Eli Tomac was impressive en route to his first career 450-class Supercross win. Photography by Shan Moore
Hold on! The 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series is far from over. After last week’s impressive A1 performance by Ken Roczen, many were already predicting a Roczen runaway, but Eli Tomac quickly put an end to that notion.
Tomac, who had a bad start to the 2015 season after crashing twice in the main event and taking the checkered flag in 20th place in the series opener a week ago, performed more like what was expected to do at round two in Phoenix, Arizona, tonight. The GEICO Honda rider was the fastest rider in qualifying and he quickly put himself in winning contention when the gate dropped for the 20-lap main event. The only problem was that one rider stood ahead of him at the completion of lap one, and that rider was Roczen.
Tomac wasted no time showing what he was unable to do last week. He latched on to Roczen’s rear fender and matched his every move. By the fifth lap, Tomac started showing signs of wanting to take over the lead and began putting serious pressure on the A1 winner.
Roczen, however, was not about to give up the lead easily and put up a strong fight, but Tomac caught the scent of the win and never let go of it. He finally got around Roczen during the eighth lap and never looked back.
Tomac took command of the race from there on out, and it was clear that no one, not even Roczen, was going to stop Tomac on this night. Tomac steadily pulled away from Roczen and ended up crossing the finish line a little over six seconds ahead of the RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy Johns/Suzuki Factory Racing Team rider. The win was Tomac’s first ever in the premier class in Supercross.
“That was an amazing race to say the least,” Tomac said. “We had a lot of fun out there. It was super clean and we had a lot of respect for each other. That was one of the [most fun] races of my life and to come away with a win is a cherry on top. To beat a guy like Ken [Roczen]; we respect each other and race each other hard. It’s just great. We definitely put our biggest effort into this [after last weekend’s misfortunes], and this is what he came out here to do.”
It was indeed a great night for Tomac and the GEICO Honda Team. Unfortunately, last week’s 20th place at A1 stings just that much more for the GEICO Honda crew. Despite the impressive win at Phoenix, Tomac is 21 points behind leader Roczen in seventh place, but there is still 15 rounds to go.
Roczen said he was still happy to get on the podium but the look of concern was definitely on his face afterward. “It was great racing tonight, but I didn’t feel too good going into the main,” Roczen said. “He [Tomac] beat me straight up, but I’ll take a podium any time. Overall I’m happy.”
Despite the loss to Tomac, Roczen increased his lead over Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey.
“I got off to a fast start but overall I didn’t feel the greatest tonight,” Roczen said. “I put it down the first 10 laps [or so], but then Eli got me. He rode better than me tonight, but I’m very happy to finish on the podium. We’ll do some work this week and come out next weekend looking to get a good start, ride smart and come away with another good result.”
Dungey joined Tomac and Roczen on the final step of the podium, but he had to fight Weston Peick for it. Dungey found himself in fourth for much of the race while staring at the number-32 on the back of Peick’s jersey. It wasn’t until three laps from the end that Dungey was able to find a way around the Autotrader/Toyota/JGRMX Yamaha Team rider.
For Peick, it was the ride of his life. He got off to a fourth-place start and actually passed Dungey on the second lap for third, where he hung out for most of the race. It was the best Supercross finish of the veteran racer’s career.
Davi Millsaps, on the Monster Energy Kawasaki, rounded out the top five overall. Sixth went to Rockstar Energy Racing Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson (last week’s second-place finisher), followed by BTO/KTM’s Andrew Short, Honda’s Trey Canard (who was dead last after the first lap), Team Tedder/Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer and Discount Tire/TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed (his second 10th-place finish in a row).
It was a tough night for some of the stars of the class, with JGRMX/Yamaha’s Justin Barcia finishing 11th, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett 13th, Honda’s Cole Seely 14th, Red Bull KTM’s Dean Wilson 17th, and Discount Tire/TwoTwo Motorsports’s Josh Grant 19th.
RESULTS
450 Class
1. Eli Tomac (Hon)
2. Ken Roczen (Suz)
3. Ryan Dungey (KTM)
4. Weston Peick (Yam)
5. Davi Millsaps (Kaw)
6. Jason Anderson (Hus)
7. Andrew Short (KTM)
8. Trey Canard (Hon)
9. Jake Weimer (Kaw)
10. Chad Reed (Kaw)
11. Justin Barcia (Yam)
12. Broc Tickle (Suz)
13. Blake Baggett (Suz)
14. Cole Seely (Hon)
15. Justin Brayton (KTM)
16. Brett Metcalfe (Suz)
17. Dean Wilson (KTM)
18. Mike Alessi (Suz)
19. Josh Grant (Kaw)
20. Jimmy Albertson (Yam)
21. Kyle Partridge (Hon)
22. AJ Catanzaro (Suz)
450 SX POINTS STANDINGS
1. Ken Roczen (47)
2. Ryan Dungey (-9)
3. Jason Anderson (-10)
4. Trey Canard (-14)
5. Weston Peick (-15)
6. Andrew Short (-17)
7. Eli Tomac (-21)
8. Justin Barcia (-22)
9. Jake Weimer (-25)
10. Chad Reed (-25)
