Kit Palmer | October 15, 2016
Monster Energy Cup Victory To Eli Tomac: The Monster Energy Cup produced yet another first-time winner. Since its debut six years ago, no rider has won the race twice and no rider since Ryan Villopoto at the very first race has claimed the $1 million prize for winning all three motos. Ken Roczen, however, came oh-so close of being that first double winner and the second $1 million recipient tonight, but a spectacular crash in the second race while leading prevented these things from happening. Instead, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac came away with the overall win after a dramatic final-race showdown at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, October 15. Tomac ended up nipping Ryan Dungey by just one point to take the overall win and a cool $100,000 that went with it.
Monster Energy Cup Victory To Eli Tomac
Tomac won just one moto on the night, the one that Roczen crashed in, but his 2-1-4 results were just enough to beat Dungey’s 3-2-3 combo.
Dungey, who has yet to win the Monster Energy Cup, had to be satisfied with second overall. He was followed in the overall standings by his Red Bull KTM teammate Marvin Musquin, who went 4-3-2 on the night.
Tomac rode a brilliant third and final moto, where he basically had to finish right behind Dungey to take the overall win, but a terrible first lap that saw him buried in the pack made it look like that wasn’t going to happen. But Tomac put on a fantastic charge that carried him up to third place, which included passing Dungey along the way.
Dungey, however, eventually got back past Tomac with a lap to go and had to get around his teammate Musquin to get the overall victory and the $100,000, but Musquin didn’t help him out any; instead, he held him off, securing third overall for himself and the overall victory for Tomac, who had to be told right after the race that he had indeed taken the overall win and the loot.
It was a hugely disappointing night for Roczen who would’ve taken the overall victory and pocketed the million dollars had he not crashed. He was clearly the fastest rider of the night, winning the first moto handily on his new Honda HRC CRF450R ride and was cruising in front in the second moto when a slight mistake exiting a turn snowballed into a massive get-off in the following rhythm section. Luckily he was not seriously injured, just shaken up (though he did tweak his toe), but his bike was too badly bent up to continue.
Roczen shook off the big crash and smoked everyone in the third and final race. His 1-21-1 tally gave him a frustrating seventh overall. He probably wishes Anaheim I was next weekend.
Roczen’s teammate Cole Seely (6-5-6) was fourth overall, while a rejuvenated Mike Alessi, who led the early portion of the third moto, rounded out the top five on his MotoConcepts Honda with 8-6-5 results.
Blake Baggett made his debut on his new Rocky Mountain MC-ATV/WPS KTM. He got the night going with the early lead in the first moto but was pretty quiet right after that and for the rest of the night, going 5-7-9 for sixth overall.
Yamaha’s Chad Reed rode a lot better than his eighth overall placing might suggest. He took seventh in the first moto and was mixing it up with the leaders in the second moto where he nabbed fourth. He got a good start in the third moto but got caught up with another rider on the first lap and went down. He took 12th in the moto.
Benny Bloss (Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/KTM/WPS) and Vince Friese (MotoConcepts Honda) completed the top 10 overall.
There was plenty of great races, and some big crashes, in the two-moto All-Stars and Supermini races. Kawasaki’s Stilez Robertson outdueled Honda rider Carson Mumford for the win in the second moto to wrap up the Supermini overall victory with 2-1 results.
First-moto winner Seth Hammaker was battling up front in the second moto when he went down, which took him out of overall contention. He ended up ninth overall with a 1-18.
Aiden Tijero was third overall with a 4-5.
The results were all over the place in the All-Stars class, as evident by the 7-1 score that gave MotoConcepts/Honda rider Cameron Mcadoo the overall win. Challen Tennant was second overall with a 2-6 and Garrett Marchbanks was third overall with a 6-4.
First-moto winner Mitchell Falk went down at high speed before even reaching the first turn after the unique 33-degree downhill starting chute. Falk went tumbling spectacularly at speed, and his night was over all too soon. Luckily he was not seriously injured in the crash.
Enzo Temmerman took the checkered flat three seconds ahead of Jade Johnson to win the KJSC exhibition race.
Monster Energy Cup
Sam Boyd Stadium
Las Vegas, Nevada
RESULTS: October 15, 2016
OVERALL
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