Eli Tomac Can Clinch 450SX Title on Wednesday Night at SLC 6 With Win
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac has the opportunity to clinch his first ever premier class title of Monster Energy AMA Supercross on Wednesday, June 17, at the Salt Lake City 6 Supercross in Rice-Eccles Stadium if he wins the 450SX main event.
Tomac (343 points) has a 24-point lead over Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen (319 points) and a 25-point lead over Red Bull KTM’s defending 450SX champion Cooper Webb (318 points) in the championship.
450SX Points standings through round 15:
- Eli Tomac | 343 points | 7 wins
- Ken Roczen | 319 points | 4 wins | -24 points
- Cooper Webb | 318 points | 3 wins | -25 points
With the current points scale that was implemented at the start of the 2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, 52 points remain available in the last two rounds (26 points per main event win times two main events remaining). If Tomac is able to have a gap of 26 points or more over the second place rider by the end of Wednesday night, he will clinch the title early (having a 26-point gap would mean he would win the tie breaker of season wins and anything more than 26 would be mathematically impossible to makeup at the final round).
If Tomac Wins on Wednesday Night
A Tomac win (and full 26 points) in the main event would give him a three-point advantage on whoever finishes second in the race (26 points for first place, 23 points for second place as seen above):
- If Roczen finishes second in the race, Tomac would have a 27-point lead over Roczen.
- If Webb finishes second in the race, Tomac would have a 28-point lead over Webb.
Therefore, if Tomac wins the main event, no matter where Roczen or Webb finish, he will clinch the 450SX Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship since he has a lead of more than 26 points.
If Either Roczen or Webb Win on Wednesday Night
If Roczen wins and Tomac finishes second (or worse), Roczen’s points total would become 345 and Tomac’s total would be 366, meaning Roczen would have a 21-point deficit to Tomac so the championship won’t be decided until Sunday’s main event.
If Webb wins and Tomac finishes second (or worse), Webb’s points total would become 344 and Tomac’s total would be 366, meaning Webb would have a 22-point deficit to Tomac so the championship won’t be decided until Sunday’s main event.
Long story short, if Roczen or Webb finish higher than Tomac, the championship will come down to Sunday’s race.
The 250SX Championships
The 250SX East and West Region championships are both still up for grabs, as GECIO Honda’s Chase Sexton (166 points) leads the 250SX East Region Championship by three points over Shane McElrath (163 points). Now, this can change by Sunday, as the 250SX East Region will race on Wednesday before Sunday’s 250SX East/West Showdown, but there’s a really good chance that championship won’t be decided until Sunday evening when the checkered flag waves.
As for the 250SX West Region Championship, Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis (181 points) has a seven-point lead over Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner (174 points) with only the 250SX East/West Showdown on Sunday remaining. Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha’s Justin Cooper (164 points) sits 17 points behind his teammate in third, still mathematically alive in the title hunt.
With so much up in the air still with the 250SX East racing tomorrow night, we will have an article here on RacerXOnline.com in the next few days (after Wednesday’s action) that explains the math and title scenarios for both the 250SX classes heading into the final round 250SX East/West Showdown on Sunday.
