Supercross

Tomac Rebounds To Extend Points Lead in Texas

Author: Aaryn Minerds

Posted:

Sunday, February 23rd, 2020

7:34 PM

Tomac Rebounds To Extend Points Lead in Texas

Monster Energy Kawasaki's Eli Tomac has extended his championship lead after another come from behind win at the 8th round of the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross Championship held in Arlington.

With the triple crown format running for the second time this season it was Factory Honda's Ken Roczen who kept his winning streak alive, winning the opening 12 minute plus one lap final after early this year sweeping the opening triple crown event of the season.

Roczen lead the field from start to finish, leading home 2019 champion, Cooper Webb aboard his RedBull KTM, with Rockstar Husqvarna's Jason Anderson rounding out the top three.

Monster Energy Yamaha's Justin Barcia kept his championship hopes alive with a fourth-place result. At the same time, Tomac who rounded the first lap buried deep in 13th position, worked his way forward to finish the opening final in 5th position.

Tomac turned the tables on the field in the second final, getting the front of the field on the opening lap and running away to a comfortable win, putting himself in an excellent position to take another round win.

Behind Tomac, two of his championship rivals were struggling, with Roczen back in 10th position and unable to work his way forward early. In contrast, Webb's championship recovery hit a wall after a big crash left him sidelined for the remainder of the night and seriously in doubt if he will be able to line up in the coming weeks.

Anderson put in another solid ride to finish in second position and lead the field into the last final, while Smart top Honda's Justin Hill who topped qualifying earlier in the day crossed the finish line in third, just ahead of Rockstar Husqvarna's Zach Osborne, with Barcia in 5th.

Roczen took advantage of a couple of crashes ahead of him, including Webb's to finish the race in 7th and stay in contention for the overall round win.

It was Osborne who lead the field early in the final race of the night, but quickly came under pressure from his team-mate Anderson along with Tomac and Roczen.

Anderson moved his way into the lead, while Tomac worked his way into second position after a brief skirmish with Roczen.

Tomac needing to beat Anderson for the overall round win, made the decisive move with just on three minutes of the race remaining, going on to win his fourth round for the year.

Ken Roczen was pleased to come away with an impressive second-place finish, via 1-7-2 results, leaving him in the championship hunt.

Anderson suffered a late-race crash, allowing Ken to snare second place in the final race and second position overall for the round to limit his points loss to Tomac.

Osborne crossed the line for third, to leave him 5th overall for the round, with Barcia scoring another 4th place result to finish 4th on the night, while Anderson was able to recover from his crash to finish in 5th and claim the final step on the podium for the round.

Despite crashing out of the event, Webb was eventually classified as 12th with reports coming through that he did not suffer any broken bones in his crash and is a possibility to line up at round 9.

It was also Australia's Chad Reed's best result of the year, battling for a top ten position in the second final on his way to a 13th place finish on the night.

Jason Anderson put together three solid performances to finish third overall in the 450SX class. Photo: Simon Cudby

It was a rough day for both Monster Energy Kawasaki's Adam Cianiarulo and JGR Suzuki's fill-in rider Broc Tickle, with Cianciarulo suffering a crash in qualifying, leaving him with a broken collarbone, while Tickle sustained a suspected broken hand after suffering from a practice crash then a further crash in the opening race of the night.

In the championship standings, Tomac now holds a seven-point lead over Roczen, with Webb now 26 points behind Tomac in third, with Barcia a further point back in 4th.

"We showed that we could fight and overcome adversity tonight.," Tomac said. "To be completely honest, I just got a bad start and struggled to find any rhythm in the first main event. Once I got into fifth place I kind of just got tight and couldn‰Ûªt go forward after that. But I was able to quickly regroup with the team, and in the next two main events, we had a much better gate pick each time and were able to control the races from there. I am just happy to be leaving here healthy. We raced something like 50 laps tonight and as you saw, the track took out a lot of key dudes. I am glad we‰Ûªre through it and looking forward to Atlanta next weekend.‰Û

250SX Class

The second round of the 250 East coast championship was a wild affair with three different riders taking a race win during today's triple crown format.

