Eli Tomac, who nearly failed to qualify Saturday for the AMA Supercross in Glendale, Arizona, raced to a fourth-place finish after a crash-delayed restart.
Tomac worked overtime just to get into the main event at State Farm Stadium. After finishing 10th in his heat, the rider from Cortez was sent to the last chance qualifier, which would determine the final four riders for the main event.
Starting the main event at the end of the gate in position No. 19, Tomac was in seventh place after the first lap. Malcolm Stewart, racing in sixth in Lap 5, crashed over his handlebars, bringing out the red flag. He left the course on a cart, waving to the crowd.
Restarting in sixth place with 13:25 minutes to go in the race, Tomac was more than seven seconds off the leaders, Ken Roczen and Jason Anderson.
Another crash, in Lap 7, reshaped the finish.
Anderson put Roczen into the dirt during a duel for the lead, dropping Roczen into fourth. Tomac got past Vince Friese for fifth place.
In Lap 10, Roczen passed Marvin Musquin for third, and Tomac followed him into fourth in Lap 11.
As Baggett challenged Anderson for the lead, Roczen and Tomac began to close the gap to the leaders. But after Baggett passed Anderson in Lap 16, and as the white flag came out at the start of the final, 18th lap, Tomac was comfortably in fourth place, 10 seconds off the lead.
Baggett held on for the win, followed by Anderson and Roczen.
After two races in the series, Tomac was third in the overall standings with 40 points after picking up 19 points Saturday. Roczen topped the standings with 44 points, and Justin Barcia was second, with 43.
Tomac’s last chanceIn the preliminary races before the main event, Tomac finished 10th in his heat, forcing the motocross champion to race for a Top 4 finish in the last chance qualifier in order to compete in the main event.
Starting the second heat in the No. 2 position between top qualifier Justin Hill and Jason Anderson, Tomac got off slow, and was in 17th place – fourth from last – after the first lap. He climbed to 11th place by the fifth of seven laps and ran the final two laps in 10th place, just shy of qualifying for the main event’s field of 22. Justin Brayton won the heat, followed by Chad Reed, Friese, Baggett and Aaron Plessinger.
In the last chance qualifier, Tomac again drew the No. 2 gate position, this time between Austin Politelli and Cheyenne Harmon. Tomac got off fast and at the first turn, grabbed the holeshot, narrowly avoiding a crash that sent two riders behind him crashing end over end. Tomac went wide out of the turn, recovered and raced for the victory and a spot in the main event.
In the first heat, Musquin lead all seven laps to win 1.586 seconds ahead of Cole Seely. Stewart, Barcia and Cooper Webb rounded out the Top 5.
Saturday afternoon, Tomac was third-fastest after two qualifying rounds, with a time of 1 minute, .890 second in his second run. Justin Hill was fastest, with a lap of 1:00.822, and Webb edged Tomac by three-thousandths of a second. Musquin was fourth, and Anderson was fifth. Last week’s winner at Anaheim 1, Barcia, was 14th, and runner-up Roczen was ninth.
The AMA Supercross series returns to Anaheim on Jan. 19 for the third of 17 races.