SALT LAKE CITY SUPERCROSS, ROUND 12–COOPER WEBB STRIKES BACK!

Even though it was the second consecutive race in Rice Eccles Stadium of Salt Lake City, it was a very different situation from Sunday’s race. It was much cooler as the sun disappeared behind the mountains, giving a number of riders hope for a different outcome. It was an opportunity for Cooper Webb to take his turn up front,  winning the main event and keeping his title hopes alive. Still, Eli Tomac was tough for anyone to deal with. He clearly played chess for most of the main, picking off rider after rider on his way to second place and yet another week in the points lead. For extended coverage of 2020 Monster Energy Supercross, Round 12, click here.

HEAT ONE

The holeshot went to Cooper Webb, with none other than KTM-mounted Chad Reed in second. Malcolm Stewart squeaked past Reed quickly with Anderson following after that. In the early laps, Stewart pushed Webb relentlessly. With one lap to go, Malcolm came alive, passing Webb in the whoops. He held on despite the predictible pressure from Webb to take his career first 450 heat win.

1 Malcolm Stewart
2 Cooper Webb
3 Jason Anderson
4 Dean Wilson
5 Justin Brayton
6 Justin Barcia
7 Chad Reed
8 Aaron Plessinger
9 Vince Friese
10 Justin Hill
11 Fredrik Noren
12 Carlen Gardner
13 Joshua Cartwright
14 Nick Schmidt
15 Mason Kerr
16 Preston Taylor
17 Alexander Nagy
18 Deven Raper
19 Adam Cianciarulo

HEAT TWO

Ken Roczen pulled a beautiful holeshot in heat two while Eli Tomac was buried in the middle of the pack.  Roczen tired to pull away quickly, but made a mistake, pulling another of his amazing saves. By lap three, Tomac was already up to fifth, taking advantage of a crash by Blake Baggett. Soon, Roczen had a 5-second lead over Zach Osborne, Benny Bloss and Kyle Cunningham. Tomac picked off Cunningham next, then Bloss. On the second to last lap, Tomac passed Osborne, but that would be as far as he could go. Roczen won with a 7-second lead. Baggett caught up to seventh, earning a spot in the main ahead of Tyler Bowers and Kyle Chisholm

1 Ken Roczen
2 Eli Tomac
3 Zach Osborne
4 Benny Bloss
5 Martin Davalos
6 Kyle Cunningham
7 Blake Baggett
8 Tyler Bowers
9 Kyle Chisholm
10 Adam Enticknap
11 Cade Clason
12 Alex Ray
13 Logan Karnow
14 Theodore Pauli
15 Ryan Breece
16 Tevin Tapia
17 Carter Stephenson
18 Josh Greco
19 Scotty Wennerstrom
20 Jake Hogan

LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER

1 Justin Hill
2 Carlen Gardner
3 Adam Enticknap
4 Ryan Breece
5 Joshua Cartwright
6 Fredrik Noren
7 Theodore Pauli
8 Logan Karnow
9 Mason Kerr
10 Alex Ray
11 Cade Clason
12 Nick Schmidt
13 Carter Stephenson
14 Tevin Tapia
15 Deven Raper
16 Alexander Nagy
17 Preston Taylor
18 Josh Greco
19 Scotty Wennerstrom
20 Jake Hogan
21 Adam Cianciarulo

450 MAIN EVENT

It was a bar-to-bar start for Zach Osborne and Vince Friese with Tomac and Roczen both mid-pack. Friese went down on the second lap, setting the order at Osborne, Cooper Webb, Justin Barcia, Dean Wilson and Jason Anderson. Tomac passed Roczen, then was passed right back. Soon the two of them were sixth and seventh. Six laps into the race, and Roczen was fourth with Tomac tucking in right behind in fifth. That order remained more or less stable for a number of laps with Osborne continuing to lead but unable to pull away. Right about the halfway mark, Tomac upped his pace, moving past Roczen and closing on Anderson. Two laps later, Tomac took down Anderson. Meanwhile, Webb closed up on Osborne and started pushing for the lead.  With four laps to go, Webb took over, but by that time, Tomac was right there. That set up a Webb versus Tomac battle in the closing laps. In the end, Web kept it together to take the win and close within 13 points of the lead.

1 Cooper Webb
2 Eli Tomac
3 Zach Osborne
4 Jason Anderson
5 Ken Roczen
6 Dean Wilson
7 Malcolm Stewart
8 Justin Barcia
9 Justin Brayton
10 Justin Hill
11 Martin Davalos
12 Aaron Plessinger
13 Benny Bloss
14 Blake Baggett
15 Kyle Cunningham
16 Vince Friese
17 Chad Reed
18 Kyle Chisholm
19 Adam Enticknap
20 Carlen Gardner
21 Tyler Bowers
22 Ryan Breece