Patience paid off as Eli Tomac stalked Cooper Webb though most of Monster Energy Supercross Round 9 at Daytona and pounced to put his name at the top of the results for a record-setting sixth time on this track.
Daytona has always been special to Tomac, who now has won five of the last six Daytona races, including the last four. He finished second there in 2018 and 2015. This win was determined not by dominance, but doggedness as Tomac rode in Cooper Webb’s roost for most of the evening.
When Webb was slowed by lapped traffic with less than one minute remaining on the clock, Tomac pounced and pushed Webb back to second, where he ended the night. The defending 2021 Supercross champion, Webb has yet to win this year, but his last three performances have landed him on the podium after he finished outside the top five in in four of the previous five races.
RESULTS: Click here for 450 Results; Click here for 250 Results
“He’s just so good here” 🗣 @CooperWebb_2 on battling with ET3 late in the 450SX Main Event 💥#SupercrossLIVE @KTM_Racing pic.twitter.com/OjHRieDYtu
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) March 6, 2022
Chase Sexton finished third in Daytona after starting the race in second. For the first half of the event, the top three battled within sight of one another. This was Sexton’s fourth podium of the season after narrowly missing that mark last week in Arlington.
Dylan Ferrandis got back on track with a fourth-place finish that snapped a four-race streak of results outside the top five.
Justin Barcia rounded out the top five with his fifth such finish this season. He has barely missed that mark on three other occasions with sixth- or seventh-place results. Barcia is tied for fifth in the points standings with Sexton, 40 behind Tomac.
Click here Heat 1 results | Heat 2 | LCQ
Here’s how @EliTomac got it done at @Daytona 👀#SupercrossLIVE pic.twitter.com/4gtdq0I3Y8
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) March 6, 2022
Tomac’s win wasn’t the only drama for the night.
After winning his heat, Malcolm Stewart had a modest start that put him behind Jason Anderson. The memory of last week’s crash in Race 1 of the Arlington Triple Crown must have been fresh in Stewart’s memory and as he passed Anderson for position, he made contact with that rider’s front wheel. Both Stewart and Anderson hit the deck and fell to the back of the pack.
Stewart and Anderson remained in contact with one another throughout the race and finished eighth and ninth after being penalized one position each by Supercross.
It was the first time in the last eight rounds that Stewart failed to score a top-five.
The implications of the crash were worse for Anderson. Entering the week within five points of Tomac, his ninth-place finish cost him another 12 markers with eight races remaining on the schedule.
.@Predator_34 and @ElHombre_21 have both been docked one position putting them in P8 and P9 in the 450SX Main Event 📋#SupercrossLIVE pic.twitter.com/jxkLmUjQRI
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) March 6, 2022
Click here for Round 9 450 Overall results | Rider Points | Manufacturer Points
Jett Lawrence won his second race of the season by a massive margin of more than 14 seconds. His heat win might have been just as impressive if not for a mental hiccup on the final lap when he mistook the white flag for the checkers. Always the showman, Lawrence was waving to the crowd until his team got his attention and convinced him the race was not yet over.
Even with the mistake, Lawrence claimed the victory by more than five seconds. Lawrence entered Daytona tied in points with Cameron McAdoo and leaves with a five-point advantage.
Hear from your 250SX Main Event winner, @Jettson18_ 🗣#SupercrossLIVE @HondaPowersprts pic.twitter.com/bPsjSfIbws
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) March 6, 2022
Stilez Robertson finished second in the feature and was second to Lawrence in their heat. This is Robertson’s best result of the season by far with a previous high of seventh in the opener in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Click here Heat 1 results | Heat 2 | LCQ
Cameron McAdoo kept the points’ title close with his third straight podium. Last week he won the overall race in the Arlington Triple Crown after Lawrence crashed late in Race 3.
Pierce Brown also scored a first top-five of the season in fourth. His previous best of sixth in Minneapolis and a 12th overall in Arlington has him fifth in the standings.
Enzo Lopes has gotten progressively better in the first three rounds of the season with results of eight at Minneapolis, sixth at Arlington and now fifth in Daytona.
Click here for 250 East Overall results | 250 East Rider Points
POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 1 AT ANAHEIM: Ken Roczen, Cooper Webb renew rivalry with 1-2 finish
POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 2 AT OAKLAND: Jason Anderson wins, Roczen struggles to tighten points’ standings
POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 3 AT SAN DIEGO: First time wins for Chase Sexton (450s) and Michael Mosiman (250s)
POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 4 AT ANAHEIM: Eli Tomac solidifies points’ lead with first win of season
POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 5 AT GLENDALE: Tomac is first rider to repeat in 2022
POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 6 AT ANAHEIM: Anderson ties Tomac with two wins in 2022
POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 7 AT MINNEAPOLIS: Anderson makers it three, closes in on Tomac
POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 8 AT ARLINGTON: Tomac wins the overall and takes maximum points, Anderson wins two features