KTM’s Marvin Musquin led all 20 laps of the main event, followed by Kawasaki’s Tomac, Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson, KTM’s Dungey and KTM’s David Millsaps.
Tomac and Dungey will race April 22 in Salt Lake City, tied with 294 points at the top of the AMA Supercross standings with three rounds remaining.
Dungey crashed in the first turn when he became tied up with Justin Bogle and Justin Barcia. He restarted in last place in the race, which had been shortened because of the treacherous track conditions.
Tomac, who started in 10th place, made his first pass in the third lap, scrambled into fourth place in Lap 5. Tomac then pressured Cooper Webb, and in Lap 10, he and Webb both passed Anderson. In third place in Lap 11, Tomac landed badly after a jump, falling over his handlebars and dropping into a distant fourth place, ahead of Millsaps. Dungey, in the meantime, had climbed into seventh place.
Now trailing Webb and Anderson, Tomac regrouped and began his charge. On lap 17, Anderson passed Webb while exiting a corner and forcing Webb out of his race line. Webb then crashed in the rhythm section, putting Tomac in third behind Anderson.
Tomac quickly passed Anderson for second place, almost 5 seconds behind Musquin and 9 seconds ahead of Anderson. Dungey passed Millsaps in the final lap for fourth place, and earned two precious points against the dramatic championship run with Tomac.
Tomac’s second-place finish ended his five-race winning streak, but salvaged a race that he described as chaotic.
Tomac has come from 29 points behind Dungey since the sixth race of the series, has won six of eight races, and piled up 194 out a possible 200 points. During Tomac’s run, Dungey has won one race and earned 165 points.
In mid-March, after winning the Indianapolis Supercross, Tomac’s comeback seemed unlikely, even to him.
“We’re still 12 points out,” he told The Indianapolis Star on March 18. “Even if I won every race right now, it still takes four races to get there, and we only have six left. So that’s a big ask. So we’ll just do what we can and take it week by week.”
Next week, the racers get an Easter break. Round 15 of the 17-round series resumes in Salt Lake City on April 22, followed by the two final races in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on April 29 and Las Vegas on May 6.