In 52 runnings of the Daytona Supercross, the race has always held a reputation of one of the most unique and prestigious events on the annual racing calendar. That rep comes from the challenge of the track and the famous atmosphere associated with high-end racing of all kinds. That makes the race great as it is, but the 2022 running of the event added a whole ‘nother element, a whole ‘nother level. The racing was unreal good, the crowd was electric, and when combined with the usual Daytona aspects, it made for probably the best overall experience at the event in those 52 years. Best Daytona Supercross ever? Likely.
It came down to history, really. Only this 2022 event will have the spectere of Eli Tomac chasing the all-time win mark at this race, as the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing man was closing on six wins at the speedway, which would break a tie with Ricky Carmichael on the board here. Beating The GOAT is no joke, and the fans, and Tomac, clearly felt the gravity of it. Also, it looked to be in doubt. Tomac was merely hovering near the top five in all the practice sessions, and his heat race was only okay. Early in the main event he found himself third, but early leaders Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton were getting away, and Justin Barcia was showing him a wheel from behind.
“At one point I was starting to doubt myself,” Tomac said.
Things began to unfold. The track got rougher and Tomac got better, eventually shedding the pressure from Barcia and overwhelming Sexton. Sexton commented on how the veteran riders around him did better job adapting to the track as it changed. This left one challenge: could Tomac, chasing history, track down Webb, one of the saltiest and savviest in the game?
We’ll never know. As the clock ticked down, they exchanged mistakes and chunks of time. Webb held 3 seconds at one point, then Tomac cut it down, then Webb opened it back up. Lapped traffic became a factor, and they gained and lost time dealing with that. Then it came totally unravled in the whoops, when lapped rider Shane McElrath tried to move over and went right into Webb’s line. That was it—Tomac sailed past to take the lead. He led three laps total, and they were the ones that counted.
“I was not feeling good in practice,” said Tomac. “Dinking with clickers and going back and forth. I felt like a had my work cut out for me, but once the lights turned on, I don’t know, it’s like everything started working again. Six….is crazy.”
The normally reserved Tomac was absolutely beaming on the podium, greeted by a massive crowd which is allowed to greet the podium. Webb, meanwhile, was sitting there furious, knowing his chance has slipped away. Could he have toppled Tomac at Daytona? It’s hard to bet against a six-time winner, but Webb knows how critical momentum is at mid-season, and he would loved to have taken his best shot at it.
“It sucks being in that position, but it is what it is,” said Webb, later, when he had collected his thoughts and tried to find the positive. “Tonight was a huge step in the right direction as far as having the pace and the speed. Like Eli said, he had good spots and I had good spots. Overall this is the best I’ve raced and ridden at Daytona, and the best I’ve ridden this season.”
Sexton was third. Tomac was a big winner in another way because his chief championship rival Jason Anderson ended up getting in more drama, again with Malcolm Stewart. For Stewart, a dream night was in the offing, as he was fastest in qualifying and won his heat race. Home-state vibes jiving, it was all lined up for Stewart especially when he got a good start in the main. He and Tomac hit each other in the second corner of the main, but only in the standard bunch up at the start of a race, and Anderson tried to take advantage by getting inside. As all three hit, Stewart ended up off the track.
There’s bad blood with Anderson from last week, after Anderson knocked them both down trying to take the lead. While this particular incident from Anderson was actually not dirty at all, Stewart had enough, and he pinned it on the side of the track and squared Anderson up in a sand turn, taking them both down. They got up at the back of the pack and then battled their way forward together, a shot at a key victory ruined for both. The bad blood from last week had spilled over to Daytona. Later, Stewart tipped over in a turn, and his teammate Dean Wilson got stuck behind him, and then Anderson bumped into Wilson and went down. Wild, wild stuff. Later, the AMA penalized Stewart and Anderson one spot each because they had both gone fast on the side of the track. They were listed as eighth (Stewart) and ninth (Anderson) in the final results, and now Tomac has an eight-point lead over Anderson, and Webb has overtaken Stewart for third.
Dylan Ferrandis was strong at the end and got to fourth, Barcia was fifth ahead of Marvin Musquin. Ken Roczen was ninth but bumped up to seventh. He was better at this race than previous races the last few weeks, but still not nearly the Roczen we’ve seen in previous years. Wilson was tenth.
In the 250 class, the Daytona fans were excited to see Jett Lawrence join the fray racing the event for the first time. He didn’t disappoint. It started with a dominant heat race win, and then his mistook the white flag for a checkered flag and nearly gave it up before the screaming fans and some flaggers gave him the message to keep going. In the main, he quickly dusted new holeshot master Stilez Robertson to pull away and notch a pretty simple win. But Lawrence still commented that the track was super rough and he had many close moments.
Robertson loves Daytona for some reason, as he now has two career podiums, both from here. “I don’t know why!” said Robertson. “I grew up in California, riding hard pack! Maybe I just learned riding sketchy tracks in the hills. I don’t know. Next year, I definitely want to make sure I race east coast so I can race this race!”
Cameron McAdoo was tied with Lawrence for the points lead coming into this event, but he had a tough time. In his heat race, he said he dabbed his leg wrong and hurt his knee, and then banged the leg into his footpeg. He said the knee started swelling immediately and he knew he was in trouble. He toughed it out in the main, surviving an mega battle with RJ Hampshire, Pierce Brown, Enzo Lopes and Phil Nicoletti to get a podium. He could barely stand for the podium, but he does believe the knee injury is just from the impact with the footpeg, not an actual ligament injury. He thinks he’ll be okay long term.
Brown rode a good race for fourth, Hampshire stalled and dropped back to 7th. Jordon Smith was solid for sixth. Lopes hung on for fourth, but he and Nicoletti were disappointed that they both ran into slipping clutches while battling for podium spots. Nicoletti was seventh.
