Eli Tomac of Cortez crashed in the second motocross Saturday at the Washougal National, then charged to the front to win the title and widen his series lead over rival Marvin Musquin.
His speed was staggering.
After trailing by about 15 seconds in the seventh of 16 laps, Tomac ran his fastest lap in the ninth, then an even faster lap in the 10th. Both times – about 2 minutes, 14.4 seconds – were 3 seconds faster than his average lap time, and as much as 4 seconds faster than the leaders’ ninth and 10th laps.
With the comeback win, Tomac doubled his series lead over Musquin with just three races to go in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship series.
Midway through the race, the victory seemed unlikely.
In Moto 2, Justin Bogle won the holeshot and was followed around the first turn by Ken Roczen, Justin Hill, Blake Baggett and Musquin. Tomac was in ninth, trailing the formidable Justin Barcia.
Roczen quickly moved to the lead, followed by Hill and Musquin. In Lap 2, Barcia and Tomac moved into sixth and seventh; and in Lap 3, into fourth and fifth. In Lap 5, and Tomac went by Hill and Barcia for third place.
In Lap 6, Tomac tipped over in a corner, giving third place to Barcia. He fell into fourth place, almost 16 seconds off the lead.
Tomac got back on his bike and again began his charge toward the front, closing the gap behind Barcia and passing him for third place. At the race’s midpoint, Tomac was in third, 15 seconds behind Roczen and 11 seconds behind Musquin.
For the rest of the race, Tomac looked like a downhill racer.
In Lap 9, Tomac ran his fastest lap of the race, to come within 7.6 seconds of Musquin. He then ran a faster Lap 10, to come within 4 seconds. After a back-and-forth duel, Tomac seized second place in Lap 12 and set his sights on Roczen.
He closed the gap to Roczen to less than a second in Lap 14 with two laps to go. As the white flag came out, Tomac took the lead and stretched toward the finish line, taking the checkered flag 2.275 seconds ahead of Roczen.
Musquin finished third, followed by Barcia and Baggett.
Tomac won the overall title in Washougal, Washington, with wins in both motos (1-1). It was Tomac’s second straight overall win and his fourth straight moto win, coming on the heels of the Spring Creek National in Minnesota.
Roczen (3-2) was second overall, placing third in Moto 1 and second in the Moto 2. Musquin (2-3) was third, followed by Barcia (5-4) and Blake Baggett (6-5).
With the combined 50 points for the two motos, Tomac doubled his series lead over Musquin, 401-386. Roczen and Barcia are tied for third place, with 330 points each.
A convincing win in Moto 1In Moto 1, Tomac was fourth at the first turn, then went to the lead in Lap 4 and led the rest of the way, beating Musquin by 12 seconds.
Roczen finished third, 18 seconds off the lead. Hill and the late-charging Barcia rounded out the Top 5.
Now with a 15-point lead in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship series, Tomac heads to New York for the 10th of 12 races – the Unadilla National on Aug. 11.