Eli Tomac Wins His 8th Daytona Supercross

Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL — April 28, 2026

The “World Center of Racing,” Daytona International Speedway, hosts Round 8 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross World Championship. The title of Daytona Champion is one of the most coveted in all of motorsports competition. For the 19th straight year, the G.O.A.T., Ricky Carmichael, has designed the Daytona Supercross course to test the best motorcycle riders in the world.

The Daytona Supercross kick starts the 85th Annual Bike Week at DAYTONA Presented by GEICO. Eli Tomac is the all-time wins leader in the 450cc division. Tomac has captured the title a record 7-times. This year he is in a heated battle with Hunter Lawrence for the 450SX Championship. Tonight could be another coronation for E.T. or the changing of the guard for the youngster from Australia. Lawrence (1:14.411) was the fastest qualifier on the track this afternoon, Tomac (1:15.020) was second quickest. The stage is set! Here is what is on the line tonight.

250SX East Heat #1

Nate Thrasher(25) grabbed the holeshot with Coty Schock(22) and Pierce Brown(163) in the early mix. Brown quickly moved to the lead and began to build an advantage on Thrasher. Caden Dudney(82), the 16-year-old, rode into the third position. Cole Davies(37) passed Dudney on the final lap to earn a podium spot. Davies and Dudney touched wheels with Dudney going down. He recovered immediately and still qualified for the main finishing fifth.

250SX East Heat #2

Daxton Bennick(58) earned the holeshot, but it was Drew Adams(35) riding away with the early lead.

Jo Shimoda(30) started in the third spot. Shimoda moved up a spot as Bennick dropped down and gave the third spot to Seth Hammaker(10). Earlier in qualifying, Hammaker went down hard. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured and came back to put in a strong ride tonight. Hammaker passed Shimoda for second and almost caught Adams on the final lap.

Adams nearly came off the bike and veered off the course. He recovered without giving the top spot away and when Hammaker went down just before the finish line jump, Adams crossed under the checkered flag. Shimoda passed Hammaker who was back on his bike quickly to finish third.

450SX Heat #1

Missing from the 450 field are the wounded warriors Jason Anderson, Justin Barcia, RJ Hampshire, Jorge Prado, and Chase Sexton. As expected Eli Tomac(3) flew out of the starting gate and rode away from Cooper Webb(1).

Aaron Plessinger(7) had a good start running in the third spot. Plessinger went down in the sand section allowing Ken Roczen(94) to take over the third position. AP did not drop out of qualifying position for the main, holding onto fifth.

Tomac’s margin of victory in the 6-minute heat was an impressive 5.092 seconds over Webb and 5.907 seconds over Roczen. Plessinger passed Shane McElrath(12) on the final lap to take fourth, 25.599 seconds behind Tomac.

450SX Heat #2

Hunter Lawrence(96) eked past Malcolm Stewart(27) for the holeshot. The duo went side-by-side for the entire first lap as they took the green flag together from Jeremy McGrath. After swapping the lead several times, Lawrence pulled away. Joey Savatgy(17) held down the third spot. Lawrence grew the lead interval as Stewart made a couple of mistakes that allowed Savatgy to make the pass for second place. Garrett Marchbanks(36) ran in fourth. Late in the moto, Justin Cooper(32) was the rider making moves, passing Marchbanks and Stewart to claim the third position.

SMX Next Feature

Vinnie Wey(27) earned a podium finish in the SMX Next Class Feature.

Wey was in a tough battle with Kade Johnson(177) all race long and almost gave the position away on the final lap when he hit a course marker. Deacon Denno(199) took the win with Landen Gordon(180) finishing second.

250SX Main Event

The race to the holeshot line saw Seth Hammaker, Jo Shimoda, Nate Thrasher, Drew Adams and Pierce Brown vie for the honor. Hammaker fought off an early challenge from Shimoda and Adams passed Thrasher to move into third. At the halfway mark of the timed portion of the moto Hammaker held a three-second advantage over Shimoda.

Adams, Davies, and Brown fought for the final podium position. Davies won the battle for third and began to make up time on the leaders. As the clock wound down to a minute, Jo Shimoda went down in the sand section allowing Davies and Brown to pass for the second and third positions. Seth Hammaker took the win easily, his first of the season and first at Daytona, over Davies and Brown. Shimoda finished fourth.

 250SX East Points Standings

450SX Main Event

Mitchell Harrison(41), from Brighton, Michigan, earned a spot in the 450SX Main event with a third place finish in the LCQ. Hunter Lawrence scored the holeshot. However, it was the defending race champion, Ken Roczen, that went to the early lead. Cooper Webb ran third and Eli Tomac started in the fourth position. Tomac blew past Webb and set his sights on Lawrence.

Five minutes into the moto, the top three were separated by less than two seconds. Two minutes later, Tomac passed Lawrence. Then quickly disposed of Roczen. The King of Daytona Supercross is out front and the crowd loves it. Halfway through the moto, Tomac was a second and a half up on Roczen and almost three seconds ahead of Lawrence. Cooper Webb continues to run fourth. He is nine seconds off the Tomac pace and ten seconds ahead of Joey Savatgy.

As the leaders caught lapped traffic, Lawrence got around Roczen. A pass that will allow Hunter to retain the red plate if he can hold the position to the checkered flag.

Richard Petty will always be the King of Daytona. The 7-time Daytona Champion and 7-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion sits alone on that throne. But Eli Tomac is certainly the King of Daytona Supercross, the now 8-time champion has set a mark that likely will not be challenged.

 450SX Points Standings

Daytona SMX Round 8 Recap

450SX: Hunter Lawrence holds onto the red plate, emblematic of the class points leader, by a single point over Eli Tomac. Ken Roczen and Cooper Webb are 20 points off Hunter’s season total. With momentum solidly in Tomac’s favor after his Daytona win, next week in Indianapolis could be a defining point of the season. Indy is the second Triple-Crown event of the year for the premier class riders. A discipline that Tomac has fared well in throughout his career. If either rider can pull off three successful motos while the rest of the class struggles it could propel them into a significant lead in the championship standindings.

250SX East: After the first two rounds of the 250SX East Championship five riders are within 8-points of the points lead. Pierce Brown is two points up on Seth Hammaker and is five ahead of Jo Shimoda. Next week at Indianapolis the Triple-Crown format is going to give the East Division riders a chance to prove who can take control of the early season standings and brand themselves as a favorite for the other riders to chase.

More Live Coverage from The Lasco Press next week at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.