Eli Tomac took advantage of the three-race format in the Glendale Triple Crown to pad his numbers in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings and gain momentum with five rounds remaining in the Monster Energy Supercross championship.
Tomac has dominated the wins column in the 450 class with seven, but he has not posted back-to-back victories this season since the opening two rounds when he took the season opener in Anaheim and followed with a victory the following week in San Diego. The field closed in on Tomac beginning the following week when he struggled in the second Anaheim race, which was also run with the Triple Crown format.
Tomac’s loss of the red plate at Indianapolis was preceded by his losing the top spot in the Power Rankings following his Daytona win. Chase Sexton and Cooper Webb each had better 45-day averages at that time. But now, after a three-week hiatus from the top spot, Tomac is back in the lead and that bodes well for his title run. Last week Tomac came up just shy of earning maximum points because of a second-place finish in the second feature. He won the first and second race and took the overall victory.
Webb retained the second position in the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Glendale with a perfect record of top-five finishes in heats and features in the past 45 days. But unless he’s capable of beating Tomac consistently in the next five rounds, simply finishing well is not going to be enough. Webb struggled in Glendale with a fifth-place finish in Race 2 and a fourth in the final feature and that forced him to give up the top spot.
MORE: Eli Tomac earns 51st win, claims sole possession of second in SX
Sexton won the only race not claimed by Tomac, but a fourth-place finish in the first feature cost him percentage points. More costly still was the 10th-place finish he earned six weeks ago in Indianapolis when he suffered through one of multiple mistakes that has plagued this rider and effectively eliminated him from title contention.
With a 28-point lead over Jason Anderson in the championship standings, Sexton is unlikely to lose third in the points, but Justin Barcia is closing in on him in the Power Rankings and that could prove to be valuable when the outdoor season starts. In his last 12 heat and feature races combined, Barcia has failed to finish in the top 10 only once. He was sixth last week in the second Triple Crown race but a third and second in the other two features counterbalanced that.
Ken Roczen is the only rider outside the top three in points with a win this season and he is also the only rider other than them to top the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings through the Glendale round. He has earned his stature with consistency and a worst result of seventh in the past 45 days. With Aaron Plessinger struggling last week and finishing ninth in two of the Triple Crown features, Roczen climbed to fifth in our rankings.
450 Rankings
| This Week | Driver | Percentage Points | Last Week | Diff. |
| 1. | Eli Tomac | 87.42 | 2 | 1 |
| 2. | Cooper Webb | 85.75 | 1 | -1 |
| 3. | Chase Sexton | 85.33 | 3 | 0 |
| 4. | Justin Barcia | 85.00 | 4 | 0 |
| 5. | Ken Roczen | 81.17 | 6 | 1 |
| 6. | Adam Cianciarulo | 72.80 | 8 | 2 |
| 7. | Christian Craig | 72.25 | 9 | 2 |
| 8. | Aaron Plessinger | 71.58 | 7 | -1 |
| 9. | Jason Anderson | 70.75 | 5 | -4 |
| 10. | Colt Nichols | 62.75 | 14 | 4 |
| 11. | Justin Hill | 58.08 | 11 | 0 |
| 12. | Dean Wilson | 55.00 | 12 | 0 |
| 13. | Shane McElrath | 46.75 | 15 | 2 |
| 14. | Josh Hill | 46.08 | 13 | -1 |
| 15. | Benny Bloss | 42.18 | 16 | 1 |
| 16. | Grant Harlan | 40.92 | 17 | 1 |
| 17. | Kyle Chisholm | 40.90 | 22 | 5 |
| 18. | Cade Clason | 36.75 | 20 | 2 |
| 19. | Lane Shaw | 36.67 | 19 | 0 |
| 20. | Joan Cros | 33.80 | 27 | 7 |
Jett Lawrence continued his domination of the 250 West class with his fifth win of the season. It was a relief to the rider to finally get a Triple Crown format win because they are the only thing that has eluded him in his brief but stellar career in this division. It also sets him up with a points’ lead that is practically unassailable with three rounds remaining. With a worst finish of third in the second feature last week, Lawrence has been practically perfect in podium finishes during the past 90 days. His only show of weakness was a sixth-place finish in the second feature in Anaheim’s Triple Crown.
