Eli Tomac of Cortez got off to a quick start Saturday in the 450cc Supercross at Petco Park in San Diego, passed longtime rival Marvin Musquin for second place and jumped into first place in the series standings.
Chase Sexton won after pulling away early.
Dylan Ferrandis, Tomac’s new teammate on Star Racing Yamaha, was third. Defending champion Cooper Webb was fourth, and Malcolm Stewart was fifth.
Tomac’s second-place finish lifted him into first place in the series standings, with 59 points.
Sexton and Webb round out the top three, both with 58 points. Justin Barcia is fourth with 57, and Aaron Plessinger is fifth with 54.
Tomac, who said two weeks ago that he continued to work on his starts, got a good one Saturday night.
Starting between Webb and Musquin, Tomac was third at the first turn, behind Musquin and Sexton, and remained there for the first four laps. But in the fifth lap, as the leaders bunched up at the front, Tomac passed Musquin in the whoops for second place, about a second behind Sexton, who had taken the lead in Lap 4.
Musquin began to fade, and would finish 10th.
As Sexton stretched out a progressively larger lead, the focus shifted to the race behind Tomac.
Ken Roczen passed Webb and Musquin for third place and closed in on Tomac, but in Lap 12, Jason Anderson made contact with Roczen and knocked him down. Anderson moved into third, and Roczen fell to eighth.
Also in Lap 12, Ferrandis got by Webb for fourth place.
Anderson quickly pursued Tomac, and passed him in the whoops in Lap 14. Tomac countered with a pass in Lap 17 to retake second place, and Anderson, his Kawasaki smoking badly, began to fade. He would finish ninth.
Ferrandis followed Tomac to the finish line, holding off Webb for the last remaining podium position.
In Heat 1, Webb and Roczen took the early lead, but Musquin executed a long triple jump to pass him in the air for second place in the first lap. Justin Brayton finished fourth.
Ferrandis, who started in 13th place, charged into fifth place by the final, ninth lap. Dean Wilson, who went off the track in the first lap and dropped to 16th place, recovered to finish eighth.
Adam Cianciarulo did not finish and would sit out the last-chance qualifier. He was done for the day.
In Heat 2, Alex Martin took the early lead, but was passed by Anderson in the second lap and dropped back.
Tomac, starting in sixth place, raced into fourth place in the second lap and into third, behind Barcia, in Lap 3. As Anderson, Barcia and Tomac neared the finish, Tomac edged Barcia for second place, 5.775 seconds behind Anderson. Sexton and Stewart rounded out the top five.
Plessinger and Joey Savatgy were involved in a crash at the start. Plessinger recovered to finish ninth and become the race’s final qualifier. Savatgy did not finish and would not race in the last-chance qualifier.
Earlier Saturday, Tomac was ninth-fastest during timed qualifying laps, riding his best lap in 48.857 seconds. Anderson was fastest, at 47.896, and was followed by Ferrandis at 47.966. Sexton, Musquin and Stewart rounded out the top five.
The AMA Monster Energy AMA Supercross series next goes back to Anaheim on Jan. 29 for the second of three races at Angel Stadium and the fourth of 17 races in the season.
