Eli Tomac of Cortez crashed Saturday while racing for the lead at the Monster Energy AMA Supercross in Indianapolis, putting the brakes on a dramatic comeback that carried him from last place to fourth place in the standings.
As the race began at Luca Oil Stadium, Marvin Musquin of KTM was the first to the turn, and Tomac quickly moved into a close second before the end of the first lap.
The series-leading Jason Anderson, Blake Baggett, Tyler Bowers and Cooper Webb all went down, making the 450SX a two-man race between Musquin and Tomac. Dean Wilson and Justin Brayton were a distant third and fourth.
But while chasing Musquin in the 13th lap, Tomac came up short while attempting a quad jump, and crashed hard. He got to his feet and returned to racing in 19th place. By the final, 27th lap, Tomac moved up a few spots to 15th.
With Tomac out of contention, Musquin went on to win wire to wire, almost 30 seconds ahead of Dean Wilson. Brayton finished third, with Anderson about 4 seconds behind him.
For Tomac, it was another downturn in his season, but he remains in contention for a podium finish overall. With five races to go, he is tied for fourth place with Baggett, who finished 10th in Indianapolis.
Tomac entered Saturday’s race on the back of momentum-changing performances in St. Louis and Daytona. On March 17 at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Tomac won wire-to-wire. On March 10 at Daytona International Speedway, he raced from 22nd to second place after crashing in the first lap.
On race day in Indianapolis, Tomac won his heat race wire to wire. He finished 4.490 seconds ahead of Christian Craig (Honda), 9.156 seconds ahead of Broc Tickle (KTM), and 12.469 seconds ahead of Chad Reed (Husqvarna). Tomac’s fastest lap in the heat was 45.418 seconds.
Brayton (Honda) won the second heat, beating Anderson (Husqvarna) by 3.573 seconds, Baggett (KTM) by 5.993 seconds, and Musquin (KTM) by 6.833 seconds.
Tomac again was fast in qualifying rounds, with a fast lap of 43.946 seconds. Musquin was fastest, at 43.319 seconds. Anderson was third, at 43.972 seconds.
The riders take next week off, then go to Century Link Field in Seattle for the 13th of 17 races in the Supercross series.