Colorado’s Eli Tomac took his first win of the season, and his first since returning from his 2023 Achilles injury, with 1-1-1 race scores at the St. Louis Triple Crown Supercross at the weekend.
With the win at round 12, Yamaha’s Tomac became the sixth different rider to win in this highly competitive season, although young Australian Jett Lawrence (Honda) still heads the series standings, eight points ahead of nearest challenger Cooper Webb (Yamaha).
Webb earned second overall in St Louis with (5-6-2) race finishes inside The Dome at America’s Center.
With the finish, Webb captured the championship-within-a-championship 3-Round Triple Crown title.
In the race format that combines the finishes from three separate races, Australian Hunter Lawrence, elder brother of Jett Lawrence, earned his career-first 450SX class podium with (8-2-4) race finishes.
The unpredictability of the Triple Crown format showed a few new wrinkles in St. Louis with five riders getting docked positions in Race Two due to red cross flag infractions. Also, a big crash in race three, when championship leader Jett Lawrence was T-boned by Justin Barcia, caused a big change in the points standings.
In the Western Regional 250SX class, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen was nearly picture-perfect throughout the night; he took the overall win with 1-1-1 race wins.
“I had so many questions, and honestly doubt, in my mind that at this point in the season before this weekend,” Tomac said.
“You know, questioning the comeback and where I was. So, to do this here, to feel that way, to get those rides in all through those motos, that felt like old me. So, this was so awesome … Thank you to the team for believing in me, Monster Energy Star Yamaha, everyone, so thank you St. Louis,” he concluded.
Hunter Lawrence was equally happy to be on the podium for the first time this season.
“Man, it’s awesome. We had a little bit of an upgrade, I’d say, from the second moto to the third one with the Red Cross flag [penalty on some other riders]. But hey, I’ve been on the bad end of that deal many a time, so we’ll take it,” Lawrence said.
“That was a pretty good feeling. I’m bummed to not have Jett up here with me. We all saw what happened, that sucks, but yeah I’m honoured to be sharing the podium with Tomac and Webb.
“You know, I watched these guys racing on this stage when I was still in Australia as a kid, so it’s pretty cool. We’ll take it, try and build, and we’ll try and get a really legitimised one next time we’re back.”
The 17-round Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship takes next weekend off before resuming for the final five rounds on five consecutive weekends.
Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts hosts Round 13 on Saturday, April 13. The event will mark the return of the Eastern Regional 250SX Class for its sixth round.
Photo courtesy Honda
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