Winning his Heat and the Main, Eli Tomac had another perfect week in San Diego to stay atop the 2023 SuperMotocross Power Rankings after San Diego while three of the top five 450 riders swapped positions.
Tomac won his heat convincingly with a two and a half second lead over second-place Jason Anderson. But while the final results show Tomac with a 1.1 second gap ahead of Cooper Webb in the Main, the reality is that Webb was much closer in the closing laps as he worked traffic just a little better. Hidden in the good news of his sweep of the first two weekends is that Tomac has not gotten off to a particularly strong start in the past couple of seasons. He was sixth in A1 in 2022 and fourth the next week in Oakland. In 2021, he was 13th in the first round in Houston and fifth in Round 3 there.
With Webb finishing second in both rounds of the Supercross season, Tomac has managed to create only a six-point differential between himself and the field, so he cannot afford to let up anytime soon.
MORE: Eli Tomac and Jett Lawrence go two-for-two
Webb moves up a position this week partly because of problems affecting Chase Sexton. Points are not paid until the checkers wave over the Main, so Webb’s consecutive second-place finishes is the number that matters most, but he has not been quite as strong in his heats as Tomac with a third- and fifth-place finish. Considering how badly he struggled with the new KTM bike design in 2022, you are not hearing any complaints from the rider, however.
Ken Roczen is also figuring out a new bike with his switch from Honda to Suzuki in 2023. Unlike Webb, his Heats have been stronger than the Mains with runner-up finishes in the prelims at Anaheim and San Diego. Meanwhile, his Mains have been impressive enough with a pair of top-five finishes. If he continues to improve his feature results, he will quickly be talked about as one of the riders chasing the SuperMotocross championship.
With a sixth-place finish in last week’s Main event, Dylan Ferrandis lost ground to the top three riders, but he remains fourth in the SuperMotocross rankings after San Diego because of Sexton’s failure to finish his heat. Sixth is Ferrandis’ low water mark, however, as he swept the top five in both heats and finished fourth in A1.
Jason Anderson improved one position from sixth to fifth in the Power Rankings largely on the strength of last week’s second-place finish in his heat. It didn’t come without controversy, however, and he knocked Justin Barcia to the ground while completing the pass. After that race, he waited for Barcia in the tunnel and lashed his competitor with some choice words not often found in dictionaries.
As for Sexton, troubles in his Heat relegated him to last place in that race and forced him into Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ). He finished respectably in the Main with a fifth, but the damage was already done in the Power Rankings. He fell from second in the rankings to ninth, but fans can expect him to climb next week with solid results in both Anaheim 2 races.
450 Rankings
| This Week | Driver [Season wins] |
Power Avg. | Last Week | Diff. |
| 1. | Eli Tomac [2 Main wins; 2 Heat wins] |
95.00 | 1 | 0 |
| 2. | Cooper Webb | 85.75 | 3 | 1 |
| 3. | Ken Roczen | 85.00 | 5 | 2 |
| 4. | Dylan Ferrandis | 81.50 | 4 | 0 |
| 5. | Jason Anderson | 76.00 | 6 | 1 |
| 6. | Justin Barcia | 73.75 | 11 | 5 |
| 7. | Adam Cianciarulo | 73.50 | 6 | -1 |
| 8. | Aaron Plessinger | 69.25 | 6 | -2 |
| 9. | Chase Sexton [1 Heat win] |
67.00 | 2 | -7 |
| 10. | Colt Nichols | 66.75 | 9 | -1 |
| 11. | Joey Savatgy | 63.50 | 10 | -1 |
| 12. | Marvin Musquin | 61.00 | 12 | 0 |
| 13. | Malcolm Stewart [1 Heat win] |
58.75 | 13 | 0 |
| 14. | Christian Craig | 57.75 | 14 | 0 |
| 15. | Dean Wilson | 51.00 | 14 | -1 |
| 16. | Justin Hill | 46.67 | 17 | 1 |
| 17. | Shane McElrath | 42.33 | 16 | -1 |
| 18. | Tristan Lane | 41.00 | 24 | 6 |
| 19. | Grant Harlan | 40.67 | 21 | 2 |
| 20. | Logan Karnow | 36.50 | 19 | -1 |
Here’s your updated points standings after round 3️⃣ of @MonsterEnergy Supercross 📋#SupercrossLIVE #SuperMotocross pic.twitter.com/KEkK5RffuY
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) January 23, 2023
There was no change at the top of the SuperMotocross 250 Power Rankings after San Diego as three riders replicated their podium results in back-to-back weeks.
