Eli Tomac of Cortez finished in sixth place Saturday in the Orlando 2 Supercross after a relentless back-and-forth battle for third with Justin Barcia and Ken Roczen.
Again, Tomac got off to a slow start.
Barcia won the holeshot at Camping World Stadium, but Adam Cianciarulo quickly went to the lead.
Cooper Webb made a blitzing run into second place in Lap 2, and Marvin Musquin pulled into third. Barcia dropped to fourth.
Tomac started in seventh place, gained the sixth position in Lap 2 and passed Malcolm Stewart for fifth place in Lap 4. He was about 8 seconds off the pace, with series-leading Roczen racing at his heels.
As Cooper overtook Cianciarulo for the lead in the 11th of 25 laps, Barcia, Tomac and Roczen battled to join the front-runners.
Tomac advanced into fourth place as Kawasaki teammate Cianciarulo crashed hard in the whoops, and attention turned to Barcia, Tomac and Roczen as they battled for the final podium position.
For Tomac, it would be his third consecutive outing without a podium finish.
Roczen, who raced on Tomac’s heels since Lap 5, passed him for fourth place in Lap 21. Jason Anderson slipped by Tomac in the whoops in Lap 24.
KTM teammates Webb and Musquin finished 1-2, and Barcia held off Roczen for third. Tomac trailed Roczen and Anderson for sixth place.
Orlando 2 was the third consecutive race that Tomac finished off the podium. He was fifth at Orlando 1 and seventh in Indianapolis 3 after finishing third at Indianapolis 2 on Feb. 2. Tomac’s only win so far this season came in the second race of the series, in Houston 2 on Jan. 19.
He remains in third place in the series standings, with a 13-point lead over Barcia.
Webb narrowed the gap behind Roczen to just six points.
Roczen won qualifying Heat 1, leading all nine laps and beating runner-up Cianciarulo by 1.151 seconds. Martin Davalos was third, and Webb and Barcia rounded out the top five.
Tomac finished seventh in Heat 2, after starting in 12th place after one lap. He raced into seventh place in Lap 7 after passing Shane Mcelrath, Tyler Bowers, Kyle Chisholm and Vince Friese.
Anderson won the heat and was followed by Musquin, Aaron Plessinger, Zach Osborne, Stewart and Broc Tickle.
During qualifying rounds on Saturday afternoon, Tomac posted the fifth-fastest lap, at 50.670 seconds. Anderson was fastest, at 50.161 seconds, and Webb, Dylan Ferrandis and Roczen rounded out the top five.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross goes to Daytona on March 6 for the ninth of 17 races in the championship series, then to Arlington, Texas, for three races on March 13, March 16 and March 20.
Series Standings
1. Ken Roczen Honda 180
2. Cooper Webb KTM 174
3. Eli Tomac Kawasaki 149
4. Justin Barcia GasGas 136
5. Marvin Musquin KTM 133
6. Malcolm Stewart Yamaha 125
7. Zach Osborne Husqvarna 123
8. Adam Cianciarulo Kawasaki 120
9. Aaron Plessinger Yamaha 113
10. Dylan Ferrandis Yamaha 109
