Steve Cox | February 18, 2017
2017 Minneapolis 450cc Supercross Results: Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac was about to go on a tear after winning his first two races of the year at rounds four and five of the 2017 Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Series, but a fluke front-brake malfunction cost him big time at round six in Arlington, Texas. He showed up in Minneapolis ready to go to work, and promptly set the fastest qualifying time, a full second faster than Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin in second.
In the main event, Honda’s Cole Seely took the holeshot, but fell on lap one when he found a loose spot of dirt and lost the front going into a left-hander. Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM’s Davi Millsaps took over with Tomac, defending champ and points leader Ryan Dungey, Tomac’s teammate Josh Grant, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson, and then Musquin.
2017 Minneapolis 450cc Supercross Results
It took Tomac a couple laps to find a way around Millsaps, but he did when Millsaps hesitated exiting a right-hander, and Dungey was quickly into second. Dungey tried to latch on to Tomac, but Tomac steadily pulled away. It was a little past halfway when it became clear Dungey was going to have to deal with his teammate Musquin, who won his first 450cc main event last week in Texas. Musquin caught his teammate, and went to work, eventually sneaking by for good on lap 19 of the 26-lap race – a significant move because it represented a four-point swing in favor of Musquin in the title chase, and added two more to the number Tomac could make up with the win in Minneapolis.
In the end, Tomac took the win with room to spare over Musquin. Dungey’s laptimes dropped off significantly after losing the runner-up spot to Musquin, but he hung on for third in front of Anderson, and Seely recovered for fifth. Then came Millsaps, RCH Suzuki’s Broc Tickle, Red Bull KTM’s Trey Canard, and the rest of the field.
Malcolm Stewart ended up 11th, while Dean Wilson recovered from an early fall for 12th. Chad Reed had a first-turn fall, then a big crash exiting the whoops, and ended up 16th, one spot in front of Justin Barcia, who returned to action in Minneapolis.
2017 Minneapolis 450cc Supercross Results
2017 Minneapolis 450cc Supercross Results
Dungey still leads the points as the series heads to Atlanta for round 8 of the 17-race series, with Musquin now 16 points back. Tomac took a sizeable 5-point chunk out of his deficit behind Dungey and now sits 24 points back with 9 races left to run.
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