Eli Tomac of Cortez finished third Saturday in the 450 Supercross in Seattle but gained two points on series runner-up Marvin Musquin, who was given the win but penalized seven points for a flag violation.
The red cross flag came out in the first lap as emergency staff tended to Chad Reed and Justin Brayton, who crashed. Reed reportedly suffered an arm and rib injury, and Brayton injured a knee.
Under AMA Supercross rules, riders must keep their wheels on the track when going through a medical flag. For performing jumps during flag, Musquin was docked points and a purse equal to two positions, plus two points, for seven points total.
Tomac started the race at CenturyLink Field with the leaders and after one lap was in fifth behind Musquin, Zach Osborne, Ken Roczen and Cole Seely. Osborne faded to seventh in the third lap, and Tomac raced the fastest lap of the race – 45.960 seconds – to pass Seeley for third place in the eighth.
And that’s where he remained for the final 19 laps, finishing 5.046 seconds behind Roczen and 7.407 seconds behind Musquin.
Musquin was penalized seven points, and given 19 points for the win. Roczen picked up 23 points for second; and Tomac, 21 points for third.
Tomac, who entered the main event in third place and trailing Musquin by seven points – 229 to 222– narrowed the gap in Seattle to five points, at 248 to 243.
Series-leading Webb, who finished fourth, still holds the series lead, with 262 points. Roczen is fourth with 239 points, and Baggett is fifth with 200 points.
During two qualifying rounds on Saturday afternoon, Tomac was third-fastest, with a best lap of 45.536 seconds. Dean Wilson was fastest, at 45.281 seconds, just .11 second better than Musquin. Roczen and Joey Savatgy, Tomac’s teammate on Monster Energy Kawasaki, was fifth.
Roczen won the first heat, finishing 1.074 seconds ahead of Musquin. Zach Osborne was third, and Cole Seely and Blake Baggett rounded out the Top 5.
Cooper Webb won the second heat despite pressure from Tomac, who posted the fastest lap of the race but appeared to lose momentum to Webb’s Factory KTM in the straights. Dean Wilson held off Savatgy for third, and Chad Reed finished fifth.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross series travels to Houston’s NRG Stadium on Saturday for the 13th race in the 17-race season.