Eli Tomac of Cortez raced to second place after a slow start Wednesday in the second of seven AMA Supercross races in Salt Lake City, but widened his lead of rival Ken Roczen, who finished fifth.
After 12 races in the 17-race series, Tomac now has a 13-point lead over the Honda rider from Germany.
Defending 450SX champion Cooper Webb, also on a Honda, passed Zach Osborne for the lead and eventual victory late in the 27-lap race. Osborne finished third after leading the field for the first 20 laps. Husqvarna rider Jason Anderson, of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, was fourth.
Tomac, of Monster Energy Kawasaki, entered Wednesday’s race on the heels of a victory Sunday in Salt Lake City’s Rice-Eccles Stadium. This weekend, he was fast all day, posting the second-fastest lap in qualifying rounds and winning his heat race wire to wire.
Wednesday, he had to work harder for his place on the podium.
Finishing the first lap in ninth place, Tomac moved into seventh place in the third lap, behind Roczen. Tomac followed Roczen through a crowd until passing him in the 11th lap for fourth place behind Anderson. Tomac then passed Anderson two laps later, and the race seemed locked up for the top three – Osborne, Webb and Tomac. However, Osborn gave way to Webb in the 21st lap, and to Tomac two laps later.
Tomac closed a two-second gap behind Webb in the 25th lap, but would settle for second place.
The remaining races in the series are scheduled for June 7 at 3 p.m., June 10, 14 and 17 at 5 p.m., and June 21 at 1 p.m.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross championship series was put in limbo in March as sports events were canceled because of stay-at-home orders in states across the country. As the country started slowly opening up, race organizers talked with five states about resuming the Supercross season, and ultimately decided on Utah.