2020 Arlington Supercross Recap
A wild night of racing and crashing highlighted Round 8 of the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross season - also serving as the second Triple Crown event of the year - on Saturday in Arlington, TX.
Eli Tomac emerged unscathed from the night and extended his Championship points lead to seven over Ken Roczen as the two finished first and second, respectively. Tomac took a measly fifth in Race 1 but dominated Race 2 then made a statement in Race 3 by cutting through the pack and making highlight reel passes to get by Roczen, Zach Osborne and Jason Anderson for the lead and clinching the overall win.
If you're just joining us, the Triple Crown features three "Main Event" races using Olympic style scoring (1 point for first-place, 2 points for second and so on) to determine the overall winner of the round. Supercross holds three Triple Crown events for the year. Roczen won the first Triple Crown by sweeping all three races in Glendale.
Roczen kept it close in Texas by checking out in Race 1 and bouncing back from a seventh place Race 2 for second in Race 3, securing the runner-up spot to Tomac for the night. Anderson was in line for his first overall win of the season as he led much of Race 3, but a Tomac pass followed by Anderson crashing in the whoops dropped the 2018 Champion to the final spot on the podium. Anderson moves into fifth-place in the Championship points standings.
Defending Champion Cooper Webb had one of the worst and most spectacular crashes perhaps the sport has seen in quite some time in Race 2 after time expired and just two laps remaining, which ended his night. First he nose-wheelied, then somersaulted, oh heck, why bother explaining when you can just watch it:
After finishing second in the opening Triple Crown race and not lining up for Race 3, Webb took 12th overall, holds on to third-place in the standings but falls 26 points behind Tomac. Despite the severity of the crash Webb posted on his Instagram account that he suffered a "hematoma with deep bone bruising to my pelvis as well as my sacrum." No word on his availability for Round 9 in Atlanta but all reports indicate nothing broken for Webb.
Elsewhere, 450 class rookie Adam Cianciarulo broke his collarbone during practice in the same spot as Webb as both wheelied off their bikes. Broc Tickle, who returned to racing last week after a two year absence because of a failed drug test, gets more time off after breaking his hand.
In the 250 East class, defending Champion Chase Sexton made a strong case for back-to-back titles taking the overall after getting dropped by RJ Hampshire in Race 1 only to rebound and finish second, then a strong win in Race 2 and taking another second to Shane McElrath in the final Triple Crown event of the evening. The overall ties Sexton in points with McElrath who took second overall.
Hampshire was aggressive all evening taking out Sexton and Jordon Smith for passes but it worked as he finished third and sits fourth in the Championship standings just 11 behind Sexton and McElrath who both carry the Red Plate to Atlanta. Jeremy Martin took fourth overall and remains in third-place in the standings.
Supercross moves on to Atlanta for Round 9 so until then check out all the action from Texas. Photos by Ryne Swanberg.
2020 Arlington Supercross
