Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac took home a runner-up finish today in the challenging conditions at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. He leaves Atlanta, Georgia, with a healthy 53-point lead in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450SX Championship with just three rounds remaining.
Heavy rain in the early hours of the day postponed on-track activities and shortened the schedule to just one session of qualifying. Tomac had a solid start to the 14th round of the championship, qualifying fourth, and then had another good ride in his heat race to finish second in the tricky track conditions. The red plate holder had a good start in the main event and quickly moved to third but was shuffled back to fifth on that first lap. Tomac put his head down and made his way back to second with five laps remaining. His 11th podium of the season moves him within striking distance of clinching the title as he holds a 53-point lead with just 75-points left on the table.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team heads north to Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Saturday, April 23, for Round 15 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship at the Gillette Stadium.
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing 450 Team Manager
“It was a good day. Obviously, it was a little different with the rain day schedule and only getting to see the track once before racing with just the one session. Sometimes we like to get our bodies a little warmer than that, but it was all right in the end. The heat race went well. He passed Jason (Anderson) and got passed back but rode really well. The main event wasn’t the best of the opening laps, but it ended up well with another podium and we are still where we need to be in the points.”
Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing
“It was a really tough track that changed the whole time and was very challenging throughout the day. In the morning, it was really slick, then it slowly came around, but it was still a tough race track. I made a couple of mistakes early in the main event, and that got me out of touch with the lead, but I was able to have a good second half of the race and fought to finish second on the podium. So it was a solid night and good for the championship.”
