Eli Tomac of Cortez got a fast start Saturday night in the 450cc Supercross in Anaheim, California, and passed Jason Anderson to win his first race of the season and widen his series lead.
Anderson finished second, and was followed by Chase Sexton, Dylan Ferrandis and Malcolm Stewart.
Tomac entered Angel Stadium with a one-point lead over Sexton in the standings. He now leads Sexton by six points, 85-79. Anderson is third, with 77 points.
After the starting gate came down in Saturday’s main event, Tomac was in fifth. He advanced to fourth, behind Anderson, in the second lap.
Ken Roczen was in front, with Malcolm Stewart less than two seconds back.
It would not be a night for a cautious run to the finish line.
Anderson, riding his first season on a Kawasaki, passed Stewart in Lap 4, and Tomac followed suit in Lap 5.
Then, the charging Anderson and Roczen made contact in Lap 5, and Roczen crashed hard in the sand, giving the lead to Anderson and falling to 13th place.
Shane McElrath, who had challenged Roczen for the lead early in the race, faded to sixth. Stewart, passed by Tomac and Sexton in Lap 5, dropped to fourth.
Meanwhile, 2021 AMA Motocross champion Ferrandis, who had been shuffled into 12th place at the start, had climbed into fifth place by Lap 7.
As front-running riders again appeared to settle, Anderson went long on the elevated turn, and Tomac tucked inside for the pass and the lead in Lap 8.
He wouldn’t look back.
Tomac widened his lead to 2 seconds in Lap 10, and to nearly 4 seconds in Lap 14. He would finish 4.619 seconds ahead of Anderson and 6.44 seconds ahead of Sexton in third. Ferrandis and Stewart rounded out the top five, more than 16 seconds off the pace.
In the first 450cc heat, Tomac and Aaron Plessinger went to the front of the pack in the first lap, with Ferrandis in tow.
Gaining on Plessinger in the third of seven laps, Tomac took the lead in the fifth. With an open track in front of him, he went to his throttle and posted his fastest lap in the sixth, at 1 minute, 3.304 seconds. He stretched out a quick lead and finished 3 seconds ahead of Plessinger.
Ferrandis was third, 4.797 seconds off the pace. Brayton and Stewart rounded out the top five.
In a dramatic Heat 2, Sexton took a quick lead and pulled away as contenders Roczen, McElrath, Anderson and Marvin Musquin initiated a heated battle for the front.
Roczen passed McElrath in Lap 2 for second place, and Anderson passed him in Lap 5, then went off the track and dropped to seventh. Justin Barcia made an inside pass on Musquin in Lap 6 to take over third place.
Sexton finished more than six seconds ahead of Roczen for the win. Barcia was nearly 12 seconds off the lead for third place. Musquin and McElrath completed the top five.
Earlier Saturday, Tomac posted the second-fastest lap during timed qualifying runs, with a best-of-two lap of 1 minute, 3.208 seconds. Sexton was fastest at 1:03.046, and Musquin, Ferrandis and Anderson filled out the top five.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross series next goes to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, for the fifth race of the 17-race series before returning to Anaheim for the third and final race of the season at Angel Stadium.
| 1. Eli Tomac | Yamaha | 85 |
| 2. Chase Sexton | Honda | 79 |
| 3. Jason Anderson | Kawasaki | 77 |
| 4. Cooper Webb | KTM | 73 |
| 5. Justin Barcia | GasGas | 72 |
| 6. Malcolm Stewart | Husqvarna | 70 |
| 7. Dylan Ferrandis | Yamaha | 64 |
| 8. Marvin Musquin | KTM | 64 |
| 9. Ken Roczen | Honda | 62 |
| 10 Aaron Plessinger | KTM | 55 |
