Trouble for Eli Tomac Tightens the Supercross Championship Battle

U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN — February 19, 2022

The Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series vacates the West Coast and the 250SX East riders get their first chance on the track for 2022 in Minneapolis. Who will establish themselves right out of the gate in Round One for these riders?

In the 450SX Class, Eli Tomac and Jason Anderson continue their battle at the top of the points standings. The snow flies outside of U.S. Bank Stadium, but inside the motocross action heats up.

250SX

In Heat #1 it was Pierce Brown(44) out front ahead of the favorites Jett Lawrence(18), J Martin(6), and McAdoo(48). Brown steadily moved away from the field to take the win by over four seconds. Lawrence worked his way up to second but could not put a dent in Brown’s advantage.

Heat #2 gave Levi Kitchen his first thrill in Supercross racing. The rookie took the holeshot and led early until a mistake cost him two positions as Jordan Smith(90) and RJ Hampshire(24) moved past and began to stretch the advantage. Austin Forkner(33) looked to take the third spot away until he bobbled and almost went down. Forkner settled into fourth but the error gave Kitchen enough of an advantage to hold onto the 3rd spot.

Hampshire stayed right on Smith’s rear tire waiting for the right time to make a move. On the final lap, Hampshire made the pass to take his first Supercross heat win.

Mitchell Oldenburg, another pre-race favorite, had a mechanical problem with his bike and did not start his heat. He suffered a poor start in the LCQ and was unable to make it into the top 4, missing out on the feature.

250SX Main Event

Austin Forkner grabbed the holeshot with Jett Lawrence right behind. Lawrence did not wait long to pass and put himself at the front of the pack, Forkner held onto second. McAdoo ran third.

Lawrence never looked back and won the first 250SX Main Event of the year to establish himself as a clear favorite to contend for the title. Justin Smith suffered an ugly crash, going over the handlebar after hitting a tough block.

No drama for the top three as Lawrence, Forkner and McAdoo gain the first podium of the year for the 250SX East riders.

250SX Main Event Results and 250SX East Initial Points Standings

450SX

Eli Tomac(3), the points leader lined up in Heat #1 looking to cash in on a solid starting position for the Main Event. But, it was Chase Sexton(23) who powered out into the lead with Tomac second and Ken Roczen(94) in third. The trio moved away from the remainder of the pack and finished one-two-three, well ahead of Aaron Plessinger(7) in fourth.

With Tomac 2nd in the first heat, Jason Anderson(21) just needed to hold serve and the two can resume their points battle in the Main Event. However, Anderson got a bad start and ran 10th at the end of one lap. Vince Friese(62) led the moto with Malcolm Stewart(27) in second and defending champion Cooper Webb(1) in third.

At the halfway point of the Heat, Stewart, Webb, and Justin Barcia(51) held the top three spots. Anderson moved into a qualifying position but was well back of the leaders in seventh.

Barcia dropped his bike in a corner with under a minute plus one lap left, allowing Friese to regain the third spot. The man on the charge was Dylan Ferrandis(14) who moved his way into third at the finish. Anderson took fourth and Barcia managed to avoid the last chance qualifier by finishing in the top nine.

450SX Main Event

Cooper Webb has not been able to match his championship-winning performance from last year so far in 2022. He has been anxious to regain the form that allowed him to capture the title and at the start of tonight’s 450SX Main, he looked like his old self.

Taking the holeshot and building a lead quickly, was this going to be Webb’s opportunity to get back into the points race? Maybe, as Tomac got a poor start and was stuck back in 10th position.

Eli’s teammate Ferrandis got loose coming out of the whoops and Tomac almost ran into Dylan on the face of a triple. The near-collision caused Tomac to come off his bike and dropped him to 20th position two minutes into the event.

At the 15 minutes remaining mark, Sexton had moved past Webb for the lead. Tomac had worked his way up to 13th.

At the halfway point of the race, it was Sexton, Anderson, and Stewart at the front of the pack and all three were looking to cut into Tomac’s points lead as Eli had only been able to work up to the 10th position.

With under five minutes to go Tomac was eighth, but almost 30 seconds behind the leader. Malcolm Stewart lost his podium position when he went down out of a triple, allowing Webb to get back into third with a big lead over Marvin Musquin(25) in fourth.

As the clock wound down and the riders were entering the final laps Sexton came out of a corner and got sideways. His front tire bit into the dirt on the face of a jump, and he went flying into a hard crash.

Anderson grabs the lead and rides to the win, Webb gets his podium spot, and Musquin ends up third. Tomac recovers to finish in sixth, allowing him to keep the red plate for another week. However, Anderson closed to within three points of the leader as the remainder of the 450 competitors fell further behind in the chase of the top two.

450SX Main Event Results

450SX Points Standings