Eli Tomac of Cortez, returning Saturday to his home track in Colorado, lost the overall victory in the 450 motocross at Thunder Valley after leader Chase Sexton crashed in the final lap and gave the win to his Honda teammate, Ken Roczen.
Tomac won Moto 1 after charging from sixth place to overtake and defeat Roczen handily.
But the battle between Roczen and Tomac continued late in Moto 2, and ended with the most surprising finish of the young 2022 motocross season.
As the riders lined up to start Moto 2, a third-place finish for Tomac and second-place finish for Roczen would have given the overall victory to Tomac. But while Sexton raced safely in front of the pack, Roczen held off Tomac in the tense battle for second place, then coasted to the overall victory after Sexton – his teammate on Team Honda HRC – crashed in the final lap.
Roczen got the overall victory with total of 47 points – a second-place Moto 1 and first-place Moto 2. Tomac, of Star Racing Yamaha, was second overall with 45 points – a first-place Moto 1 and third-place Moto 2.
Sexton was third overall, with 40 points for a fourth-place Moto 1 and second-place Moto 2. Jason Anderson was fourth after coming back from an early crash that had dropped him into ninth place, and Antonio Cairoli was fifth.
After three rounds in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, Sexton remains in first place in the series standings, with 134 points. Roczen is second, with 129, and Tomac is third, with 120.
Christian Craig crashed in the first turn, and Roczen grabbed the lead from Cairoli in Lap 1. Justin Barcia was third and was followed by Anderson and Sexton.
Tomac was sixth.
In Lap 4, the top of the class began a push to the front. Tomac and Anderson moved to third and fourth place, and Roczen held a 3.403-second lead over Barcia. Cairoli dropped to sixth.
Anderson overtook Barcia in Lap 6, and Tomac followed two laps later, posting his fastest lap time of the race – 2 minutes, 16.723 seconds – in Lap 8.
Tomac passed Anderson in Lap 10 and overtook Roczen for the lead the next lap.
He didn’t look back.
Tomac built a five-second lead over Roczen during the 13th of 16 laps and rolled to victory. Roczen was 3.197 seconds behind him in second place, and Anderson, Sexton and Cairoli filled out the top five.
Cairoli again went to the early lead, and again was overtaken by Roczen in the first lap.
Anderson moved into third, and Tomac was fourth, with Craig in hot pursuit about 5 seconds off the leader’s pace.
Anderson went down in Lap 2, and got back up to ninth place. Sexton got past Tomac for third place, leaving Tomac about 8 seconds off the lead.
Sexton and Tomac passed Cairoli in Lap 4 as Roczen continued to keep up the pace, leading Sexton by 6.83 seconds and Tomac by 8.77.
Sexton closed the gap to Roczen in Lap 6 and passed him in Lap 8.
At this point in the race, a win by Sexton would kill Roczen’s shot at an overall win at Thunder Valley and give Tomac the overall win if he remained in third place.
Tomac seemed to have something else in mind.
He gained on Roczen in Lap 9 and caught him in Lap 10 after racing his fastest lap of the race, at 2 minutes, 17.162 seconds.
But as Tomac and Roczen battled for second, Tomac was pushed over a berm and dropped back, nearly 6 seconds behind Roczen. Cairoli remained a distant fourth, more than 42 seconds back.
And after the white flag came out, Roczen benefited by a Sexton crash to grab the lead and the overall win.
Tomac finished third, 8.066 seconds behind Sexton and 13.230 seconds behind Roczen.
Earlier Saturday, Tomac was the second-fastest in timed practice rounds, running his best lap in 2 minutes, 21.090 seconds. Sexton was fastest at 2:14.509, and Roczen was third at 2:15.601. Anderson and Cairoli rounded out the top five.
On June 18, the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship series next moves to High Point Raceway in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, for Round 4 of the 12-round season.
