Eli Tomac got a good start Saturday in the 450 Supercross in Indianapolis but faded to fourth place after closing in on leader Marvin Musquin.
Musquin went to the front at the first turn and was followed by Kawasaki teammates Joey Savatgy and Tomac. After two laps, Cooper Webb and Blake Baggett were fourth and fifth.
Savatgy went down in Lap 7, elevating Tomac into second place behind Musquin. Baggett also benefited in the lap when Webb’s KTM briefly stalled, and moved into third. Savatgy fell to sixth.
As Musquin and Tomac ran in front, the race appeared to be headed for a showdown between the rivals, who entered the race tied for second behind Webb. Tomac chased Musquin for nine laps and closed to within a second of him in Lap 15 but got bogged down in the whoops and gave way to the advancing Baggett and Webb in Lap 16.
He faded to a distant but comfortable fourth-place finish ahead of Justin Barcia.
Musquin’s post-to-post victory at Lucas Oil Stadium, his first win of the season, gave him a seven-point lead of Tomac, 229 to 222. Webb continues to lead the series with 242 points, and Roczen and Baggett are fourth and fifth with 216 and 184 points, respectively.
Earlier Saturday, Tomac was fourth in qualifying rounds, behind Savatgy, Musquin and Webb. In his heat race, Tomac also finished fourth, about 3.30 seconds behind the winner, Dean Wilson, and less than 2 seconds behind runner-up Musquin and Ken Roczen.
Webb won Heat 2 and was followed by Savatgy and Baggett.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross series will head west to Seattle next Saturday for the 12th of 17 races.