Despite difficult track conditions at the Oracle Stadium in San Francisco on Saturday, Eli Tomac of Cortez charged to place second in the 450SX main event behind first-place competitor Chase Sexton.

In the first 450 heat, Jorge Prado took an early lead, leading Sexton at a decent distance before he went slightly off the track, allowing Sexton to catch up. After a close race between the two in the last few laps, Prado won the heat, barely edging out Sexton.

Ken Roczen placed third and Tomac placed fourth. After a crash on the slippery track conditions, last week’s winner Jett Lawrence placed ninth.

In Heat 2, Aaron Plessinger won the hole shot out of the gate and held a comfortable lead before beginning to have obvious bike issues, most likely because of the mud on the track.

Dylan Ferrandis began gaining on Plessinger as his bike stalled, almost allowing Ferrandis to pass for the lead. Plessinger dug down and held onto his lead before his bike became stuck right before the last lap.

Ferrandis won heat two, followed by Cooper Webb and Plessinger, who barely lost to Webb.

Usual front-runner Justin Barcia didn’t qualify for the main event in the first two heats, but came from 12th place in the last-chance qualifier to place second to clinch his spot in the main event later in the evening.

As rain fell at the beginning of the wildly muddy 450SX main event, racers battled out of the gate to gain position and stay away from the mud being flung by the other racers.

Sexton came out of the gate first, but his bike faltered, allowing him to be passed by Roczen. Justin Anderson and Malcom Stewart were two of the four or five racers that crashed going around the first corner, caking them in mud as the front runners increased their lead.

Tomac was third out of the gate, and stayed a comfortable distance behind Sexton and Roczen. Soon, Sexton was in first with Tomac on his heels.

Tomac was unable to jump the table tops because of the mud, and because Sexton was able to get more out of his jumps, Tomac was unable to catch and pass Sexton, though he did decrease Sexton’s lead to three seconds in the last lap.

During the last lap of the race, the announcers discussed Tomac’s injury last year, saying they thought at the time it would be the end of his racing career.

“We thought it would sideline him forever and he wouldn’t come back to the sport,” they said. “But he’s back and back with force.”

The final results had Sexton in first, Tomac in second and Roczen in third. Lawrence, who crashed toward the beginning of the main event and struggled in the mud, placed ninth.

At the after-race news conference, Tomac was asked his thoughts about being back on the podium in the second race of the season.

“My goal was to get on the podium, that was my mindset,” he said. “This is where I want to be.”

Tomac also commented last week’s race in Anaheim, saying that after the race he decided to go back to a past strategy that had rendered good results before. He noted that it was hard to tell if the strategy was effective because of the muddy conditions of the track, but that he’ll be able to get a better gauge at next week’s race.

“Anaheim was obviously really tough for me, I was really off, rode really tight and there was nothing good about it,” he said. “But I put myself in a great position off the start (in San Francisco). It’s so key to be in the top three or at least the front couple of guys not to get sprayed with mud. That was my focus for the main … and to try to stay on two wheels at that point.”

The next Supercross race will take place on Saturday, Jan. 20 in San Diego.