The 450 Monster Energy Supercross championship battle is the closest in the history of the sport, which is notably evident in the fact that Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb enter Round 12 in Glendale, Arizona tied in standings with a share of the red plate.
Strictly based on wins, it should not be that close. Tomac’s six victories in the first 11 rounds has allowed him to capture one milestone after another. He tied Ricky Carmichael for third on the all-time wins list in Oakland and James Stewart for second the most recent race in Seattle. With six rounds remaining in 2023, it strains the imagination to think he won’t win at least one more race to take over sole possession of that spot in the record books.
And yet, Webb has as many points as Tomac due partly to a couple of bad rounds for the defending 2020 and 2022 450 Supercross championship title holder. Equally impactful, Webb finished second behind Tomac five times, minimizing his points’ differential.
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Race 1 | Anaheim 1
The 450 Supercross championship got underway with a thrilling race in Anaheim and Tomac began clicking off milestones. During a storied career that boasted 450 Supercross titles in 2020 and 2022, a 250 championship in 2013 and Lucas Oil Pro Motocross championships in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022, the one thing he failed to accomplish was to win a season opener. Tomac took care of that after losing and regaining the lead after a mishap on a tunnel jump. Webb finished second in this race to begin a pattern that persists through Round 12 as Chase Sexton stood with them on the podium to start another trend.
Results and points after Anaheim 1
Race 2 | San Diego
Tomac made it two for two with Webb finishing second again. With the 2019 and 2021 450 Supercross championship winner breathing down his neck in the closing laps, Webb served notice he was going to be very much in the thick of the conversation by closing the gap in the final laps and finishing just a little more than a second behind. There was some doubt at the beginning of the year after Webb struggled with a radical new bike design by manufacturer KTM. Justin Barcia rounded out the podium as Sexton finished fifth.
Results and points after San Diego
Race 3 | Anaheim 2
Hold on, it’s not a two-man battle for the 450 Supercross championship just yet. With two victories and a fifth (1-5-1), Sexton won the Anaheim Triple Crown format as Tomac and Webb both struggled. Webb barely failed to podium in the overall for the first time in 2023 with a fourth-place finish and Tomac was a relatively distant sixth. Tomac was in contention for the overall win with a third-place finish in Race 1 and a second in Race 2, but an intense battle with Webb caused him to jump wide in the final feature. He crashed hard and finished a distant 13th. Jason Anderson in second and Ken Roczen rounded out the podium.
Results and points after Anaheim 2
Race 4 | Houston
Tomac’s assault on the record book continued in Houston when he earned his 47th career win to close to within one of Carmichael. Tomac was not getting too far ahead in the 450 Supercross championship points, however, with a seven-point advantage over Sexton in second and 13 above Webb in third. The little bit of breathing room enjoyed by Tomac came courtesy of Webb finishing off the podium for the second consecutive race. Anderson made his presence known with a second consecutive podium, but the biggest news from the round was headlined by Dylan Ferrandis. Battling for eighth with Roczen in the Main, he overjumped and landed on that riders’ back wheel. Slamming face first into the dirt, Ferrandis sustained a concussion that has kept him out of competition since.
Results and points after Houston
Race 5 | Tampa
It wasn’t exactly Babe Ruth pointing to the fence to signal a home run, but Webb told NBC Sports that he needed and expected to win in Tampa. Reminded that he was the “odd man in” with a 450 Supercross championship in the last two odd years, he closed the points’ gap to Tomac and trailed by just two points. It had been 22 races since his last Supercross win and “that’s too damn long,” Webb said immediately following the race. For Sexton, it was the first of several races in which he suffered self-inflicted points’ loss. Webb earned his victory by pressing Sexton into a mistake and forced that rider to crash. Sexton lost only three points with the fall, but he continued to have trouble in five of the next six rounds. Anderson was placed on probation for rough riding following an incident with Justin Barcia in this race.
