SAN DIEGO, California:

Eli Tomac seized the lead on Lap 15 and maintained it for the final nine laps around the Snapdragon Stadium track. However, he faced constant challenges throughout the race, as unexpected developments kept the competition intense.

Tomac is not typically known for being a strong starter, so his third-place finish at the end of Lap 1 came as a surprise to many. He spent much of the race following Ken Roczen, attempting to overtake him but ultimately failing due to Roczen’s experience. Tomac managed to get alongside Roczen on one occasion during Lap 10, but the veteran rider quickly retook the lead.

Despite this setback, Tomac regained his momentum and made another attempt to pass Roczen. His efforts paid off, and he briefly took the lead before Roczen fought back. Meanwhile, Hunter Lawrence also made a strong move forward, eventually taking second place.

“I tried to play the patience game,” Tomac said in the post-race media scrum. “Hunter and Ken were really dicing it out, so I kind of just tried to warm up into the race there and stay on them, but also try not to do anything too wild. And then of course made my way forward a pass Hunter and then started dicing with Ken back and forth.”

The first time Tomac passed Hunter Lawrence, he felt confident that he could pull away. However, that didn’t happen, and Ken Roczen reclaimed the lead. “Once I got in front of him the second time, got back into a good groove again, I thought I was all good,” Tomac added.

Tomac remained in the lead for the rest of the race, securing back-to-back wins to start the season. However, the victory was not without its challenges. Hunter Lawrence refused to fade, pushing Tomac hard in the final laps.

“The last lap, I go over the tunnel and I hear this rev and I look over and I see a red fender and I’m just like, what in the world is that? And it was Hunter, so I’m kind of bummed with myself,” Tomac said. “I just wasn’t paying attention.”

After the race, Tomac left San Diego with an eight-point lead over Ken Roczen in the championship standings.

Hunter Lawrence started the race strongly, earning the holeshot and leading early. He lost the lead on Lap 8 but remained in close contact with Tomac and Roczen. Lawrence moved into second place on Lap 18 of 24 and mounted a fierce challenge to Tomac in the closing laps.

“We did a lot of stuff during the week to try and help that out where I felt like we struggled in Anaheim,” Lawrence said. “All of the things I could have done better at Anaheim, [my brother] Jett fastly reminded me in the truck after, so we’ll go back and wait, hear what he has to say about this one.”

Lawrence chuckled at the thought of returning to the track for further analysis.

Ken Roczen finished on the podium for the second consecutive week, marking one of his strongest starts to the season in recent memory.

“I led the most laps, but I got last podium spot,” Roczen said. “But no, it was an amazing race, honestly. I had a lot of fun. We were going back and forth and ultimately after I got passed by Eli, I just had a lap and a half of falling in a terrible rhythm and got passed by Hunter too.”

Chase Sexton earned the Hard Charger award this week, climbing from 22nd to fourth place after starting the race at the back of the pack. He hit the gate late and was the last rider to get going.

Joey Savatgy secured his first top-five finish since finishing fifth in the final race of the 2025 Supercross season in Salt Lake City.

450 Feature Results