Eli Tomac of Cortez capped a lackluster trip to Houston with a second-place finish Saturday in the final leg of the 450 Supercross triple crown.
He retained his third-place spot in the overall standings, but fell farther back from series runner-up Marvin Musquin.
Cooper Webb widened his lead in the standings by winning the overall main event at Houston’s NRG Stadium with a second, first and third after three races.
Musquin was second overall (fifth, third and first), Dean Wilson was third (third, second and fifth), and Tomac was fourth (sixth, seventh and second).
After 13 races in the 17-race series, Webb is atop the leaderboard with 288 points. Musquin is second with 271, and Tomac is third with 262.
Moto 1: RoczenIn the first leg of the triple crown, Ken Roczen, Wilson, Musquin and Webb broke to the front of the pack. After one lap, Tomac was fifth.
Tomac moved up to fourth in the fifth lap after KTM teammates Webb and Musquin bumped, and Musquin dropped to sixth. Musquin, however, rebounded and passed Cole Seely in the 10th lap, and then Tomac in the 12th.
In the 13th lap, Seely got past Tomac, and Musquin, racing hard to regain a podium position, went off the track and dropped back to sixth.
Again, Musquin rebounded and in the last of 16 laps, passed Tomac for fifth, leaving Tomac 15.762 seconds off the lead and in sixth place.
Roczen took the checkered flag, and Webb, Wilson, Seely and Musquin rounded out the Top 5.
Moto 2: WebbIn the second leg, Webb, Wilson, Justin Bogle and Seely went to the front. Roczen went down at the start and would not return to race. Musquin was sixth, and Tomac was 10th.
Tomac made up some ground in the first quarter of the race, passing Kawasaki teammate Joey Savatgy and Zach Osborne for seventh place in the fourth lap and Justin Barcia for sixth place in the fifth lap. He gave way to Osbourne in the 12th lap and, unable to advance, finished seventh.
Webb led all 16 laps for the victory. Wilson, Musquin, Seely and Bogle rounded out the Top 5. Tomac finished 11.608 seconds back.
Moto 3: MusquinIn the final leg, Musquin went to the lead and was followed by Osbourne, Webb and Tomac. As Musquin took a 6-second lead in the open track, the battle for the podium bunched up behind him. Webb and Tomac got past Osbourne in the sixth lap, and in the eighth, as Webb slipped in the whoops, Tomac raced streaked into second.
He quickly began to close the gap, and with less than 4 minutes to go closed to within 3.5 seconds behind Musquin. By the 12th of 16 laps, it was all Musquin and Tomac as the rest of the field fell back. With 2 minutes to go, Tomac was safely in second place, more than 5 seconds ahead of series-leading Webb. Tomac finished 6 seconds behind Musquin, and Webb, Osbourne and Wilson rounded out the Top 5.
In qualifying rounds Saturday afternoon, Roczen was the fastest qualifier, with a time of 47.386 seconds. Tomac was third, at 47.580 seconds, behind Wilson, at 47.438 seconds.
Next weekThe AMA Monster Energy Supercross next goes to Nashville, Tennessee, for the 14th race in the 17-race series on April 6.
