Eli Tomac held off Chase Sexton to take a huge win for the momentum of the 2023 supercross series at Houston. After his win last weekend, Sexton was full of confidence and even passed Tomac to win the heat race but come main event time, Tomac was ready for war.
He took the holeshot with Sexton midway in the top ten but the Honda rider was on a mission and passed Anderson and Plessinger to take second and set his sights on Eli. Sexton got to his back wheel, but Tomac refused to give in as Sexton searched for a way without success and then Tomac set down a marker as he pulled away to win by a couple of seconds in an emphatic display of mental toughness and speed against the young buck.
Jason Anderson took third but Cooper Webb was back in sixth, not on the pace he wanted as Roczen lost seventh on the last lap to Justin Cooper who had an impressive ride for seventh in his first 450 race.
Unfortunately the race had to be red flagged a couple of laps in after Dylan Ferrandis landed ahrd on his his head/neck and had to be carted off in a neck brace, but he was at least sitting up.
After crashing out of the 450 main event, Dylan is being evaluated and we will provide an update once we know more 💙
— Star Racing Yamaha (@StarRacingYam) February 5, 2023
They restarted in line with Tomac out front – and that is where he stayed despite that Sexton pressure. It’s three out of four wins for Tomac as the rest search for answers to his brilliance.
Tom Vialle took the early lead in his first ever supercross race and lead the opening couple of laps after Hunter Lawrence went off track after Vialle whipped it over the triple close to the Aussie who had to take avoided action!
Vialle looked calm and composed everywhere, but was losing time in the whoops as Lawrence made the pass for the lead followed by Max Anstie who took second. From there Vialle settled in and went Anstie’s pace as Jordon Smith hit the deck while in the battle just behind Vialle.
With two minutes to go Vialle looked to have a podium in the bag until he crashed in a bowl turn and was relegated to sixth! He was then in fifth until another mistake, again in a turn, of all places, cost him momentum in the whoops and Deegan and Mosiman sped by leaving Vialle in seventh by the flag in a race that he had a huge opportunity to podium – but it was a very impressive debut for a rider with no supercross experience.
Another strong debut was Haiden Deegan who hovered jsut outside the top five for most of the race but was looking good and with Vialle’s mistake and Jeremy Martin crashing on the last lap, Deegan took a brilliant fourth place as the rookies impressed. But it was the Honda’s who shone brightest with Lawrence and Anstier 1-2 at the opener and showing they have the speed to be the guys to beat this season, as did Jordon Smith who still took third despite his crash.
Report: Jonathan McCready
Image: Yamaha