News 29 Jan 2022

First Yamaha victory for Tomac to increase 450SX lead

Becomes fourth different rider to take victory this year at Anaheim 2.

Image: Octopi Media.

Eli Tomac has become the fourth different winner in as many rounds of 2022 Monster Energy Supercross, stepping up at Anaheim 2 to increase his lead in the 450SX point-standings.

After taking over the red plate last weekend despite having no wins, Tomac cemented himself atop the standings by earning a first victory since making his high-profile switch to Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha in the pre-season.

Early leader Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC) went down by virtue of unintentional contact made by Jason Anderson (Monster Energy Kawasaki) in the sand with around 15 minutes remaining, dropping him well down the order, which enabled the latter to take over at the front until he made a mistake soon afterwards.

While Anderson was able to keep it on track, his error was enough to let Tomac sweep by and he wasn’t headed from there – winning by 4.619s in a dominant performance to become the fourth different winner in four races.

Behind him, Anderson recovered for the runner-up, with Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC) claiming another podium result in third position. Tomac’s teammate Dylan Ferrandis was strong yet again in fourth, while Malcolm Stewart (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) took fifth after he managed to start up front this time around.

The top 10 also featured Marvin Musquin (Red Bull KTM), Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas), defending champion Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM) despite losing the front-end midway through, Dean Wilson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) and Shane McElrath (Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM WPS) in one of his better rides of the year to date.

Roczen, meanwhile, finished down the order in 13th place with another dent in his title prospects. Also enduring a tough main event, Plessinger crashed out on the second lap, with Brayton also later going out after he went down while in 11th position.

The 2022 Monster Energy Supercross series now sees Tomac build a six-point buffer at the front, followed by Sexton, with Anderson ranked third ahead of Glendale’s first of the Triple Crown rounds next Saturday night.

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