The winning form of premier class rookie Adam Cianciarulo came as little surprise to new Monster Energy Kawasaki teammate Eli Tomac in the weekend’s Monster Energy Cup thriller.

Cianciarulo delivered an upset result by winning the overall during his 450 class debut in Las Vegas, overcoming defending cup champion Tomac following a race three showdown.

It was a spectacular way to decide the victory on Saturday night in the high-profile off-season affair, with Tomac opting to enter the ‘Joker Lane’ a lap prior to Cianciarulo, however, the rookie was able to remain composed for victory.

“We’ve only spent a handful of days with each other, but at the time in California I knew that we could easily end up in that situation because Adam’s been riding really fast there,” Tomac recalled post-race.

“I mean, we had a pace going there… that was gnarly and we both had our spots on the track, for sure. I tried to do something different because we were both going so fast, it was just like I couldn’t really make anything stick. Adam held that last lap together really well and I couldn’t get it done.”

The arrival of Cianciarulo to 450SX makes for one of the strongest factory team combinations in recent history at Monster Energy Kawasaki, with both expected to challenge for race wins and potentially the AMA Supercross title in 2020.