Eli Tomac of Cortez on Saturday led wire-to-wire to win the 450cc Supercross in Seattle for his fifth consecutive victory and a 54-point lead in the series standings with five races to go.
The win at Lumen Field was Tomac’s matched his winning streak of 2017. It also was his 44th career win in the 450 Supercross, tying him with Chad Reed for fourth place all-time.
Tomac got off to a fast start, winning the holeshot over Justin Barcia and sprinting to an early lead.
In the 11th of 26 laps, he was 5.349 seconds ahead.
In the 12th, Barcia crashed and dropped to a distant fifth place. Jason Anderson of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, filled the gap and was followed by Marvin Musquin and Malcolm Stewart. Tomac extended his lead to more than 13 seconds.
There would be no tight race to the finish. Tomac, in his most dominating win of the year, extended his lead over runner-up Anderson to 16.272 seconds in Lap 21 before coasting to an 8.615-second victory.
With the win, he extended his series lead to 54 points over fellow Southwesterner Anderson, and to 59 points over Barcia, in third place overall. Cooper Webb is in fourth, 73 points off the lead. Musquin is in fifth.
During interviews Saturday on the podium, Tomac downplayed the focus on his career records, including the all-time win record at Daytona International Speedway.
“A lot of times when you do that, other things happen, and you get out of rhythm,” Tomac said. “So just trying to keep what we got going on, going on.”
“My main focus is always championship, that’s all,” he added. “Looking for wins.”
Tomac was satisfied with the race, winning a rare holeshot and racing what he described as two tracks, good at first and a “beast” later on.
“So, got the holeshot and then put the big sprint on early. The track was really nice early on and then, of course, it turned into a beast,” he said. “And that was it – it was like ... two different tracks tonight.”
Now closing in on Ricky Carmichael’s record, who won 48 races in his 450SX career, Tomac said his decision about another season would “come later.”
“I’ve told myself as long as I enjoy it, and I have the chance of winning, I'll keep going,” he said. “That’s not going to matter whether I’m one away from RC or ‘X’ amount from James (Stewart).”
If Tomac, 29, wins the 2022 title, he would be the oldest racer to win a Supercross title. He also won the Supercross title in 2020 and has four Motocross titles, three of them in the 450 class.
Barcia won Heat 1 start to finish, leading Musquin and Justin Bogle around the track for nine laps. Musquin reached the finish line 5.614 seconds behind Barcia, and Bogle finished 10.570 seconds off the lead.
Tomac finished second to Anderson in Heat 2.
Stewart grabbed the early lead, but in a tight three-way race at the front, he gave way to Anderson in Lap 8. Tomac passed Stewart in the final, ninth lap, for second place.
Tomac was third-fastest in timed practice laps, with a best lap of 48.017 seconds. Stewart set the pace at 47.915 seconds, and Musquin was second at 48.015 seconds.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship series next goes to the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri, for Round 13 in the 17-race series.
