Eli Tomac of Cortez started in a hole Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway but finished fifth in the 450 Supercross and kept the series lead over Cooper Webb.
Chase Sexton grabbed the early lead and led all 15 laps to win his second race of the season. With the win, he narrowed the gap between him and Webb to 11 points.
Justin Barcia finished second, and Ken Roczen, Webb and Tomac rounded out the top five.
After the gates dropped in the 13th of 17 rounds in the championship series, neither of the season’s front-runners – Tomac and Webb – left the first turn in the leading pack.
Sexton soon took the early lead over Roczen, Jason Anderson, Barcia and Webb. Tomac started ninth, but moved into sixth place in the second lap behind Webb.
Webb and Tomac got by Anderson in Lap 4, and Tomac began putting pressure on Webb, closing the gap to less than a second.
As the race reached the halfway point, Sexton widened his lead at the front to more than 3 seconds over Roczen and more than 4 seconds over Barcia in third. In Lap 9, Barcia overtook Roczen for second place.
Tomac trailed Webb in fifth place, about 17 seconds off the leader’s pace.
As the checkered flag came out in Lap 15, Sexton, who ran fast the entire race, crossed the finish line 7 seconds ahead of Barcia and 11 seconds ahead of Roczen, who was third. Webb and Tomac filled out the top five, 18 seconds and 20.4 seconds off the pace, respectively.
Webb won the five-lap Heat 1 wire to wire, with Roczen in tow all the way. Josh Hill was third, and Adam Cianciarulo, who started the race in 12th place, charged into the leading pack to finish fourth. Dean Wilson was fifth.
Barcia was given the victory in Heat 2 after Anderson, who crossed the finish line first, was penalized for going off the track early in the race and missing the whoops section. Sexton followed the leaders the entire five laps for third place, and Tomac, who started Heat 2 in fifth place, passed Justin Hill in Lap 3 to lock up fourth place.
Sexton was the fastest during timed practice rounds, with a best lap of 1 minute, 28.064 seconds. Cianciarulo was second at 1:28.156, and Anderson was third at 1:28.172. Tomac was seventh, at 1:29.222.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship series continues Saturday, with Round 14 of the 17-round series at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
| 1. Eli Tomac | Yamaha | 292 |
| 2. Cooper Webb | KTM | 286 |
| 3. Chase Sexton | Honda | 275 |
| 4. Justin Barcia | GasGas | 239 |
| 5. Ken Roczen | Suzuki | 238 |
| 6. Jason Anderson | Kawasaki | 214 |
| 7. Aaron Plessinger | KTM | 213 |
| 8. Adam Cianciarulo | Kawasaki | 155 |
| 9. Christian Craig | Husqvarna | 150 |
| 10. Justin Hill | KTM | 140 |
