2020 Salt Lake City 3 Supercross Recap
Facing a near 40 degree swing in temperature from Round 12 just four days earlier, Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb battled in some mud for Round 13 in the 450 class of the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross season on Sunday, lapped all other riders at least once, and dueled to the end as Tomac came out on top and extended his points lead in the Championship race.
Tomac and Webb traded leads earlier in the race before Webb seemed to take control and looked promising for his second straight win. But with about three minutes remaining, Tomac sneaked past and edged out the win despite his engine starting to overheat as a slight wisp of white steam trailed behind. The win, Tomac's seventh on the year and third in the last four rounds, puts him 26 points in front of Ken Roczen who finished 10th and was lapped twice by Tomac and Webb, who more or less put on a mud riding clinic.
The win gives a comfortable cushion for Tomac, seeking his first 450 class Supercross title, with four rounds remaining. Webb, the defending Champion, moves to within six points of Roczen. Jason Anderson rounded out the podium crossing the finish line 44 seconds behind Tomac.
The 250 East class endured a Red Flag start after Garrett Marchbanks went down so riders had to start all over again after just a few laps. Shane McElrath, winner of the last two rounds, led early both times but in the race that counted eventually gave up the lead to defending Champion Chase Sexton who took back sole possession of the Red Plate and now leads McElrath by three points for the Championship. Colt Nichols finished in third.
The 250 East gets a week off as the 250 West class gets the remainder of their season underway at 4 p.m. (PST) on Wednesday for Round 14 (Salt Lake City 4) at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Defending Champion Dylan Ferrandis has won two straight and three of the last four West rounds to take a seven point lead over Justin Cooper and 13 points over Austin Forkner. Cooper won the opening round in Anaheim and has only been off the box once since then, while Forkner has two wins along with three straight podiums to keep in title contention.
Supercross Round 14 airs on NBC Sports Network and streams on NBCSports.com and the Gold app.
Until then, check out all the action from Round 13 in Salt Lake City. Photos by Ryne Swanberg.