Eli Tomac grabbed the early lead in Monster Energy Supercross Round 9 at Daytona and refused to be denied a place in the record books. With his victory Saturday night, he tied Ricky Carmichael for five wins on this track. The defending Supercross 450 champion also earned a historical footnote behind his name as the winner of the 700th race in Supercross history.
Behind him, Cooper Webb grabbed second-place as a disagreement erupted at the foot of the podium between Webb and points leader Ken Roczen.
“Daytona is our house,” Tomac told NBCSN’s Will Christien. “I love it. I love riding my dirt bike here and it shows. That was crucial for us to get out there and get that win.
POINTS, RESULTS: All the postrace statistics from Round 9 in Supercross
“Right away when I got clear of that triple, I was like ‘all right; it’s time to go.’ ”
Tomac’s win was never in question once the gate dropped. He has been the dominator of this track with five wins in the last six years, including the past three consecutively.
In a prerace interview with NASCAR on NBC analyst Dale Jarrett, Tomac admitted a lot of pressure was on his shoulders to defend his 2020 series championship and said Daytona was a “tipping point. I’ve got to make something happen. So if it’s going to happen, it’s got to be this weekend. These fourths, fifths aren’t going to cut it.”
Tomac’s mastery of the Daytona infield course gives him hope that he will be equally strong when the series heads to the fronstretch of Atlanta Motor Speedway in April.
“I kind of struggled all day and then struggled this week,” Webb said after finishing second. “I was trying to hang with Eli, but he was hauling butt.
“I definitely rode pretty tight in that main event, but it is what it is. I put head down there at the end and made some pretty good lap times and started clicking late. I was able to get (Aaron Plessinger) at the end there.
“It’s cool for Eli to get the new record. Hats off to them.”
No one could steal Tomac’s thunder on the track, but Roczen and Webb took the spotlight afterward.
Tomac got a good start, but it was a wide move by Webb on Roczen that opened the door for the defending race champion.
“I got a really good start, and Webb just pushed me wide into the Tuff Blox, which caused me to lose a bunch of spots,” Roczen told Daniel Blair on NBCSN. “I think he’s scared of me, which is why he plays these kinds of games, but little does he know I like to play as well.
“From here on out I’m going to put in that little bit of extra focus on a daily basis - even at home - to speed up even better on the weekend. He’s just fueling the fire and I’m ready for it.
“He got this one around and the points have closed up a little bit, but we’ve got plenty of racing to go. I like to play, so let’s go.”
Webb gave his side of the story in the post-race news conference.
“It was the second turn, and I had a great start,” Webb said. “Me, (Roczen) and Eli were all right there. Eli was on my inside. Kenny was on my outside, so I kind of just went through the middle there and wanted to make sure I could get ahead of Ken. Just made the move right there and fell in behind Eli.”
Webb knows that the battle will continue to Arlington, Texas next week for a three-race residency in the AT&T Center.
“When we got back, (Roczen) was running his mouth,” Webb said. “But I didn’t really hear what he said on the podium. He wasn’t too pumped, but I’m not sure why. I saw an opening and went for it.”
Aaron Plessinger, FINALLY, has a podium finish in @SupercrossLIVE 450.
— Motorsports on NBC (@MotorsportsNBC) March 7, 2021
And after doing so at @Daytona, has a message: "DO IT FOR DALE. WOO!" pic.twitter.com/hv9cmEdWS7
Third-place Aaron Plessinger may well have been the happiest rider at the speedway.
He scored his first 450 career podium on a track where a broken heel a few years back put his career at risk.
“Me and the team, we’ve been working hard,” Plessinger told Christien in an emotional postrace interview. “The last two years have been tough. To come up here and get up on this podium means a lot to me. I can’t thank them enough. They’ve stood behind me and they see my potential and never gave up. I couldn’t ask for more.
“It’ll come easier now. I wanted to come up here and show the mustache off; show the mullet off. I’ve been waiting to do that for a while. Shoot! Do it for Dale!”
Roczen salvaged fourth in the race and held the standings lead but lost four championship points to Webb in the process. With eight rounds remaining, the razor-thin margin is two.
Nine races down. Eight more to go.
— Motorsports on NBC (@MotorsportsNBC) March 7, 2021
Take a look at the 450 @SupercrossLIVE standings after @Daytona. pic.twitter.com/wrBE85XLfP
It could be an incendiary battle as Webb and Tomac try to win their second championship while Roczen hopes win his first and keep keep the string of inaugural champs alive with four consecutive.
