Eli Tomac won the last leg of the Anaheim Supercross triple crown on Saturday, bumping series leader Ken Roczen off the podium.
The win at Angel Stadium in California moved Tomac into second place in the series standings.
The rider from Cortez entered Saturday’s third 450 Class moto in fourth place, trailing Roczen by one point after fourth-place finishes in the first two motos. Cooper Webb, who won the first two motos, had the overall lead. Marvin Musquin was in second, and Roczen was in third.
But at the start of Moto 3, Tomac bolted past the red-hot Webb to grab the lead at the first turn. He wouldn’t look back.
Tomac stretched out a three-second lead over Webb after two laps and by the seventh of 14 laps had a nearly seven-second lead.
Musquin passed Webb for second in Lap 6, but couldn’t challenge Tomac, who raced wire-to-wire to capture the checkered flag almost five seconds ahead. Roczen and Chad Reed rounded out the Top 5.
With the win in the third moto, Tomac finished third overall at Anaheim with two fourth-place finishes and a win (nine points). Webb came away with the overall victory with two wins and a third (five points), and Musquin was second with a third- and two second-place finishes (seven points.) Roczen, who entered Moto 3 in third, finished fourth overall with second-, fifth- and fourth-place finishes (11 points). Dean Wilson ended up in fifth after placing ninth, eighth and seventh.
Tomac’s overall performance at Anaheim moved him into second place in the series standings, just two points behind Roczen after three races. Cooper’s win propelled him into a surprising third place in the standings, ahead of Barcia and Musquin.
Anaheim Motos 1 and 2In Saturday’s first moto, Tomac lined up at the gate in the No. 2 position between top-qualifying Musquin and Roczen. He was fourth to the turn, behind Roczen, Webb and Musquin, and moved into third in the first lap. As Roczen and Webb opened a gap late in the race, Musquin challenged Tomac in Laps 9 and 10, and got past him in Lap 11.
Webb challenged Roczen for the lead in the final two laps and after a back-and-forth duel for the lead, captured the victory in the final lap. Tomac was fourth, and Cole Seely was fifth.
In the second moto, Tomac started in the fourth gate position, between Musquin and Seely. Webb and Roczen started in Nos. 1 and 2.
Webb grabbed the lead and was followed by Seely, Musquin, Anderson, Justin Barcia and Roczen. Tomac was 12th.
As Webb pulled away in front of the pack, Tomac moved into eighth place in Lap 2, seventh in Lap 4 and sixth in Lap 8. He ran his fastest lap of the race to catch Seely in Lap 9 and then pass him in Lap 11.
Tomac got past a fading Anderson for fourth in Lap 12 but couldn’t catch Barcia.
At the end of 14 laps, it was Webb with the big win, followed by Musquin, Barcia and Tomac. Roczen, who crashed in Lap 8 and fell from third to eighth place, staged a tenacious comeback to finish fifth.
During qualifying rounds on Saturday afternoon, Tomac finished No. 2, with a fast lap of 57.003 seconds. Musquin was on top at 57.660, and Roczen, Brayton and Anderson rounded out the Top 5.
The race at Anaheim, the second of the season, featured the first of three triple crown races of the AMA Supercross series. This year, each of the three main events, or motos, will be 12 minutes plus one lap for the 450cc Class and 10 minutes plus a lap for the 250cc Class. The overall winner is the rider with the lowest sum of the three motos wins. For example, on Saturday, Webb won with first-place finishes in Motos 1 and 2, and a third in Moto 3, for the lowest sum of five points.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross series next heads to Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Jan. 26 for the fourth of 17 scheduled races.
