Tomac's Title Defense Off to Flying Start with Back-to-Back Supercross Victories
/ Jan 23, 2023 /
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Eli Tomac has launched a strong 450SX title defense, taking back-to-back wins with a victory at last night's San Diego Supercross. The reigning champion maintains a perfect score aboard the all-new YZ450F in the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, part of the inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship. His teammate Dylan Ferrandis also showed strength, coming back from adversity to finish sixth at the debut supercross in the new Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California.
Tomac got the day off to a good start, qualifying fourth, and followed that up with a dominant performance in his heat race, grabbing the holeshot and the win. Although he was unable to repeat that start in the main event, he quickly made his way to third and moved into the top spot by lap five. He set a hot pace up front and built a comfortable lead, which proved to be key late in the race as the competition closed the gap while Tomac navigated his way through lapped traffic. The Coloradan kept cool under pressure to score his second-consecutive victory of the season and leave with 52 points.
Ferrandis qualified fifth behind his teammate and got off to a good start in his heat race. Unfortunately, a small mistake shuffled the Frenchman to fourth giving him a less-than-ideal gate pick for the main event. Battling in the top 10 after the start, Ferrandis kept pushing and fought his way forward to sixth, where he would ultimately finish.
Next weekend, the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team returns to the Angel Stadium of Anaheim on Saturday, January 28, for the third round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship and the SuperMotocross World Series.
