Eli Tomac capped off an impressive day at Spring Creek with a convincing win in the second moto, completing the 1-1 sweep and earning the GEICO Honda rider the first overall victory of his career in the 450 Class.
Tomac grabbed the MotoSport.com Holeshot not once – but twice – in this moto. Shortly after Tomac raced out of the first turn with the lead, the race was red flagged due to a malfunction with the starting gate. The riders were lined back up, the gates were eventually dropped a second time, and Tomac once again got to the line first. He was quickly passed by Justin Brayton, but Tomac recaptured the lead by the end of the first lap and went on the lead every lap of the race.
This is just Tomac’s fourth race in the 450 Class, and while a broken collarbone earlier in the year has kept him out of the title mix, he’ll be trying to play the role of spoiler throughout the final four rounds.
Ryan Dungey ran in second throughout the entire race and, while he stayed close to Tomac for awhile, was not able to run down the GEICO Honda rider. Dungey’s 3-2 moto results earned him second overall for the day in front of his hometown fans.
While Ken Roczen will still leave Millville with the red plate, he allowed Dungey to pick up two points on him in the title race after being passed by Trey Canard for third late in the moto. We’ve now run 16 motos this season, and this is the first time that Roczen has failed to finish a moto inside the top three.
The two point swing in points is notable because it cuts Roczen’s lead from 26 to 24 – meaning that Dungey can mathematically take over the points lead with just one moto.
James Stewart’s string of disappointing races continued. After the race was red flagged, he would not make it back to the line for the restart and was credited with a DNS. Stewart is now in danger of losing hold of fourth place in the point standings, as Brett Metcalfe has pulled within four points of him.
Brett Metcalfe was one of the riders in this moto battling for a top-five position. Metcalfe, Josh Grant, Andrew Short and Weston Peick swapped spots in the 5-8 range in this moto and are all within 35 points of each other in the championship standings as they compete for a top-five spot there too.
Honda Muscle Milk’s recently-recruited Fredrik Noren will finish ninth overall with 11-10 moto results. The second moto also featured strong rides from Christian Craig (who recently emerged from retirement to ride for GEICO Honda and finished ninth) and Mitchell Oldenburg, who took 12th.
Spring Creek 450 Moto 2 Results
1. Eli Tomac
2. Ryan Dungey (-18.395 seconds)
3. Trey Canard
4. Ken Roczen
5. Josh Grant
6. Brett Metcalfe
7. Andrew Short
8. Weston Peick
9. Christian Craig
10. Fredrik Noren
11. Matt Goerke
12. Mitchell Oldenburg
13. Ben LaMay
14. Chad Reed
15. Justin Brayton
16. Paul Coates
17. Heath Harrison
18. Broc Schmelyun
19. Tucker Hibbert
20. Noah McConahy
Spring Creek 450 Class Overall Results
1. Eli Tomac (1-1)
2. Ryan Dungey (3-2)
3. Ken Roczen (2-4)
4. Trey Canard (4-3)
5. Josh Grant (5-5)
6. Brett Metcalfe (6-6)
7. Andrew Short (9-7)
8. Weston Peick (8-8)
9. Fredrik Noren (11-10)
10. Matt Goerke (12-11)