Salt Lake City and round fifteen of seventeen in 2017 AMA Supercross series proved to be one of the milestones of the campaign. In front of more than 43,000 fans at the Ricce-Eccles Stadium Justin Hill made a dramatic last corner pass on Martin Davalos to finish third in the 250SX West Main Event, reach 180 championship points and celebrate his first professional title and the twentieth for the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team; the most prolific crew in the sport. On the same evening Eli Tomac produced another highlight of a sterling season to cut through the top ten of the 450SX division and win for the ninth time. The Monster Energy Kawasaki star’s spoils allowing a three-point advantage at the top of the standings over Ryan Dungey with just two races to go.
Part of the spotlight in ‘SLC’ fell on to Hill with the last 250SX West meeting and only the Las Vegas Shootout with competitors from the East left to run. Hunting Kawasaki’s fourth win in the class in what was Supercross’ first return to the city since 2013, series leader Hill started the Main Event among the leaders and watched championship rival Aaron Plessinger crash out as well as teammate Austin Forkner. #41 arrived to a position where he needed the final step of the podium to make sure of his status and swooped to defeat Davalos by five hundredths of a second.
“We’ve worked so hard for this and I know I’ve encountered bumps along the way, which makes this championships so much sweeter,” Hill said. “To get to this place it takes so many people that are behind the scenes, from the team to family to friends that are all pushing me to be at my best. This wouldn’t be possible without each and every one of them.”
The audience in Utah was treated to more excitement in the 450SX chase with Tomac and Dungey tied in the standings and both wearing the red plate to denote the closeness of a thrilling run-in. Dungey was in a prime position to claim a third win of the year as he led the pack in the formative stages and Tomac was stuck in heavy traffic; the 23 year old actually needed nearly ten laps just to reach the top five and then had his eyes on the KTM. The inevitable duel between both led to some of the tensest scenes of the championship but superior speed through the whoops section allowed Tomac to prevail and a window of more than six seconds at the chequered flag was an indication of his level.
“I was stuck in a tough position [off the start] and I had to make it happen. It was all I could do,” #3 said. “We were feeling awesome all day and really had a few good spots on the track where I was able to make a lot of passes. I felt great the whole time. This was pretty cool to come back and do that.”
New Jersey and Las Vegas – two big cities and appropriate stages to bring Supercross to a fitting conclusion in the next two weeks – lie ahead with a maximum of 50 points left to grasp. 250SX East will come into play at the vast MetLife Stadium and the next chapter of Tomac-Dungey will be eagerly anticipated.