Results and points after Tampa
Race 6 | Oakland
Tomac scored his 48th career win at Oakland, a race that was originally scheduled to be Round 2 of the 450 Supercross championship. With this win, he tied Carmichael for third on the all-time wins list, but he was forced to hold off a determined charge from Webb, who nearly took advantage of a Tomac mistake on the final lap. That would have been fitting since Tomac inherited the lead when Sexton crashed at about the halfway point while sporting a five-second lead. For Tomac, this was his second win following a disappointing round, making one of the 2023 themes the ability to bounce back. Tomac’s Houston victory came after he finished sixth in the Anaheim 2 Triple Crown and he was fifth the previous week at Tampa.
Results and points after Oakland
450 Supercross Championship Standings
Race 7 | Arlington
Webb once again closed to within two points of the 450 Supercross championship lead with the overall win in the second Triple Crown format race and he did so after steadily improving during the three features with a 5-2-1. With the same number of event points, Webb needed the tiebreaker that came with his Race 3 win to claim the overall victory and three extra points it provided. Sexton finished second with Tomac third. This was the third time in 2023 and the second consecutive race in which these three riders shared the podium. More importantly, the three-man battle was extraordinarily close with Tomac holding just a five-point advantage over Sexton in third.
Results and points after Arlington
Race 8 | Daytona
Crack open the record book again. Tomac added to his Daytona Supercross record with a fifth consecutive win and seventh overall. Equally important, he used this win to break out of the tie with Carmichael and take sole possession of third on the all-time wins list on a track where Carmichael once scored five consecutive victories as well. Tomac looked beatable at the start of the event. He was outside the top five in practice and fourth in qualification. It wasn’t until the heat that Tomac felt comfortable on his bike. Four the third consecutive race and fourth in the season, Tomac, Webb and Sexton shared a podium so the 450 Supercross championship remained tight.
Results and points after Daytona
Race 9 | Indianapolis
There were very few dry eyes in the house as Ken Roczen earned his first 450 Supercross race in more than a year. Riders lined up to congratulate him and the fans stayed on their feet through podium ceremony. It was a relief for the rider who finished second in the 2021 Supercross championship. This winter, Roczen made the bold decision to leave Honda and return to Suzuki, the bike of his youth. He desperately needed change, he said earlier in the season, and that change was good. Standing on the side of the podium, Webb wrestled the red plate away from Tomac when that rider had the worst performance of the year in eighth. Tomac announced the following week that he had been battling a stiff neck. Meanwhile another mistake by Sexton cost him 10 points and he was gradually losing contact with the leaders.
Results and points after Indianapolis
Race 10 | Detroit
For the fifth time in 10 rounds, Sexton, Webb and Tomac shared the podium, but the win was pyrrhic for Sexton as he was docked seven points for jumping in a red flag section of the course. By this point in the season, he’d lost 27 points with mistakes in five races, 17 of which came in the last two weeks - and that was precisely the points’ gap between him and the leader Webb. Sexton wasn’t out of contention yet, but it was starting to look grim. Notably, Sexton’s win came after Aaron Plessinger crashed with two laps remaining when his foot got caught in the dirt and launched him off his bike. After the race, Sexton said he was gratified that he kept his bike upright from gate drop to checkers.
Results and points after Detroit
Race 11 | Seattle
And then there were two. By now you’ve sensed several themes in the first 11 rounds of the 450 Supercross championship. Another win by Tomac came as Webb finished second to him for the fifth time. His 50th career win ties him for second on the all-time list with Stewart. For Tomac, it was a bounce back victory like his Houston and Oakland triumphs, but he was unable to gain sole possession of the red plate because of the doggedness of Webb. As for Sexton, another mistake relegated him to fifth at the checkers and cost him another eight points from where he had been running at the time. The lost opportunities now total 35 points. Sexton cannot be discounted entirely with six rounds remaining, but with 22 points behind Webb and Tomac, he needs those riders to make a mistake and they have practically been immune to that.
Results and points after Seattle
Sexton’s mistakes notwithstanding, the top three in points have dominated the season. Between them, they have won all but one race and have earned 25 of 33 podium finishes. With three podiums, Barcia has challenged them most often followed by Anderson and Roczen earning two each. Plessinger is the only other rider to earn a podium when he was third in Tampa.