until late in the lead-up, the 32-year-old seized the opportunity after qualifying directly for Playoff 1 via an eighth-place finish in the 450SX standings.

Savatgy converted a pair of strong starts on Saturday into 8-5 moto finishes, earning fifth overall for the weekend in Ohio – contested in rain-affected conditions – and moved to 11th in the 450SMX series overall.

“Yeah, I mean, this [result] is obviously awesome,” he continued. “I have a total of four days on a supercross track, so not very much time, but these conditions definitely help in a sense, as long as you put yourself in a position to do well.

“I’m a little bummed on the first one, I was close to [Jorge] Prado for a while in P3, and just ran into the lappers really badly and went down twice to finish P8. The second moto was good – it was a battle, and I’m not mad that they shortened it a little bit.

“But we survived. The goal coming in was no expectations, I haven’t ridden much, and I didn’t think two weeks ago that I was coming. But it was one of those things where I said, ‘Hey, I’m automatically in – let’s see where we are.’”

Following a standout season together, despite his injury, Savatgy is expected to continue with the Quad Lock Honda team through the 2027 season, which would mark his third year with the independent, Honda-supported organization.