News 16 Feb 2020

Tomac takes charge with pivotal Tampa Supercross victory

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac has taken over the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross points-lead following a pivotal victory in round seven at Tampa.

Tomac eased to a 7.290s advantage for his third win of the season, topping reigning champion Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM) and Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC).

At the beginning it was Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki) who led the way before Tomac made his move right before halfway. A few laps later, a costly crash saw Cianciarulo bumped from podium contention altogether.

That enabled Webb to climb into second position and Roczen eventually made his way to the podium despite a small crash of his own around the same time that Cianciarulo went down.

Fourth was a deserved result for Justin Barcia (Monster Energy Yamaha) after completing lap one in P14, while fifth came Justin Hill (Smartop Bullfrog Spas MotoConcepts Honda) in his best result of the year.

Behind Hill came Dean Wilson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), Malcolm Stewart (Smartop Bullfrog Spas MotoConcepts Honda) – who was inside the top three for much of the duration – and Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), who was unable to make a pass stick on Stewart.

Cianciarulo finally crossed the line in ninth place, while Justin Brayton (Team Honda HRC) was 10th. Behind Zach Osborne (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), Broc Tickle (JGRMX Yoshimura Suzuki) made his return to racing at the St. Jude round with a 12th-place effort. Chad Reed (Mountain Motorsports cbdMD CR22 Honda) took 19th.

Monster Energy Supercross now travels to Arlington in Texas for round eight of the 2020 season on Saturday, 22 February, with Tomac atop the standings, four points ahead of Roczen and with Webb a further seven behind in third.

The opening round of 250SX East has been won by Shane McElrath in a commanding first appearance with Monster Energy Star Yamaha.

McElrath has switched teams and moved his attention to the eastern region, leading from start to finish aboard the factory-backed YZ250F.

Trailing McElrath by 2.962s at race’s end was defending champion Chase Sexton, who worked his way by Geico Honda teammate Jeremy Martin early and that’s the way they would stay.

Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki pair Garrett Marchbanks and Jordon Smith were in formation for fourth and fifth, taking advantage of a late error from RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) for position.

Completing the top 10 tonight was Arenacross series leader Kyle Peters (Phoenix Racing Honda), Joey Crown (Yamaha), the injured Jimmy Decotis (JGRMX Yoshimura Suzuki) and newcomer Jo Shimoda (Geico Honda).

Next for the 250SX East championship will be Arlington, Texas, next Saturday night on 22 February, where McElrath will wear the red plate with a three-point advantage over Sexton.

Detailed results