Jason Anderson on Saturday dominated the final race of the 2022 Supercross season in Salt Lake City, taking the lead in the first lap and running away with the win as series champion Eli Tomac sat out with an injury.
Tomac, of Cortez, Colorado, clinched the championship April 30 at his home track in Denver.
Anderson entered Rice-Eccles Stadium on a roll, with three consecutive wins and an increasing gap over all other contenders. The fastest qualifier on Saturday, Anderson easily won his qualifying heat and gained the pole position after an easy win over Justin Barcia in Heat 2.
He was all business.
In the main event, he broke out the gate in third place but passed Cooper Webb and Justin Bogle for the lead in the first lap. Chase Sexton tucked in behind him in Lap 1 and followed him to the finish line more than 2 seconds back.
As the two front-runners ran out ahead, the race for third became heated.
Defending champion Webb overtook Bogle in Lap 2 but surrendered third place to Barcia in Lap 4 and fourth place to Malcolm Stewart in Lap 6.
Stewart caught Barcia and passed him, but Barcia counterattacked and hit him while passing him in Lap 11, sending Stewart to sixth place.
Stewart bounced back, getting past Webb and Musquin to challenge Barcia again for third place, but faltered in the last lap.
Barcia, booed by the crowd and fined 10 points by the judges, was given third place. However, the fine dropped him into fourth place in the season standings, three points behind Musquin in fourth place, and 12 points behind Stewart in third place.
With the victory, Anderson solidified his position as the series’ runner-up, nine points behind Tomac and 36 points ahead of Stewart, 350 to 314. It was his fourth consecutive victory.
Fellow Southwesterners Tomac of Cortez and Anderson of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, dominated the 2022 Monster Energy Supercross series, each notching seven wins – 14 of the 17 races.
Ken Roczen, Musquin and Sexton each won one race.
Tomac sat out the race with a knee injury that he suffered during his heat race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on April 16. He wanted to clinch the Supercross title in Foxborough, Massachusetts, but after a fast start and short duel with Anderson, he dropped back to seventh place.
On April 30, Tomac returned home to Colorado for the AMA Supercross and clinched his second 450SX title with a fifth-place finish at Empower Field at Mile Hile in Denver.
After an early duel with Tomac, Anderson continued his fast track to the finish, beating Stewart by more than nine seconds. Musquin was third.
1. Eli Tomac: 359
2. Jason Anderson: 350
3. Malcolm Stewart: 314
4: Marvin Musquin: 305
5. Justin Barcia: 302
6: Chase Sexton: 292
7. Cooper Webb: 278
8: Brandon Hartranft: 178
9. Justin Brayton: 176
10. Dean Wilson: 152