In the opening race, it was Rockstar Husqvarna's RJ Hampshire that forced his way to the race win, working his way forward including leaving Geiko Honda's Chase Sexton on the ground in a race that showed his willingness to do whatever it takes to put himself into the championship running this season.

Sexton was able to remount and work his way back to second position, while championship leader coming into the round, Shane Mcelrath recovered from a bad start to finish third.

In the second race, it was Sexton who showed he was the rider to beat, taking the race win ahead of ahead of Mcelrath who once again worked his way through the field aboard his Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha, with Geico Honda's Jeremy Martin in third.

In the third and final moto, it was Mcelrath who finally got the start he needed, leading the entire race to take the race win ahead of Sexton, with the second-place finish enough for Sexton to take the round win ahead of Mcelrath.

Hampshire crossed the line in 3rd in the final race to finish the night on the podium, with Martin in 4th position for both the race and the round.

In the championship standings, Sexton and Mcelrath are now tied on 49 points each, with Martin sitting in third position 9 points further back, with Hampshire in 4th a futher 2 points behind Martin.

450SX Class Results
1 Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Kawasaki (5,1,1)
2 Ken Roczen, Clermont, Fla., Honda (1,7,2)
3 Jason Anderson, Rio Rancho, N.M., Husqvarna (3,2,5)
4 Justin Barcia, Greenville, Fla., Yamaha (4,5,4)
5 Zach Osborne, Abingdon, Va., Husqvarna (7,4,3)
6 Justin Hill, Yoncalla, Ore., Honda (6,3,8)
7 Malcolm Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Honda (8,6,9)
8 Aaron Plessinger, Hamilton, Ohio, Yamaha (9,10,7)
9 Dean Wilson, Murrieta, Calif., Husqvarna (13,9,6)
10 Blake Baggett, Grand Terrace, Calif., KTM (10,8,13)

450SX Class Championship Standings
1 Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Kawasaki (181)
2 Ken Roczen, Clermont, Fla., Honda (174)
3 Cooper Webb, Clermont, Fla., KTM (155)
4 Justin Barcia, Greenville, Fla., Yamaha (154)
5 Jason Anderson, Rio Rancho, N.M., Husqvarna (139)
6 Adam Cianciarulo, New Smyrna Beach, Fla., Kawasaki (128)
7 Malcolm Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Honda (122)
8 Justin Hill, Yoncalla, Ore., Honda (110)
9 Zach Osborne, Abingdon, Va., Husqvarna (105)
10 Justin Brayton, Charlotte, N.C., Honda (105)

Eastern Regional 250SX Class Results
1 Chase Sexton, Clermont, Fla., Honda (2,1,2)
2 Shane McElrath, Murrieta, Calif., Yamaha (3,2,1)
3 RJ Hampshire, Minneola, Fla., Husqvarna (1,6,3)
4 Jeremy Martin, Rochester, Minn., Honda (5,3,4)
5 Garrett Marchbanks, Coalville, Utah, Kawasaki (6,4,5)
6 Joshua Hill, Huntersville, N.C., Yamaha (9,7,6)
7 Joey Crown, Metamora, Mich., Yamaha (7,5,10)
8 Enzo Lopes, Huntersville, N.C., Yamaha (8,8,7)
9 Jalek Swoll, Belleview, Fla., Husqvarna (10,12,9)
10 Jo Shimoda, Irvine, Calif., Honda (14,10,8)

Eastern Regional 250SX Class Championship Standings
1 Chase Sexton, Clermont, Fla., Honda (49)
2 Shane McElrath, Murrieta, Calif., Yamaha (49)
3 Jeremy Martin, Rochester, Minn., Honda (40)
4 RJ Hampshire, Minneola, Fla., Husqvarna (38)
5 Garrett Marchbanks, Coalville, Utah, Kawasaki (37)
6 Joey Crown, Metamora, Mich., Yamaha (31)
7 Jordon Smith, Ochlocknee, Ga., Kawasaki (28)
8 Joshua Hill, Huntersville, N.C., Yamaha (28)
9 Jo Shimoda, Irvine, Calif., Honda (26)
10 Enzo Lopes, Huntersville, N.C., Yamaha (19)