Eli Tomac picked up his fourth consecutive win and his seventh win in the last nine races by taking the checkered flag Saturday night at Ford Field in Detroit.
Once again, the key moment took place in the first turn as Tomac crossed the holeshot line in second place behind Marvin Musquin. Meanwhile, Tomac’s championship rival Ryan Dungey got off to another poor start and was back in seventh place at the completion of the first lap.
Dungey had been caught up as part of a Turn 1 incident that ended the day for Chad Reed. This occurred despite the fact that Dungey had won his heat race, while Tomac had had to go through to the Semi.
Meanwhile up front, Tomac capitalized on an early mistake by Musquin in the sand section to take the lead. He never looked back.
Dungey slowly clawed his way back up through the field, and he was running in fourth at the halfway point behind Tomac, Musquin and Davi Millsaps. Dungey then found himself stuck behind Millsaps for most of the remainder of the event. When he finally found a way by in the closing stages, his Red Bull KTM teammate Musquin was far ahead in second.
Off of the podium, Blake Baggett moved his way up to fourth in the closing moments pushing Millsaps back to fifth.
Chad Reed was an early retirement from the race after being caught up in the crash at the start. His teammate Cooper Webb finished in 13th in his first race back since his crash at Minneapolis.
With his win, Tomac reduced his points deficit to Dungey from 12 to 7 points.
“I’m putting myself in a good position in the main event,” said Tomac. “I didn’t do that in the heat race, but got my act together for the main and was able to capitalize. I felt very fortunate for having that ninth gate pick. I just felt good and comfortable. This is what we wanted tonight on this sketchy surface and I was able to attack it. It was another really good night of racing.”
Meanwhile, the 250SX East region Main was a highlight reel from the drop of the gate. Several riders piled together in the first turn, including points leader Zach Osborne. Osborne was forced to go to the mechanics’ area for repairs.
Adam Cianciarulo had taken the Holeshot but soon lost the lead to his teammate Joey Savatgy after a hard-fought battle between the two. Both riders then went down in separate incidents but remounted, moving Dylan Ferrandis up to the top spot. Jordon Smith, looking for his first win, attempted a pass on Ferrandis but there was contact and Smith dropped back. Not long later, however, Smith challenged again and got by, as did Savatgy for second. Ferrandis would then lose the final podium spot to Cianciarulo.
Savatgy made an aggressive pass on Smith to take the lead as they came to start the final lap, but then Smith returned the favor and got the lead back for his first win. Savatgy had to settle for second, but he does regain the points lead.
The Monster Energy Supercross riders will be back in action next week in St. Louis.
450SX Results:
1. Eli Tomac
2. Marvin Musquin
3. Ryan Dungey
4. Blake Baggett
5. Davi Millsaps
6. Jason Anderson
7. Broc Tickle
8. Joshua Grant
9. Dean Wilson
10. Cole Seely
250SX Results:
1. Jordon Smith
2. Joey Savatgy
3. Adam Cianciarulo
4. Dylan Ferrandis
5. Kyle Cunningham
6. Mitchell Harrison
7. Christian Craig
8. Gannon Audette
9. Anthony Rodriguez
10. Luke Renzland
Report by Samuel Reiman of FOXSports.com