Tomac Back on Top: Supercross Rd 11
450
Credit: Feld Motor Sports
Last night in Seattle, Eli Tomac returned to the top step of the podium with a historic win in round 11 of the Supercross season. I mentioned it a few times over the last few races but Eli Tomac definitely seemed to be out of rhythm as of late. Barring the Daytona race, which is basically a gimme for Tomac, he’s struggled to fight for a win the last few weeks. I even wondered if there was something more going on and if he was potentially injured. Well last night Tomac got back to his winning ways and we are going to have an incredible fight for the championship over the next 6 rounds.
In the Main Event it was Kevin Moranz who got the holeshot and led the first lap of the race. He did a good job of holding off Sexton who was in second and clearly faster, but on lap 2 Sexton got tired of riding behind Moranz and ran him high and off the track. Moranz went from first to last, which was a tough break. So Chase Sexton had the lead with about 20 mins remaining in the main event, what could possibly go wrong? While Sexton was out front there was some nice battles between 2-5. Tomac, Webb, Barcia and Cianciarulo were racing for the 2nd spot and Tomac eventually came out on top, followed by Webb and Barcia. Tomac then set his sights on Sexton and was around 3 seconds back from the lead. Sexton wasn’t able to increase this gap but nor was Tomac able to bring this gap down over the next few laps. And then like clockwork, Sexton wrecked. It looked like Sexton got cross-rutted going into a turn and end up going over the handlebars. Fortunately for Sexton, he was able to get right back up and hop back on his bike in 4th place. At the time Sexton was only 4 seconds back of lead, so I really thought there was a good chance he could fight his way back to the lead. But ultimately he was a lot more cautious post-wreck and ended up getting passed by Jason Anderson and finishing 17 seconds back of the lead.
Cooper Webb was in 2nd place and about 2 seconds back of Tomac and looked like he might challenge Tomac for the lead but he was never able to really get under the 2 second mark. Then towards the end, Tomac pulled away for a comfortable win. Another great, consistent finish by Webb though in the championship fight. Barcia had another strong night for his 2nd podium in 3 races and his 3rd podium of the season. Jason Anderson finished fourth and looked like one of the fastest riders of the night in the main event. Had Anderson got a better start, he easily could’ve been on the podium or fighting for the lead.
Lastly, as I alluded to earlier, Tomac’s win last night was another historic milestone. Last night was Eli Tomac’s 50th career Supercross win which ties him for 2nd place all time with James Stewart. Of course Jeremy McGrath is first all time with an untouchable 72 wins. With 6 more races left in the season and with Tomac already having 6 wins out of 11 races this season, surely he can get one more win to move into sole second place, especially considering this is likely to be Tomac’s last season before retiring. But despite Tomac having 3x more wins than both Webb and Sexton this season, he’ll be tied with Webb when they head to Arizona in two weeks. Then Sexton follows in third place 22 pts behind. Again, next week is an off weekend so see you in 2 weeks in Arizona.
450 Heat 1 Top 5
Christian Craig
Aaron Plessinger
Adam Cianciarulo
Justin Barcia
Dean Wilson
450 Heat 2 Top5
Cooper Webb
Chase Sexton
Eli Tomac
Ken Roczen
Jason Anderson
450 Main Event Top 10
Eli Tomac
Cooper Webb +4.798
Justin Barcia +5.466
Jason Anderson +14.721
Chase Sexton +17.219
Ken Roczen +21.673
Aaron Plessinger +35.852
Adam Cianciarulo +41.463
Christian Craig +47.152
Justin Hill +52.984
250
Credit: Feld Motor Sports
Who would’ve thought but a Lawrence brother wins the 250 main event yet again. Jett Lawrence has now won 4 out of the 5 250 West main events. There was a lot of action last night in the 250s and it started out in the 2nd heat race between Jett Lawrence and Cameron McAdoo. Jett didn’t have great starts in both the heat and the main event and was left having to come from behind. In the heat race he was stuck in 3rd behind a slower Cameron McAdoo. McAdoo was throwing some aggressive blocks for a rather meaningless 2nd place position in the heat race. Lawrence finally got around McAdoo but seemed to lose some speed from the pass and was slower through the next rhythm section than McAdoo. McAdoo come charging through colliding with Lawrence and taking out both riders. Both were able to hop right back up and still finish 2nd and 4th in the heat but Lawrence was visibly upset with McAdoo and with good reason.
Which takes me to my next point and that is that I believe we need to start awarding points to the top 3 or 5 places in the heat races. Making the heat races more meaningful than just picking gate positions would go a long way in entertainment value and actually growing the sport and audience. You have a 3 hour product and the last hour is all that really matters. More battles like what we had between McAdoo and Lawrence is what is needed during the heats and awarding points to the top finishers would definitely bring that out.
Then in the main event, it was Stilez Robertson who got the holeshot and the early lead in the race. Jett Lawrence was again stuck behind McAdoo but was able to get around him much easier this time. Lawrence worked his way up to 2nd and then eventually got around Robertson for the lead. Lawrence never pulled away from the field too much but had a comfortable 3 second lead for the remainder of the race. After losing the lead Robertson went down hard and was unable to finish the race. Hampshire and McAdoo moved up to 2nd and 3rd and finished the race in that order. There was a huge drop off from 3rd to 4th place. Hampshire was very solid in the main event and could’ve potentially won had he gotten a better start, but he was just unable to cut the 3 second gap down between him and Lawrence
250 Heat 1 Top 5
Pierce Brown
Carson Mumford
RJ Hampshire
Hunter Yoder
Joshua Varize
250 Heat 2 Top 5
Levi Kitchen
Jett Lawrence
Stilez Robertson
Cameron McAdoo
Max Vohland
250 Main Event Top 10
Jett Lawrence
RJ Hampshire +2.712
Cameron McAdoo +3.215
Enzo Lopes +21.319
Max Vohland +25.330
Levi Kitchen +31.140
Pierce Brown +34.975
Carson Mumford +48.682
Mitchell Oldenburg +1 Lap
Cole Thompson +1 Lap