Eli Tomac of Cortez quickly recovered from a soft start Saturday in the 450cc Supercross in Oakland to finish fourth.
As the starting gate came down at at RingCentral Coliseum, Adam Cianciarulo went to the front, with Jason Anderson, Aaron Plessinger, Justin Barcia, Shane McElrath and Ken Roczen joining the leaders.
Tomac was in eighth after one lap, but moved into seventh in Lap 3 when Roczen crashed in the whoops and dropped to 16th place.
He then moved up again, to fifth place after running a fast, 59.583-second Lap 4 and set his sights on Barcia, about 5 seconds ahead.
At the same time, teammate Dylan Ferrandis also got his Yamaha rolling and moved into ninth place after fast climb from 16th place.
In Lap 10, Tomac went by former Kawasaki teammate Cianciarulo for fourth place. Anderson held a solid lead over Plessinger, and Barcia and Tomac contended for the final spot on the podium.
Tomac stepped up the pace in Lap 16, to close within 2.6 seconds of Barcia, but as the race wound down and the white flag came out, the riders eased off their throttles and settled for status quo.
Anderson won his first race in four years, nearly four seconds ahead of Plessinger. Barcia finished third, and Tomac was fourth. Malcolm Stewart held off the charging Ferrandis for fifth.
In his first season with Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha, Tomac has finished sixth and fourth in two races. Last week, he focused on the learning process. This week, he showed more speed and confidence with his new bike.
Saturday afternoon, after posting the fastest lap in qualifying runs, Tomac said he felt better on his Yamaha and more confident in both sets of whoops, improving on his bumpy ride last week in Anaheim.
“Made a couple little changes to the motorcycle, found some more comfort, and we’ll just roll with it,” he said.
He added that he found more balance on the bike and adjusted the shocks.
“Fine-tuning things, stuff you never find out till you’re racing,” he said. “Feeling good right now.”
Earlier Saturday, Tomac was the fastest rider during timed practice rounds, finishing his best lap in 59.108 seconds. Teammate Ferrandis of Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha was a close second, at 59.180 seconds, and defending champion Cooper Webb was third at 59.256. Anderson and Marvin Musquin filled out the top five.
In Heat 1, Chase Sexton won the holeshot and was followed out of the first turn by Anderson and Stewart. Stewart challenged Anderson for second, and briefly passed him in Lap 4, but crashed after Anderson countered with a pass of his own.
Sexton won easily, with a best lap of 58.6444 seconds. Anderson was second, and Plessinger, benefiting from Stewart’s crash, was third. Stewart and Ferrandis rounded out the top five.
In Heat 2, Tomac’s former Kawasaki teammate, Cianciarulo, won the holeshot, with McElrath and Tomac in tow.
Tomac didn’t wait long to get going.
He passed McElrath in Lap 1 and Cianciarulo in Lap 2 and bolted to a commanding lead that stretched all the way to the finish line.
In the meantime, last week’s winner, Roczen, made a charge of his own, racing from fourth place to a second-place finish. Barcia also climbed to a podium finish, racing from fifth place to third. Cianciarulo and Webb filled out the top five.
The AMA Championship series next goes to Petco Park in San Diego on Jan. 22 for the third of 17 races in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship series.
| 1. Justin Barcia | GasGas | 42 |
| 2. Jason Anderson | Kawasaki | 39 |
| 3. Cooper Webb | KTM | 39 |
| 4. Aaron Plessinger | KTM | 37 |
| 5. Ken Roczen | Honda | 36 |
| 6. Eli Tomac | Yamaha | 36 |
| 7. Marvin Musquin | KTM | 34 |
| 8. Malcolm Stewart | Husqvarna | 34 |
| 9. Chase Sexton | Honda | 32 |
| 10. Joey Savatgy | KTM | 27 |
