The Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton, um, chase, is creating some history. Two riders operating at a high level and pushing each other every week seems like old news in this sport, but the Tomac/Sexton run is actually becoming one of the more compelling duels, based on two key stats.
First, a look at the points standings. The Instagram account @MXReference unearthed two huge stats regarding the Sexton/Tomac seasons. @MXReference has stats going back to 1985. Going into round six, Tomac was tied for the second most amount of points ever for a rider not leading the series at that point in the season. That means Tomac was putting together a great season, but Sexton was so consistent he was still holding him down to second in the standings. Tomac had 267 points and was ranked second, Ryan Dungey had 271 in 2013 and was second in points. Mike Kiedrowski also had 267, the same as Tomac, and was second in points in 1994.
Now Tomac has taken the points lead, and Sexton has the most points of any rider after seven rounds to not have the points lead (since 1985).
Sexton only has one overall win, but he’s finished first or second in every moto but one this year, and his one bad moto was a fourth. It’s been an impressive season. Yet not enough to maintain the points lead!
Here’s why: Tomac just rang up seven-straight moto wins. When Eli’s rolling, he’s nearly unstoppable, and he's been every bit as good in 2022 as he has in his 2017, 2018 and 2019 title seasons. Sexton has tried to minimize the damage, finishing second in all seven of those motos. That pattern of seven-straight 1-2 finishes got our own Kellen Brauer thinking. Does this happen often? In a sport with so much domination—like those perfect seasons from Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart—you would think seven-straight wins and seven-straight seconds would happen quite a bit.
It doesn’t!
The last time this happened was back during Stewart’s 2008 perfect season, when Stewart and Mike Alessi went 1-2 in seven straight. So Tomac and Sexton have matched that mark, and if they happen to go 1-2 again in Washougal’s first moto, they’ll eclipse that mark. Only one other time have two riders had a longer streak of 1-2 finishes, and it’s exactly the two riders you would think. In 2005, Ricky Carmichael and Kevin Windham went 1-2 in 12-straight motos. Poor Windham spent a lot of time going fast but dealing with RC. The 12-straight wins for RC with Windham in second 12 times is the all-time streak of 1-2 finishes.
Thanks to our own stat man Clinton Fowler, we have the data on the longest such streaks of 1-2 finishes.
12x 2005 RC & Windham
7x 2008 Stewart & Alessi
5x 2004 RC & Reed (twice)
5x 2016 Roczen & Tomac
4x 1995-96 McGrath & Emig
4x 2003 Windham & Carmichael
4x 2006 RC & Stewart
4x 2007 RC & Stewart
4x 2013 RV & Dungey (twice)
3x 1979 Hannah & Tripes
3x 1981 Howerton & Hannah (twice)
3x 1983 Hannah & RJ
3x 1989 Stanton & Ward
3x 1990 Ward & Stanton (Stanton actually finished 2nd 5 motos in a row - 2 to RJ and then 3 to Wardy)
3x 1993 Kiedrowski & Larocco
3x 1994 Kiedrowski & Larocco
3x 1996 McGrath & Emig (twice)
3x 2002 RC & Ferry
3x 2003 RC & Windham
3x 2004 RC & Reed
3x 2006 RC & Reed
3x 2008 Stewart & Ferry
3x 2008 Stewart & Short
3x 2011 Dungey & Villopoto
3x 2012 Dungey & Alessi
3x 2013 RV & Dungey
3x 2015 Dungey & Roczen
3x 2018 Tomac & Musquin
Such streaks do happen in a sport where one rider can really grab control of a series. Our man Davey Coombs checked in with a reminder from supercross, where an even weirder streak once took place.
Said DC: Don't forget the bizarre results of the last six rounds of the 2003 AMA Supercross Championship. The results from St. Louis, Houston, Pontiac, Irving, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas were all identical 1-2-3s:
1.) Chad Reed
2.) Ricky Carmichael
3.) Ernesto Fonseca
Yeah, it happens, and in this case Reed’s six-race win streak almost allowed to him dig out the supercross title, but Carmichael held on with those seconds. Six-straight wins wasn't enough to get the title. We’ll see which way the Tomac and Sexton battle goes!
