With a points’ lead equal to more than two races, Eli Tomac continues to provide solid results and remains at the top of the Supercross Power Rankings after Round 14 in Atlanta, Georgia.
The championship could be wrapped up if Tomac finishes ahead of Jason Anderson and Justin Barcia next week. With nothing to gain by overriding his Yamaha, Tomac scored second-place finishes in both his heat and feature on the infield course of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Still, Tomac kept Anderson in sight in the feature and finished 2.3 seconds behind the leader.
Anderson knows the only thing he can do to keep the pressure on for one more week is to win or finish at least finish two points ahead of Tomac if he does not find Victory Lane, but that is a tall task since Tomac has not finished worse than fourth in a heat or feature in the past 45 days.
Anderson has been solid, but steadily behind Tomac in the past month and a half with several results worse than fourth, including a 21st-place finish in the Detroit Main that cost a ton of points. Anderson sits fifth in the Supercross Power Rankings after Round 14.
MORE: Justin Anderson snaps six-week winless streak
Marvin Musquin’s Triple Crown format win in St. Louis continues to boost his results. Last week, he was impressive in his heat and finished second, but a fall in the feature relegated him to 10th. That was the first time in the past 45 days that he failed to score a top-five in either a heat or feature.
Ranked third, Justin Barcia also had his first result outside the top five in 45 days with a sixth in the Atlanta feature. Barcia has a pair of heat wins in this timeframe and a best result of second at Indianapolis in feature competition.
Chase Sexton led laps in last week’s feature before falling back to third at the checkers, which came on the heels of a win in his heat. He also won one of the three features at St. Louis in the Triple Crown format.
450 Rankings
1. Eli Tomac (last week: 1); [7 feature wins, 6 heat wins]
2. Marvin Musquin (2); [1 feature win, 1 heat win]
3. Justin Barcia (3); [3 heat wins]
4. Chase Sexton (4); [1 feature win, 7 heat wins]
5. Jason Anderson (5); [4 feature wins; 7 heat wins]
6. Malcolm Stewart (6); [3 heat wins]
7. Justin Brayton (8)
8. Cooper Webb (7); [3 heat wins]
9. Vince Friese (9)
10. Kyle Chisholm (13)
11. Brandon Hartranft (14)
12. Justin Bogle (11)
13. Dean Wilson (15)
14. Justin Starling (16)
15. Ryan Breece (17)
16. Cade Clason (18)
17. John Short (20)
18. Benny Bloss (19)
19. Kevin Moranz (24)
20. Alex Martin (23)
Triple Crown wins included with Heat wins
Hunter Lawrence to the lead! 🚀 #SupercrossLIVE pic.twitter.com/ivyIQksfKs
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) April 16, 2022
The Monster Energy Supercross Series held their first East / West Shootout in Atlanta, giving the two divisions an opportunity to see who has bragging rights with three rounds remaining in the season.
The West was the clear winner with five of the top six riders coming from that division, including the feature winner Hunter Lawrence.
Because of the grouping of races, the Power Rankings looks at the entire season instead of the past 45 days and Lawrence has been almost perfect with top-fives in all but the feature in the third Anaheim race. That bobble was enough to knock him to fourth overall.
Christian Craig and Jett Lawrence held their respective spots at the top of their divisions in regard to both points and Power Ranking. Both overcame poor starts in the Atlanta feature before riding onto the podium.
Craig finished second in the feature and won his heat. In 18 combined heats and features this season, he has failed to be on the podium only once when he finished fourth in one of the Triple Crown races in Glendale, Arizona.
Craig is the overall leader in the Supercross Power Rankings.
Jett Lawrence crashed in his heat and climbed to fifth at the end of that race. He also went down in the feature, but remounted and rode to third by making a dramatic last-lap pass on Jo Shimoda.
Climbing from seventh overall, Michael Mosiman is ranked third this week after finishing third in the West heat and sixth in the combined feature.
Rounding out the top five is RJ Hampshire, who fell one position overall because of an eighth-place finish in the Atlanta feature.
Austin Forkner popped back inside the top 10 overall with a heat win and seventh-place feature on the infield course at Atlanta in his first race back since suffering an injury in the Texas Triple Crown.
250 Rankings
1. Christian Craig - W (1); [4 feature wins, 9 heat wins]
2. Jett Lawrence - E (2); [4 feature wins, 5 heat wins]
3. Michael Mosiman - W (7); [1 feature win, 3 heat wins]
4. Hunter Lawrence - W (3); [3 feature wins, 2 heat wins]
5. RJ Hampshire - W (4); [1 feature win, 3 heat wins]
6. Kyle Chisholm - E (5)
7. Vince Friese - W (8); [1 heat win]
8. Jo Shimoda - W (5)
9. Austin Forkner - E (NA); [2 heat wins]
10. Garrett Marchbanks - W (14)
11. Mitchell Oldenburg - E (9); [1 heat win]
12. Nate Thrasher - W (11)
13. Chris Blose - W (24)
14. Pierce Brown - E (15); [2 heat wins]
15 tie. Jordon Smith - E (10)
15 tie. Jace Owen - E (17)
17. Phil Nicoletti - E (18)
18 tie. Enzo Lopes - E (19)
18 tie. Jalek Swoll - W (13)
20. Ryan Surratt - W (22)
Triple Crown wins included with Heat wins
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 1 AT ANAHEIM: Ken Roczen, Christian Craig have a perfect weekend
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 2 AT OAKLAND: Justin Barcia climbs to the top spot
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 3 AT SAN DIEGO: Consistency pays off for Eli Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 4 AT ANAHEIM: Tomac remains on top as competition levels
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 5 AT GLENDALE: Malcolm Stewart move up as Tomac stays No. 1
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 6 AT ANAHEIM: Jason Anderson closes the gap
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 7 AT MINNEAPOLIS: Jett Lawrence steps up to challenge Craig in 250s
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 8 AT ARLINGTON: Consistency once more give Tomac a Triple Crown win
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 9 AT DAYTONA: Tomac rides historic wave into the second half of 2022
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 10 AT DETROIT: Tomac holds position as Lawrence moves up
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 11 AT INDIANAPOLIS: Barcia surges to second
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 12 AT SEATTLE: Stewart’s turn at second
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 13 AT ST LOUIS: Marvin Musquin’s win elevates rider