Eli Tomac of Cortez on Saturday captured a record sixth Supercross win at Daytona International Speedway after dodging disaster in the first lap and passing Cooper Webb for the late lead.
“This whole night is like no other,” said Tomac. “The fans here are unbelievable.”
“It was a fight all the way to the end with Cooper. Man, it was a push all the way,” he added. “I can’t believe we got No. 6. This is unbelievable. I'll never forget this night.”
“Man, it was a push all the way. I can't believe we got No. 6. This is unbelievable. I’ll never forget this night.”
Tomac entered the famed Daytona International Speedway with a six-point lead over Jason Anderson in the series standings and the chance to break a track tie with Ricky Carmichael for the new record.
Carmichael was happy to see him try.
“I want to see him do it,” Carmichael told Racer X. “His style fits this track. He is a fantastic rider and a great ambassador of our sport.”
At the start of Saturday’s main event, it looked like a bad night for a record run.
Tomac broke from the starting gate in second behind Cooper Webb, but was bumped by Jason Anderson in a collision that also involved Malcolm Stewart. Tomac dropped to fourth. Anderson fell to 16th, and Stewart fell to 17th.
But Tomac recovered quickly and moved into third place behind Webb and Chase Sexton, about 3 seconds off the pace but gaining on the leaders.
Justin Barcia was in fourth, and Tomac’s teammate on Star Racing Yamaha, Dylan Ferrandis, was fifth.
Tomac passed Sexton for second place in Lap 7, about 3 seconds behind Webb, but matching the leader’s lap time of 1:12.455 on the nose. Tomac picked up the pace in Lap 8, and by Lap 12 had closed the gap to less than a second.
With three laps to go, Webb and Tomac had pulled away from the pack. But as Tomac began to slow, and as his bike reportedly showed signs of overheating, lapped traffic slowed Webb enough to let Tomac squeeze by for the lead in Lap 16.
Tomac stretched out a comfortable lead to win by 5.273 seconds.
Webb finished second, ahead of Sexton. Ferrandis was fourth.
The early collision and final victory helped Tomac extend his series lead over Anderson to 17 points with eight races to in the 17-race series. Anderson remains in second place overall, with 186 points to Tomac’s 203.
Tomac previously won Daytona in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021. He finished second in 2015 and 2018.
Carmichael also gave a nod to Tomac’s father, John Tomac, a former national mountain biking champion, who lives outside Cortez in the shadow of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.
“He has great core values and comes from a great racing family,” Carmichael told RacerX. “He is someone for our youth to look up to. He is special.”
Carmichael designed the Daytona course, which this year included an “over-and-under bridge.”
“That will open up more opportunities for them to make passes. I am excited how it turned out,” Carmichael told RacerX.
Tomac broke out of the gates into fifth place in Heat 2. After one lap, Stewart raced in front, with Barcia on his heels. Marvin Musquin was third, and Sexton ran fourth.
Sexton and Tomac passed Musquin in Lap 2, and the top five lined up for the finish with about than five seconds separating the front-running Stewart and fourth-place Tomac. Musquin finished a distant fifth, more than 13 seconds off the pace.
Although Tomac seemed satisfied with the pace and did not challenge for the lead, his third lap was the fastest of the heat, at 1 minute, 11.284 seconds, compared with Stewart’s 1:11.337.
Defending Supercross champion Webb won Heat 1 wire to wire, with Ferrandis, Ken Roczen, Anderson and Dean Wilson lined up behind him the whole way.
Earlier Saturday, Tomac was fifth-fastest during timed qualifying rounds, with a best lap of 1:11.272. Stewart set the pace at 1:10.902, and Anderson, Musquin and Roczen rounded out the top five.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championships next moves to Ford Field in Detroit for the 10th of 17 races in the series on Saturday, March 12.
