Eli Tomac of Cortez finished third overall Saturday in the 450 motocross in Southwick, Massachusetts, after a relentless and blazing run from seventh place to steal the lead from Ken Roczen in Moto 2.
The show of speed lifted Tomac to a third-place finish overall, after an eighth-place finish in Moto 1.
It was his third consecutive podium finish, and his third moto victory of the season, adding to moto victories at High Point on June 19 and RedBud on July 3 and tying Roczen with three moto wins this season.
Tomac’s finish at Southwick National also moved him up two spots in the series standings. He now sits in third place with 167 points, behind leader Dylan Ferrandis (224 points) and Roczen (205 points).
Tomac finished the first lap in seventh place as Roczen, Cooper Webb and Adam Cianciarulo went to the front. Marvin Musquin, Christian Craig and Ferrandis trailed the leaders, just ahead of Tomac.
In Lap 2, Tomac moved into fifth place behind series-leading Ferrandis. Roczen opened up a 5-second lead as Webb, Cianciarulo, Ferrandis and Tomac jockeyed behind him for position, spaced a second apart.
In Lap 5, Kawasaki teammates Cianciarulo and Tomac moved into the top three behind Roczen after Webb went down and dropped to fifth. And Tomac, charging forward in Lap 6, moved into a distant second place, about 9 seconds behind Roczen with nine laps to go.
Tomac then set a blisteringly fast pace in Lap 7 to narrow the gap behind Rozen, completing the lap in 2 minutes, 16 seconds – almost 4 seconds faster than Roczen’s Lap 7. It also was the fastest lap of the race, beating Roczen’s Lap 2 by 2 seconds.
In Lap 7, Ferrandis passed Cianciarulo for third place.
Again, Tomac went to his throttle, closing to within a half-second of Roczen in Lap 8, and flying by for the lead in Lap 9.
He widened his lead in Lap 10, racing nearly 4 seconds faster than Roczen, for a 7-second lead. And in a dazzling show of speed, crossed the finish line in Lap 15 for 16.425 seconds ahead of Roczen.
Ferrandis was third, 25.514 seconds off Tomac’s pace. Justin Barcia and Webb rounded out the top five, 46 and 51 seconds behind Tomac.
Tomac, starting from the 12th position at the gate, finished Lap 1 in 13th place. Ferrandis was in front and would win the moto – his second of the season – start to finish.
Barcia and Aaron Plessinger were second and third after one lap, followed by Musquin and Roczen.
Tomac advanced into 11th place in Lap 2, 10th in Lap 3 and ninth in Lap 4. He moved up a notch in Lap 10 to finish eighth.
Ferrandis, Barcia and Plessinger maintained their early positions and crossed the finish line in order. Roczen and Cianciarulo filled out the top five.
The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship next goes to Spring Creek MX Park in Millville, Minnesota, on July 17 for the sixth race of the 12-race series.