Jett Lawrence swept the first two weeks of the Supercross season with a worst finish of second in his two heats. Moreover, most of these races were won in dominant fashion as he increased the size of his lead on the field with almost every lap. Catching him will not be an easy task as Lawrence is determined to win a fourth consecutive 250 championship.
Still, RJ Hampshire has managed to keep both the SuperMotocross points and Power Average close with consecutive second-place finishes. He’s won his first two heats.
Cameron McAdoo struggled early in his heat last week in San Diego. He was involved in two incidents on Lap 1 of that race and fell back as far as 17th. He methodically worked his way through the field, however, and ended the preliminary race in fifth. The Main was much more to his liking with McAdoo riding in second for most of that race before getting passed by Hampshire with time off the clock and the checkers in sight.
Hear from you 250 Main Event Winner, @Jettson18_ 🏆 #SupercrossLIVE #SuperMotocross pic.twitter.com/5EJVhMMCIf
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) January 22, 2023
Last week, Enzo Lopes was tied with Max Vohland for fourth in the Power Rankings. With another second-place finish in his heat and a fourth in the Main, he earned a few more points in San Diego than at Anaheim 1.
Meanwhile, Vohland never recovered from the incident in his heat, where he finished 13th. The LCQ was not any kinder. He fell again in that race and finished well out of the transfer positions in eighth.
Vohland’s difficulties helped Mitchell Oldenburg assume fifth in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings. He entered last week’s Main with a sweep of the top five in two heats and the Anaheim Main before finishing seventh in San Diego.
250 Rankings
| This Week | Driver [Season wins] |
Power Avg. | Last Week | Diff |
| 1. | Jett Lawrence – W [2 Main wins; 1 Heat win] |
94.00 | 1 | 0 |
| 2. | RJ Hampshire – W [2 Heat wins] |
92.50 | 2 | 0 |
| 3. | Cameron McAdoo – W [1 Heat win] |
86.00 | 3 | 0 |
| 4. | Enzo Lopes – W | 83.75 | 4 | 0 |
| 5. | Mitchell Oldenburg – W | 77.00 | 6 | 1 |
| 6. | Stilez Robertson – W | 70.25 | 8 | 2 |
| 7. | Phil Nicoletti – W | 66.75 | 11 | 4 |
| 8. | Max Vohland – W | 66.33 | 4 | -4 |
| 9. | Dylan Walsh – W | 62.50 | 8 | -1 |
| 10. | Derek Kelley – W | 61.25 | 11 | 1 |
| 11. | Cole Thompson – W | 61.00 | 13 | 2 |
| 12. | Levi Kitchen – W | 60.00 | 7 | -5 |
| 13. | Pierce Brown – W | 57.67 | 38 | 25 |
| 14. | Anthony Rodriguez – W | 53.00 | 16 | 2 |
| 15. | Robbie Wageman – W | 50.75 | 16 | 1 |
| 16. | Ty Masterpool – W | 47.50 | 14 | -2 |
| 16. | Kaeden Amerine – W | 47.50 | 18 | 2 |
| 18. | Dominique Thury – W | 47.00 | 14 | -4 |
| 19. | Hunter Yoder – W | 44.25 | 19 | 0 |
| 20. | Austin Forkner – W | 43.00 | 19 | -1 |
* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner and 90 points for each Heat and Triple Crown win. The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of riders in the field until the last place rider in each event receives five points. The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days.
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 1 AT ANAHEIM: Eli Tomac, Jett Lawrence gain an early advantage