Malcolm Stewart had an opportunity to make an even bigger impact on the points championship by separating Roczen and Webb.
At about the two-thirds mark, Stewart swept past Roczen when the points leader overjumped a triple and landed on the face of the jump. It took a couple of laps for Roczen to mount his comeback. During that time, Webb was able to put a gap between himself and his rival.
Justin Barcia in sixth and Jason Anderson in seventh took the next two positions.
In his return from an injury sustained at Houston in Round 2, Chase Sexton rode his Honda to an eighth-place finish.
Justin Bogle in ninth and Dean Wilson rounded out the top 10.
Rookie Dylan Ferrandis narrowly missed in 11th.
HE'S DONE IT!
— Motorsports on NBC (@MotorsportsNBC) March 7, 2021
Retweet to congratulate @EliTomac on his FIFTH @Daytona Supercross win, tying him with @RickyCarmichael for the most all time! @SupercrossLIVE pic.twitter.com/zaCzri4j0o
In 250s, Cameron McAdoo topped a surprising podium filled with firsts.
McAdoo earned his first career victory in the 250 class with a convincing margin over Stilez Robertson and Pierce Brown.
“I can probably tell you better tomorrow morning (how I feel); this is unreal,” McAdoo said from the podium. “The list of people who got me here is way too long for this interview. I’ll have more words tomorrow.
“That is what we work for.”
Hear from your 250SX Main Event winner, Cameron McAdoo 🗣#SupercrossLIVE #DropTheGate pic.twitter.com/5TkelNtB0R
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) March 7, 2021
In his first 250 West attempt last week in Orlando, Robertson’s season almost ended before it began. On Lap 1 he jumped onto the back of Jeremy Martin when the field rapidly slowed ahead of him. Martin retired from that race with an injury and has been unable to return. Robertson finished 18th.
On Saturday night at Daytona, Robertson took the early lead.
“I got a good start,” Robertson said. “I was out front and I was like, ‘what do I do now?’
“I just tried to put my laps down and I knew Mac was back there. He got next to me in the whoops and I was going to salvage (my race). The first round, I got into Jeremy Martin and went down. This was pretty much my first race, it felt like. I just tried to put solid laps in.”
This was Robertson’s first podium finish in either Supercross or Motocross and before the Zoom press conference he and Plessinger cheered one another on for their accomplishments.
Pierce Brown also had an improbably strong finish.
Returning from ACL surgery on his knee, Brown finished third in his heat behind Mcadoo and Seth Hammaker.
As with Robertson, this was Brown’s first podium finish in the 250 class. Last year he finished fourth in two of the rounds at Salt Lake City.
“It’s all worth it,” Brown said. “I haven’t been behind the gate in eight or nine months. I went through a lot of highs and lows in my downtime. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to - or if it would be a while before - I was up here.”
Justin Cooper led the points entering Daytona on the strength of last week’s win in Orlando. He got a slow start, which was made worse when the back of his Yamaha kicked wide exiting the underpass of the tabletop jump. Cooper fell outside the top 10 after that incident, but was able to regain his composure and climb to fourth.
Cooper now trails Mcadoo by four points in the standings.
Last year’s 250 Daytona winner Garrett Marchbanks finished fifth.
After winning his heat, Hunter Lawrence finished sixth in the Main.
Alex Martin was banged up in the Orlando accident that sidelined his brother Jeremy and Robertson. During the race it was reported that Martin revealed that he was unable to remember the Orlando crash or its aftermath and only knew he’d been involved in an incident when he woke up sore in the middle of the night.
At Daytona, Martin bounced back to finish seventh.
Jalek Swoll in eight, Coty Schrock in ninth and Jordon Smith rounded out the top 10.
ROUND 1, HOUSTON: Justin” Barcia wins opener for third consecutive time
ROUND 2, HOUSTON: Eli Tomac rebounds, wins after Round 1 disappointment
ROUND 3, HOUSTON: Cooper Webb wins, Ken Roczen denied revenge
ROUND 4, INDIANAPOLIS: Ken Roczen makes it four winners in four races
ROUND 5, INDIANAPOLIS: Ken Roczen goes back to back for first time since 2017 injury
ROUND 6, INDIANAPOLIS: Ken Roczen is perfect in Indy for third straight win
ROUND 7, ORLANDO: Cooper Webb trims Ken Roczen lead
ROUND 8, ORLANDO: Cooper Webb sweeps Orlando to put pressure on Ken Roczen