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An 18th-place result in the Anaheim 1 main event signaled a troubled start to RJ Hampshire’s full-time 450SX career, seeking consistency in the bike setting in race trim with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna in these early stages of the 2026 season.

After qualifying in 11th on combined times during the afternoon, the 29-year-old went down in his heat race, but managed to make it directly into the main event with a P8 finish.

Following a restart in the main, former 250SX West champion Hampshire was circulating in 12th position before a crash in the whoops forced him into the pits to straighten the bike, effectively ending his hopes of a better result altogether.

“Consistency right now is what I want, what I’m looking for, and I don’t have that right now,” Hampshire told MotoOnline. “I don’t know what [the bike is] going to do, so once we find that, then I’ll just build and go from there.

“On my 250, I didn’t change my setting much at all in, I think, two years – I knew what it was going to do. And now, I got hurt during the off-season, so I didn’t get to test. I came in here and… we’re just trying to search right now.

“So, we have some work to do. Once I get comfortable, you know, I’ll be able to push. Because right now, and for the whole day, I wasn’t able to push. We’ll get better, though.”

In the lead-up to round two in San Diego this weekend, Florida-based Hampshire will remain in California with the factory Husqvarna team to conduct additional testing as he works toward improving the bike set-up.

“Yeah, I’ll stay out here for a couple of weeks and then test,” he added. “And like I said, try to get this bike better. So yeah, until I figure it out, we’ll be out here testing with the guys. I won’t be on what I had this week, I’ll tell you that right now.”