Eli Tomac of Cortez won the AMA Supercross championship Sunday in Salt Lake City. It was the first supercross title of his career.Zach Osborne won the final race of the series. Jason Anderson, who gave up the lead after losing his motorcycle seat with a few minutes to go, was second, followed by Dean Wilson and Malcolm Stewart.
Tomac, who entered the race with a 22-point lead over Cooper Webb, was fifth. Webb finished eighth, and Roczen was seventh, and they would finish second and third in the final series standings.
Tomac’s run for the AMA Supercross title goes back to 2014, when he finished 13th in his debut season in the 450cc supercross. He’s been a contender since his initiation into the premier 450cc class, placing second in 2015, 2017 and 2019, third in 2018 and fourth in 2016.
“I just always think back to this whole lifetime of riding,” he told NBC. “Going through everything. The failures with the team. Coming here with the whole COVID going on right now. So pretty unbelievable.
“There was a time we didn’t even know if we were going to be able to ride or not,” he added. “So it’s finally here and unbelievable.”
At 27 years old, Tomac is the oldest rider to win in the 450 class of the AMA Supercross series, and perhaps the newest father. His daughter was born April 26.
Tomac was fast all day Sunday at Rice-Eccles Stadium – the top qualifier and the winner of his heat race – but he wouldn’t need his best ride to take home the series trophy.
He was in 10th place after the first lap, but his closest rivals, Roczen and Webb, were eighth and 14th, respectively. By the middle of the 25-lap race, Tomac had climbed into sixth. Roczen rebounded from an early crash to ninth place, and Webb, the defending champion, was in 10th. Tomac moved into fifth place in the 14th lap, and Roczen and Webb locked up their seventh- and eighth-place finishes in the 18th lap.
Osborne got his first win of the season Sunday, beating Anderson to the finish line by 3 seconds.
Sunday’s championship race was the seventh consecutive race held this year at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The Monster Energy AMA Supercross championship series was put in limbo in March as sports events were canceled because of stay-at-home orders in states across the country. As the country opened up, race organizers talked with five states about resuming the Supercross season and decided on Utah.
Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship is tentatively scheduled to start July 18 in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and end Oct. 10 in pal, California. Only the first two races have been listed online.
Tomac has dominated the AMA Pro Motocross series, winning three consecutive titles – 2017 through 2019 – and placing second in 2016.