Eli Tomac made a late run Saturday to finish fourth in the 450 Supercross at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.
The finish, coming after a seventh place in the opening race last week in Anaheim, left him in fifth place in the season standings.
This week, Tomac again started slow, and was unable to make up much ground.
Ken Roczen, Zach Osborne and Justin Barcia went to the lead early, and after one lap, Tomac was in 12th place in the field of 22. He began to pick his way through the crowd and moved into seventh place behind teammate Adam Cianciarulo in the sixth lap, but was more than 10 seconds off Roczen’s blistering pace in the front of the pack.
Cianciarulo passed Justin Brayton in the ninth lap, and Tomac followed two laps later. The leaders, racing about 16 seconds ahead, left Cianciarulo and Tomac with little chance hope for a podium finish, but the Kawasaki teammates continued to charge ahead. Cianciarulo tucked into a distant fourth, and Tomac, after a back-and-forth duel with Osborne, settled in sixth.
However, in the last lap, a misstep dropped Cianciarulo all the way to seventh, and Tomac went by the fading Osborne and his teammate to finish fourth, 12.713 seconds behind Barcia.
Roczen, Barcia and Anderson took their places on the podium.
Earlier Saturday, Tomac placed second in his heat, after a seventh-place start. Roczen overtook Vince Friese for the lead in Lap 2 and led the rest of the way. Tomac moved into second by the end of Lap 5 and finished 5.486 seconds behind him. Malcolm Stewart, Cooper Webb and Blake Baggett filled out the top five.
Cianciarulo won the second heat, racing from third place in Lap 1 to second in Lap 3, and into the lead in Lap 5. At the end of the final, eighth lap, he led Osborne by 3.177 seconds. Barcia was third and was followed by Martin Davalos and Anderson.
Despite the disappointing outcome in the main event, Cianciarulo and Tomac finished one-two after two qualifying rounds Saturday. Cianciarulo posted the fastest laps, at 50.275 and 51.405 seconds, and Tomac posted a 51.016 and 51.709. Jason Anderson was third, and Ken Roczen and Justin Barcia rounded out the top five.
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross now returns to Anaheim, California, for the third of 16 races in the season.