Eli Tomac of Cortez on Saturday won the 450 Motocross at High Point Raceway in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, after splitting the doubleheader with runner-up Chase Sexton.
Tomac entered High Point in third place in the season standings, behind Honda’s Sexton and Ken Roczen. But Star Racing Yamaha’s ace raced from sixth-place starts in both motos to finish second behind Sexton in Moto 1 and to beat Sexton for the win in Moto 2 and jump past Roczen for second in the standings.
Although Sexton tied Tomac with 47 points Saturday, Tomac got the overall win because he placed higher in the second race, per AMA Motocross rules.
Jason Anderson of Monster Energy Kawasaki was third overall, with 36 points for his third- and fifth-place finishes. Ken Roczen (seventh and third) and Ryan Dungey (sixth and fourth) filled out the top five with 34 points and 33 points, respectively.
Tomac now sits in second place in the standings, trailing Sexton by 14 points, 181 to 167. Roczen is third, with 163 points. Anderson is fourth, at 147, and Ryan Dungey is fifth, at 122.
Tomac, finishing the first lap in sixth place, passed Christian Craig for fifth in Lap 2 and Justin Barcia for fourth in Lap 4. He passed Joey Savatgy for third place in Lap 7.
Sexton, who overtook Anderson for the lead in Lap 1, stretched out a 9.4-second lead in Lap 7.
Tomac benefited by Anderson’s tipover in Lap 9 to move into second, 14.6 seconds behind Sexton. He cut Sexton’s lead to 11.65 seconds by the final lap, but Sexton got the win after leading all 17 laps.
Anderson recovered to finish third, and Barcia and Savatgy rounded out the top five.
Tomac, again finishing Lap 1 in sixth place, passed Barcia for fifth place in Lap 2, Dungey for fourth place in Lap 3, and Anderson for third place in Lap 5.
In the sixth lap, Tomac then set his sights on Sexton, who was running a close second to Roczen. Sexton passed teammate Roczen for the lead in Lap 7 but gave it back a lap later.
And Tomac, who had steadily gained from his sixth-place start, slipped by Roczen for the lead as the front-runners passed the race’s halfway mark and lapped riders began to mingle with the top five.
Tomac built a 6.6-second lead as the moto reached the 17th lap, then eased off the throttle to cross the finish line about 3.6 seconds ahead of Sexton. Roczen held on for third place, and Dungey and Anderson filled out the top five.
Earlier Saturday, Tomac was second-fastest in timed practice laps, with a best lap of 2 minutes, 2.692 seconds. Anderson was fastest, at 2:02.662, and Sexton was third at 2:03.046. Roczen and Antonio Cairoli filled out the top five.
The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship continues July 2 at the Redbud National in Buchanan, Michigan, for Round 5 of the 12-round series.
