Eli Tomac scores first 2019 Supercross win at San Diego

By Feb 3, 2019, 1:30 AM EST
SupercrossLIVE
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Round 5 of the 2019 Supercross season came down to who made the least costly mistake. Eli Tomac got hung up on a tough block with three laps remaining and lost 10 seconds while he extricated himself. Fortunately, he had a 26 second lead at the time and held his advantage. His trouble wasn’t over yet, however; on the final lap, he also had to avoid a fallen Alex Ray before he was able to ascend to the top step of the podium.

With his win, Tomac took the points lead.

Marvin Musquin took advantage of a bobble by Roczen on the final straight of the final lap to score his third consecutive runner-up finish.

Roczen grabbed the hole shot, but gave the lead away when he fell off the first tabletop. Roczen recovered and climbed to second until Musquin passed him on the final lap. He crossed under the checkers third, to score his fifth top-five in five races this season.

“I got a perfect start,” Roczen told NBCSN after the race. “I really jumped out of the gate – hooked up great. Almost went down in the first turn. It was really slippery. I threw it away in the second turn over there. I couldn’t believe it because having a clear track there would have really helped.”

Mud is a great equalizer and it contributed to a pair of best season finishes for the drivers finishing fourth and fifth. Fourth-place Justin Bogle’s previous best this year was a 10th in last week’s Oakland race. Chad Reed finished fifth after scoring ninths at Anaheim in the opener and again at Oakland.

Rain pelted San Diego before the race began making this the muddiest weekend of the season. As a result of the conditions, the Main events for both the 450 and 250 class were shortened by five minutes.

In total, more than half the field scored or tied their best result of the season including sixth-place Aaron Plessinger and seventh-place Joey Savatgy.

Justin Hill crashed in qualification. He was taken to the hospital to evaluate whether he sustained a rib injury.

On Lap 6, Cooper Webb went down while running fifth. Webb got hard on the brake when Musquin stopped abruptly in front of him. Webb fell to eighth in the rundown and lost his points lead. Webb left San Diego fourth in the standings – eight markers behind Tomac.

Complete Results
Points Standings

250s

It is important to get an early lead with a heavy track – especially in a shortened Main. By Lap 3, Adam Cianciarulo had a 12-second lead over Dylan Ferrandis. With his sizeable lead, Cianciarulo was able to ride a smart race and finished 8.574 seconds ahead of Garrett Marchbanks to score his third victory of the season. With that win, he took the points lead as the West division takes a couple of weeks off.

Marchbank’s second-place finish was a career best.

James Decotis scored his best finish of the season in third. It was his second top five, following a fifth at Glendale.

Shane McElrath had a terrible weekend. He dropped to 16th in his heat and had to use the LCQ to advance. He fell again early in the Main and was forced to work his way from 20th on Lap 1. McElrath climbed all the way to fourth and missed the podium by one position.

Jess Pettis rounded out the top five in fifth and scored his best career result.

Colt Nichols entered San Diego with the points lead by three over Cianciarulo. He was a victim of the mud on the opening laps and dropped to 15th-place position at the end of Lap 3. He finished 10th and lost three positions in the standings.

On the last lap, Dylan Ferrandis got stuck in the mud and could not make his way to the finish line. He dropped from second to seventh with the incident.

Complete Results
Points Standings

450 Heat 1: Ken Roczen needed the confidence that comes with a heat win – and he got it. … Points leader Cooper Webb had a promising start to the weekend with his second place finish. … Joey Savatgy rounded out the top three. … Justin Barcia won the opening round of the Supercross season in the mud at Anaheim; he finished fourth in his Round 5 heat.

450 Heat 2: Eli Tomac took the lead from Aaron Plessinger on the final lap of the heat as the two riders finished 1-2. … Plessinger and Justin Bogle swapped the lead on Lap 1. … Marvin Musquin finished third. … Bogle went down twice midway through the heat. He recovered with the lead after the first fall; he was less fortunate with the second trip to the ground while trying to clear his clutch handle of mud. Bogle faded to fifth, but finished in a transfer position.

450 Last Chance Qualifier: Ben Lamay made his third Main of the season; he finished 18th in both Anaheim races. … Lamay beat Theodore Pauli, Alex Ray and Carlen Gardner, who also transferred. This is Pauli’s first Main.

250 Heat 1: Dylan Ferrandis mastered the mud in the first heat and beat Adam Cianciarulo by .774 seconds. Enzo Lopes finished a distant 30 seconds behind in third. In the six-minute, heat only seven riders finished on the lead lap. … On the opening lap, Jerry Robin caught the edge of a jump and ate the landing.

250 Heat 2: RJ Hampshire found the inside rut in Turn 1 of Lap 1 and grabbed the lead over points leader Colt Nichols; they held their positions until the checkers. It was the second heat win of the year. … James Decotis rounded out the top three. … Shane McElrath – who was third entering the event – got mired behind Hampshire at the gate drop and fell back early. He kept falling and finished 16th in the 20-bike field.

250 Last Chance Qualifier: Garrett Marchbanks scored his first LCQ victory over Shane McElrath. Deegan Vonlossberg and Chris Howell also advanced to the Main.

Points Leaders

450s
Eli Tomac (106) (1 win)
Marvin Musquin (102)
Ken Roczen (102)
Cooper Webb (98) (2)
Blake Baggett (80) (1)
Dean Wilson (80)

250s West
Adam Cianciarulo (114 points) (3 wins)
Shane McElrath (106) (1)
Colt Nichols (104) (1)
Dylan Ferrandis (102)
RJ Hampshire (75)

450 top 5s

Ken Roczen: 5
Eli Tomac: 5
Marvin Musquin: 4
Cooper Webb: 3
Dean Wilson: 2
Blake Baggett: 2
Jason Anderson: 1
Justin Barcia: 1
Justin Bogle: 1
Chad Reed: 1

250 top 5s

Adam Cianciarulo: 5
Shane McElrath: 5
Colt Nichols: 4
RJ Hampshire: 3
Dylan Ferrandis: 3
James Decotis: 2
Jacob Hayes: 1
Garrett Marchbanks: 1
Jess Pettis: 1

Next race: February 9, US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minn.

Season passes can be purchased at NBC Sports Gold.

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Winner Josef Newgarden earns $3.666 million from a record Indy 500 purse of $17 million

By May 29, 2023, 6:01 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33.  Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports