News 22 Jun 2020

First-career 450SX championship clinched by Tomac at SLC7

Victory to Sexton for 250SX East title as Ferrandis clinches West.

Image: Octopi Media.

Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Eli Tomac clinched a first-career Monster Energy Supercross championship in Salt Lake City as Zach Osborne won his first 450SX main event.

Tomac was calculated on his way to fifth position in the main event, sealing the title in convincing fashion on a day of firsts.

It was a Rockstar Energy Husqvarna podium-sweep led by Osborne, 3.063s ahead of longtime leader Jason Anderson, whose seat came off in the closing laps right when he had stretched an advantage over the eventual winner. Teammate Dean Wilson completed the top three.

Malcolm Stewart (Smartop Bullfrog Spas Honda) completed his impressive season in fourth, directly ahead of Tomac, with Broc Tickle (JGRMX Yoshimura Suzuki) scoring his best result since returning to competition in P6.

The top 10 was completed by Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC), who went down while challenging for the lead on lap one, Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM), Justin Hill (Smartop Bullfrog Spas Honda) and Australian legend Chad Reed (Mountain Motorsports CR22 Racing KTM) as he earned a season-best finish to end his full-time career.

Last year’s champion Webb had his hopes fade in the first turn when he went down, never properly recovering from there as he was forced to settle for eighth in dry, slick conditions.

The final 2020 Monster Energy Supercross standings saw Tomac crowned, 25 points ahead of outgoing champion Webb, with Roczen a further five points back to round out the top three overall.

Image: Octopi Media.

Geico Honda’s Chase Sexton won a drama-filled 250SX Showdown in Utah’s Monster Energy Supercross finals, capturing the eastern regional championship as Dylan Ferrandis won the west.

Defending champion Sexton won the main event by 4.275s from Shane McElrath (Monster Energy Star Yamaha) and Michael Mosiman (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna).

A fighting fourth was enough for Monster Energy Star Yamaha’s Ferrandis to seal the 250SX West series for back-to-back titles, while exciting rookie Jett Lawrence (Geico Honda) finished fifth after taking the hole-shot in a restarted affair.

The race initially started with McElrath out front and Austin Forkner (Monster Energy Kawasaki) in P2 – both in position to win the championships as Sexton and Ferrandis were buried in the back-half of the top 10. However, a fall from Forkner brought out a red flag and dashed his title hopes.

That was the opportunity that Sexton needed, quickly capitalizing with an improved start and moving into the lead by lap four.

Following a short back and forth with McElrath, the red plate-holder powered away to the race win and championship in the process.

In the 250SX East standings, Sexton made it two in a row ahead of McElrath, with rookie Jo Shimoda (Geico Honda) climbing into third after finishing eighth this afternoon.

Ferrandis earned a second-straight 250SX West title, with teammate Justin Cooper taking second and Forkner falling back to third following his non-finish at SLC7.

It was a difficult third Supercross appearance for Hunter Lawrence (Geico Honda), falling short of the 250SX Showdown main event. Penrite Honda Racing’s Luke Clout opted not to line up following a crash in practice.

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