Star Racing Yamaha team member and Cortez local Eli Tomac placed fifth in the 450 Supercross in Philadelphia, a week before heading to his home track in Denver and the final race in Salt Lake City.
Tomac, who starting racing again this season after a devastating Achilles’ injury in 2023, had a strong showing in Philadelphia despite barely finishing outside of podium standings.
In Heat One, Tomac competed in a stacked heat with teammate Cooper Webb and Honda’s Jett Lawrence. Ty Masterpool claimed the hole shot out of the gate, with Jett Lawrence going down around the first turn and starting in last place.
Tomac quickly passed Masterpool and settled into a comfortable lead with Webb on his heels. Meanwhile, Jett Lawrence fought to go from last place to the top nine to ensure a spot in the main event later on in the evening.
By the time the racers made it to the last lap, Jett Lawrence moved from sixth place position to fourth. Tomac finished first, nearly three seconds ahead of Webb to the excited roar of the crowd.
Justin Barcia placed third and Jett Lawrence fourth. Commentators noted that Jett and Webb had the two fastest lap times, both of them clocking times of around 52.4 seconds.
In a rainy Heat Two, Hunter Lawrence, Justin Cooper, Chase Sexton, Jason Anderson and Dylan Ferrandis went head to head.
Anderson took the hole shot, with Hunter Lawrence and Ferrandis in second and third in the first lap. Sexton, who had a rocky start, moved from top 15 to eighth before the final lap.
In the final lap, Sexton moved to sixth place and Anderson maintained his lead, nearly six seconds ahead of Hunter Lawrence.
Anderson’s heat win marked the first for the Monster Kawasaki team this season. Hunter Lawrence came in second, Ferrandis third, Colt Nichols fourth, Malcolm Stewart fifth and Sexton sixth.
The 450 cc main event proved to be an exciting race, with multiple upsets and exciting back-and-forth racing between the sport’s top racers.
Jett Lawrence quickly claimed the hole shot out of the gate with Tomac and Webb on his heels.
Tomac was in second place for a good portion of the race before being passed by Webb. Webb worked to shorten Jett’s lead before being passed by Sexton, who cut down Jett Lawrence’s lead from six seconds to three by the final lap.
By the one-minute mark, Tomac had fallen to fifth place behind Webb and Anderson.
Anderson and Webb battled in the final lap, with the two racers riding side by side into the final turn. In the final turn, Webb’s bike spun out, causing him to crash. Because of the fall, Anderson took third place behind Jett Lawrence and Sexton, with Webb finishing fourth.
Tomac nearly took the fourth-place position from Webb, but wasn’t quite close enough to pull it off.
Jett still holds the first-place spot for overall points, with Webb in second.
The next Supercross race is Saturday at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, where Tomac was injured and taken out of the running for the championship title last year. The final race of the Monster Energy American Motorcyclist Association series is May 11 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
| 1. Jett Lawrence | Honda | 311 |
| 2. Cooper Webb | Yamaha | 299 |
| 3. Eli Tomac | Yamaha | 270 |
| 4. Chase Sexton | KTM | 268 |
| 5. Jason Anderson | Kawasaki | 244 |
