Report & results: Abu Dhabi WSX – Tomac champion!

Eli Tomac and Shane McElrath were crowned WSX SX1 and SX2 world champion’s respectively in a night of tight racing on a tight track in Abu Dhabi that had heart rates high in every moto!

SX1

Race one: Vince Friese took the holeshot with Savatgy second Roczen third after he passed Oldenburg and Tomac back in sixth! Roczen went for a 2 for 1 pass for the lead but made contact with Friese and got his front wheel caught in a tuff block! This dropped Roczen back to fifth with Tomac up to fourth and the race was on. Savatgy got the lead passing Friese but then he went down and handed Friese the lead back as Tomac got up to second and Roczen third. Roczen wasn’t done and made the move on Tomac but ran out of time on the last lap to find a way by Friese who took the win!

Abu Dhabi Race 1 was one of the Best @vincefriese race ! @kenroczen94 and @elitomac were all over him, but they were both battling each other! Amazing race ! pic.twitter.com/HicY5TiyOV
— Dirtbikelover (@Dirtbike_Lovers) December 4, 2024

Friese holds off Tomac and Roczen! 😯#AbuDhabiGP #WSX #SX2 pic.twitter.com/rSEQha7ogA
— WSX Championship (@FIMWSX) December 4, 2024

Race two: Joey Savatgy took the holeshot with Vince Friese second but Roczen and Tomac this time made quick work of Friese and both passed him on lap one to set after Savatgy who was trying to pull away. But then Savatgy slid out and it was Roczen and Tomac 1-2 again, Tomac kept the pressure on but Roczen held on to take the win with no mistakes and said: “It’s tough out here, it is so hard to pass. The whoops are really tricky and the races are short but super intense, it’s definitely not easy, me and Eli separated ourselves from the field (in moto two).”

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Race three: Ken Roczen took the holeshot and the win with Savatgy on this tail until he went over the berm with a couple of laps to go allowing Tomac into second. “I pushed so hard and I couldn’t separate myself, those guys were riding really well,” said Roczen on his second victory of the night.

SX2

Race one Superpole winner, Shane McElrath, ran away with race one after passing holeshot man Cullin Park in the first rhythm lane. But on-one else could find their way by the Honda rider with Park holding off Schock and Thompson who fought to keep Lopes behind him until Lopes crashed on the last lap elevating Desprey to fifth.

Race two: Shane McElrath holeshot again but this time Schock went down in turn one then teammate Lopes went down on the first lap while second giving McElrath a gap at the front with Desprey a strong ride for second – but that win clinched McElrath the SX2 WSX title.

McElrath said: “Really all about opportunity, this Firepower Honda team.This has been such a great year, I am having a blast racing. Praise the Lord, this is what we work for.”

Race three: Shane McElrath holeshot and ran away with the win to make it three wins out of three as Desprey passed Cole Thompson for a great second place finish. Enzo Lopes went down in turn one but made enough passes to get top 8 overall and squeak into the superfinal.

Superfinal

Eli Tomac finally took the holeshot and pushed hard to pull away from Joey Savatgy with Roczen taking three laps to get around SX2 champ, Shane McElrath, for third and by lap eight he had made the move on Joey Savatgy, enough to clinch the overall win as Tomac took the Superfinal win to celebrate his first WSX crown in style.

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Tomac said: “I’ve been improving, this was a really fun global tour, the first time in Abu Dhabi was neat too. (The title) feels awesome, thank you to everyone. This was so fun to go to new races in new places, Joey and Ken rode so well tonight, glad I was able to sneak in a win there at the end. Supercross deserves to be global.”

Overall winner in Abu Dhabi, Ken Roczen said: “This was a much better weekend for me than the other ones, still the starts – I cannot get off the line but the riding was much better. Nice to finish on a high note.”

While third overall on the day and the series Joey Savatgy said: “I am happy with how I rode, I had good speed but threw away two. I am glad to get out of here healthy, go home and reset.”

SX2 Overall