The Lawrence brothers are so tightly grouped, however, that the third-place finish in Race 2 last week cost Jett just enough points in our formula to allow Hunter to nip him by a little more than a tenth of a point. The series moves to Atlanta this week and the 250 East riders mount up. It will be interesting to see if Hunter can hold onto the overall top spot for one more week.
Levi Kitchen has found his rhythm with the Triple Crown races. He won the Anaheim 2 race under that format without scoring a feature win. He failed to win again this week, but with results of third, second and second, he remained in contact with the leaders until the end of each race. Moreover, he led the first two laps of Races 1 and 3 and that shows power.
Cameron McAdoo crashed while practicing ahead of the Glendale race and needed surgery to repair a torn labrum. It is unclear when he will return, but he built up enough of a margin in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings before Glendale to hold onto his third spot among 250 West riders for now.
For the fifth time in six rounds, RJ Hampshire finished second to Lawrence. The good news is that he is the hottest rider other than the Lawrence brothers in the past 45 days. Since there are relatively long periods of inactivity in each the 250 East and West class, we’ve set the SuperMotocross Power Rankings formula to 90 days for this division so we can compare more events. The only time this year Hampshire struggled was in the Anaheim 2 Triple Crown.
Pierce Brown swept the top five last week in Glendale and jumped four positions in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings. In the last 90 days, he has finished worse than eighth only once and like Hampshire his bobble came in the A2 Triple Crown.
250 Rankings
| This Week |
Driver | Percentage Points |
Last Week |
Diff. |
| 1. | Hunter Lawrence – E | 90.43 | 2 | 1 |
| 2. | Jett Lawrence – W | 90.29 | 1 | -1 |
| 3. | Nate Thrasher – E | 84.00 | 3 | 0 |
| 4. | Levi Kitchen – W | 79.57 | 9 | 5 |
| 5. | Cameron McAdoo – W | 78.50 | 4 | -1 |
| 6. | Haiden Deegan – E | 78.21 | 5 | -1 |
| 7. | Jeremy Martin – E | 78.00 | 6 | -1 |
| 8. | RJ Hampshire – W | 77.71 | 8 | 0 |
| 9. | Jordon Smith – E | 76.77 | 7 | -2 |
| 10. | Pierce Brown – W | 75.86 | 14 | 4 |
| 11. | Max Anstie – E | 74.43 | 10 | -1 |
| 12. | Tom Vialle – E | 72.07 | 13 | 1 |
| 13. | Mitchell Oldenburg – W | 69.29 | 11 | -2 |
| 14. | Enzo Lopes – W | 67.57 | 15 | 1 |
| 15. | Chris Blose – E | 67.43 | 16 | 1 |
| 16. | Chance Hymas – E | 67.10 | 17 | 1 |
| 17. | Max Vohland – W | 65.92 | 12 | -5 |
| 18. | Michael Mosiman – E | 65.80 | 18 | 0 |
| 19. | Derek Kelley – W | 59.36 | 21 | 2 |
| 20. | Carson Mumford – W | 59.17 | NA |
* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner and 90 points for each Heat and Triple Crown win, (Triple Crown wins are included with heat wins below the rider’s name). 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 for the 450 class and last 90 days for 250s (because of the split nature of their season).
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 11 AT SEATTLE: Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac overtake Chase Sexton
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 10 AT DETROIT: Chase Sexton narrowly leads Cooper Webb
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 8 AT DAYTONA: Sexton unseats Eli Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 7 AT ARLINGTON: Jason Anderson narrowly trails Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 6 AT OAKLAND: Perfect night keeps Tomac first
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 5 AT TAMPA: Sexton, Webb close in
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 4 AT HOUSTON: Tomac rebounds from A2 crash, retakes lead
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 3 AT ANAHEIM 2: Consistency makes Ken Roczen king
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 2 AT SAN DIEGO: Roczen moves up, Sexton falls
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 1 AT ANAHEIM 1: Tomac, Jett Lawrence gain an early advantage
