Eli Tomac of Cortez raced through early traffic Saturday to finish second in the 450 Supercross at Atlanta Motor Speedway, for his seventh consecutive podium finish in the waning 2022 season.
Jason Anderson of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, won the main event after taking the lead in the third lap and racing in front for the final 13 laps and the victory, his fourth of the season.
Chase Sexton surrendered his lead after crashing in Lap 3 but climbed back from sixth place to finish third.
With three races to go in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season, Tomac now leads runner-up Anderson by 53 points in the series standings, 325 to 272.
The main event started on a mud-caked track with an early crash, a dash to the lead and a battle for the final podium spots as the finish line approached.
Justin Barcia won the hole shot but gave way to with Sexton and Anderson in Lap 2 and dropped to third. Sexton tucked his front wheel in the third lap, giving the lead to Anderson and second place to Barcia.
Tomac was in fifth place after the first lap. He moved up into fourth in Lap 3, and into third behind Cooper Webb in Lap 5 after Barcia crashed and fell from second to fourth.
Midway through the race, Anderson ran comfortably in front, 5 seconds ahead of Webb in Lap 7. But as the race behind Anderson tightened, Tomac gained on Webb and pressed the defending champion until getting past him in Lap 10.
Eight seconds behind fellow Southwesterner Anderson, Tomac held off the surging Sexton, who recovered from his crash to pass Malcolm Stewart, Barcia and Webb and finish in third place.
Webb was fourth, and Stewart was fifth.
Earlier Saturday, Tomac qualified fourth during timed practice runs with a lap of 1 minute, 26.811 seconds. Sexton was fastest, at 1:25.181, and was followed by Anderson at 1:25.286 and Musquin at 1:26.620.
Tomac finished second in qualifying Heat 1, following Anderson around the track for five laps. Barcia was third.
Sexton won Heat 2 after passing Webb in the second lap. Stewart captured third place after starting in fifth.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross next travels to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, for the 15th of 17 races in the series on April 23.
On April 30, Tomac returns to his home state for the 16th race at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. He wraps up the season May 7 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
