Image: Octopi Media.

Eli Tomac grabbed the first win of the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross residency in Atlanta after a last-lap pass on Chase Sexton to take his 37th premier class win.

A rain-soaked afternoon in Atlanta left riders with just one timed session for the day, as mother nature let loose near the end of the opening qualifying session, forcing a cancelation of the final rounds of qualifying.

As the rain cleared and the sun came out, racing got underway with Aaron Plessinger (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) launching out to the lead in the 450SX main event. It looked to be all Plessinger as he gapped the field early by over five seconds.

On lap six it all changed for the Yamaha rider when he lost the front end in a corner, dropping him to the ground and back to seventh place. This gifted the lead to Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC) who looked poised to grab the first 450SX win of his career, leading the next four laps.

Eli Tomac who had recovered from a rough start began to close though, lapping over a second faster than Sexton as the race dwindled down to three laps to go, the defending champion chasing Sexton as the two worked through lap traffic.

With a lap and one corner to go, Sexton caught the back of a lapper, subsequently handing the lead to Tomac who jumped out to a three-second lead and never looked back, taking his 37th career main event win.

Third place went to points leader Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM), who didn’t quite have the pace to run with the lead group, but will walk away from the round with a 22-point advantage over rival Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC).

After taking his third heat race win of the season earlier in the night, fourth place went to a hard-charging Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna). Rookie Dylan Ferrandis took fifth place after a battle with his teammate Plessinger in the closing laps.

Plessinger’s run ended in sixth place after his heart-breaking crash, the Yamaha rider was followed by Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin who put in a solid ride for seventh. Eighth went to Joey Savatgy (Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM) who continues to show solid form through the later half of the season.

Championship contender Roczen had a day to forget, a mishap on the start saw him cross the line in 19th after turn one. He managed to get inside the top 10 by halfway, but was never able to mount a charge to pass the riders ahead of him, ending the day in ninth.

10th went to TLD Red Bull GasGas rider Justin Barcia after a horrific crash while leading the heat race resulted in stitches before the main event. Malcolm Stewart ran inside the top 10 for much of the race but ultimately crossed the line in 11th.

Max Anstie had an impressive night, running up from in both the heat race and the early stages of the main event, but unfortunately ending his night in the Alpinestars Medical Unit after a crash early on in the main.

The stage is now set for two more rounds of racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with racing continuing Tuesday night for round 14 of the series.

Detailed results