250SX
GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac grabbed his second holeshot of the night in the 250SX main event over the likes of Ryan Sipes, Christian Craig, Ken Roczen and Zach Osborne. Craig was able to get by Sipes almost immediately, and Roczen was able to move past both of them for second place shortly after the start of the second lap. Osborne was also able to climb through the ranks in the first third of the race; he passed Sipes for third on lap five.
Tomac was able to stretch it out and consistently make a triple in a rhythm section to pull almost a full second on Roczen lap after lap. The GEICO Honda rider looked to have the win in the bag, but a costly mistake at the end a whoop section ejected the defending champion off of his bike. He nearly jumped into the face of a double and immediately cross-rutted upon exiting the whoop section. Tomac’s front wheel dropped, causing him to go over the bars in the air. He quickly remounted, but Roczen passed him and immediately put a solid gap between them.
Roczen rode out the remainder of the race to an unchallenged win, while Tomac followed him to a second-place finish on a tweaked bike. Meanwhile, third-place Osborne had company from Troy Lee Design’s Cole Seely, who had seemed to come from nowhere. Seely put heavy pressure on Osborne for the entirety of the last lap but was unable to seal the deal.
450SX
Honda Muscle Milk’s Justin Barcia nailed the holeshot over MotoConcept’s holeshot specialist Mike Alessi and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s defending champion Ryan Villopto. A first-turn tangle sent Ryan Dungey, Josh Hill and Chad Reed to the ground. Reed pulled off the track and never reentered. Dungey and Hill remounted in 18th and 19th.
Villopoto moved past Alessi on the second lap and set his focus on Barcia. Rockstar Energy Racing’s Davi Millsaps followed suite and passed Alessi as well at the beginning of the third lap. Meanwhile, Dungey rode like a man possessed, working his way up to fifth place by the eighth lap. Honda Muscle Milk’s Trey Canard was holding down a solid fourth until he stalled his bike. Dungey inherited fourth and Canard later pulled off the track after what seemed like bike problems. Other than Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer moving into fifth, the remaining top-five’s biggest challenge was minimize mistakes on the deteriorating track. Barcia rode it out to his second career 450SX win, with Villopto and Millsaps rounding out the podium.
