Former AMA Supercross king Eli Tomac is proving his decision make the switch to Monster Star Yamaha in 2022 is correct with his second straight win at Glendale.
The unique three-race format combines results to award single-event championship points. Tomac’s victory made him the season’s first repeat winner in an intensely close title battle. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Malcolm Stewart took home second place.
It marked his first podium of 2022 and also his career-first Triple Crown podium finish. Team Honda HRC’s Chase Sexton earned third overall in his first 450SX Class Triple Crown event thanks to a win in the final race.
When the 450SX Class dropped the gate on the ninth-ever Triple Crown format race, Tomac shot out of the gate and holeshot the field in Race 1. From there he built over a three second lead that held to the checkers. Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen held second early but had Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson and Malcolm Stewart on his tail.
Two minutes into the 12-minute plus one lap race, Stewart pushed past Anderson for third. Further back, round three winner Chase Sexton was in the mix but two tip overs relegated him to an eleventh place finish. With less than three minutes on the race clock Anderson, then back in third, pushed cleanly past Roczen.
Stewart moved around the Honda rider soon after to wrap the top five in Race 1 as Tomac, Anderson, Stewart, Roczen, and Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin.
Tomac repeated his holeshot in race two. The Yamaha rider led with Anderson, Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb, Musquin, and Sexton on his rear fender. In the early laps Stewart took over third place while defending champion Webb dropped back steadily, eventually finishing in eighth.
Tomac rode perfectly and quickly distanced himself from any pressure for the lead spot. Just before the race’s midpoint Jason Anderson got slightly off-line on a launch and jumped off the track in a long rhythm section. He twisted his bike’s levers and got it hung up on a Tuffblox.
It dropped Anderson outside of the top ten. Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis was the rider on the move late in the race, reaching fifth by the end, displacing Roczen to sixth. Anderson climbed back to twelfth by the finish.
In the final race of the night, Sexton rocketed out to the holeshot and quickly built a lead just out of reach of the battles behind him. Stewart sat second with Tomac in third, in position to take his fifth Triple Crown overall win if things held where they were.
Anderson was the rider on the move early, pushing past other racers until he forced a three-rider battle for second place. With just over five minutes left on the clock Tomac pushed into second, but Anderson charged past both Stewart and Tomac to take over the spot and set his sights on Sexton, who was 4.2 seconds ahead on the track.
Anderson wasn’t able to track down the Honda rider, costing him a podium finish. It was Anderson’s first Triple Crown event in which he did not leave with podium-position points.
450SX Class Results
- Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Yamaha
- Malcolm Stewart, Murrieta, Calif., Husqvarna
- Chase Sexton, Clermont, Fla., Honda
- Jason Anderson, Rio Rancho, N.Mex., Kawasaki
- Ken Roczen, Clermont, Fla., Honda
- Justin Barcia, Greenville, Fla., GASGAS
- Marvin Musquin, Corona, Calif., KTM
- Cooper Webb, Newport, N.C., KTM
- Dean Wilson, Murrieta, Calif., Husqvarna
- Shane McElrath, Oakland, Fla., KTM
450SX Class Championship Standings
- Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Yamaha (111)
- Chase Sexton, Clermont, Fla., Honda (100)
- Jason Anderson, Rio Rancho, N.Mex., Kawasaki (96)
- Malcolm Stewart, Murrieta, Calif., Husqvarna (93)
- Justin Barcia, Greenville, Fla., GASGAS (89)
- Cooper Webb, Newport, N.C., KTM (88)
- Ken Roczen, Clermont, Fla., Honda (80)
- Marvin Musquin, Corona, Calif., KTM (80)
- Dylan Ferrandis, Tallahassee, Fla., Yamaha (75)
- Aaron Plessinger, Leesburg, Fla., KTM (67)
