Eli Tomac on Saturday won the 450 Supercross in Oakland, slipping into the front and extending his series lead after Chase Sexton fell late in the main event at RingCentral Coliseum.
Tomac’s win made him 4-for-6 for the young season and extended his lead in the standings to seven points over runners-up Cooper Webb and Sexton, 139-132.
As the main event got underway, Tomac was third after the first turn but overtook Webb and closed to within a second of the leader and hole-shot winner, Sexton, as the top of the 450cc class went to the front of the field.
After three laps, Jason Anderson was fourth, and Aaron Plessinger was fifth.
After four laps, the leaders pulled away from the pack, and after 12 of the 19 laps, Tomac stalked Sexton from second place, 4.298 seconds off the pace.
Webb was way back in third place, and Anderson, rebounding from a crash, trailed Plessinger in fourth place.
Then, Tomac got his break.
Sexton, who had been running fast since the start, fell and dropped to second place. Tomac drove by and stretched out a 5.065-second lead in Lap 16. Webb followed Tomac past Sexton to take second place in Lap 17, and Sexton fell into a tight third place.
With a lap to go, Tomac slipped as Webb pressured him from behind, but held him off for a narrow win of 0.881 second. Sexton finished third, 13.251 seconds of the pace-setting Tomac, and Plessinger and Anderson rounded out the top five.
After six races, the series standings have begun to firm up. Tomac, Webb and Sexton sit at the top, with Anderson about 21 points behind, and Ken Roczen and Plessinger tied for fifth.
Tomac, lining up second in the gates between pole-winner Sexton and Webb, bolted to the lead and won Heat 2 after starting fourth.
The heat race included the top three racers in the standings – Tomac, Sexton and Webb.
After finishing the first lap in fourth place, Tomac passed Plessinger for third place in Lap 2, then closed the gap to Sexton in Lap 3. In Lap 4, as the three raced in a tight pack, Tomac blew by both Sexton and Webb for the lead. It was his fastest lap, at 1 minute, 6.604 seconds.
Sexton followed Tomac to the finish line, 1.724 seconds back. Webb was 3.330 seconds off the pace, and Plessinger and Joey Savatgy rounded out the top five.
In Heat 1, Roczen went to the lead at the start, with Anderson and Justin Barcia in tow. Adam Cianciarulo was fourth, and Christian Craig filled out the top five.
Anderson, racing on six months’ probation after causing a crash with Barcia last week in Tampa, closed the gap behind Roczen to less than a second as the white flag came out in Lap 6, but did not catch the leader.
Roczen crossed the finish line with a wire-to-wire win, 0.913 second ahead of Anderson, and 2.330 seconds ahead of Barcia. Cianciarulo was fourth, 7.995 seconds off the pace, and Craig was fifth, 9.917 seconds back.
Incidentally, the contact between Anderson and Barcia was not their first. Last year, Barcia took down Justin Bogle, then received a three-point penalty and $3,000 fine after taking down Anderson in Indianapolis. He then received a 10-point penalty after hitting Malcolm Stewart in Salt Lake City during the final round of the season.
During timed laps Saturday afternoon, Sexton posted the fastest lap, at 1 minute, 5.771 seconds. Anderson was second at 1:06.210, and Tomac was third, at 1:06.593. Cianciarulo and Webb rounded out the top five.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship series continues Feb. 25 with Round 7 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
| 1. Eli Tomac | Yamaha | 139 |
| 2. Cooper Webb | KTM | 132 |
| 3. Chase Sexton | Honda | 132 |
| 4. Jason Anderson | Kawasaki | 111 |
| 5. Ken Roczen | Suzuki | 104 |
| 6. Aaron Plessinger | KTM | 104 |
| 7. Justin Barcia | GasGas | 97 |
| 8. Joey Savatgy | Kawasaki | 82 |
| 9. Colt Nichols | Honda | 75 |
| 10. Christian Craig | Husqvarna | 75 |
| 11. Adam Cianciarulo | Kawasaki | 75 |
