For a brief moment when the engines of the factory bikes were hot, the racing world felt normal. But as the riders from the 250SX East and 450SX class riders crossed the finish line and the silence of the day feel over a crowd-less stadium, a winner was still crowned and the silence echoed “we will ride this out.”
“This was huge for us,” said Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac after his 450SX premier class win extended his poitns lead over Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen with six races to go.
Tomac was right, that was huge for them as a team, to get the remainder of the season started with a win after the 85 day layoff due to COVid-19. But it was bigger than a win for them. It was a win for normalcy. Especially now, as things seem to be breaking down along political lines (sadly yet predictably), the roar of the engines unified a community that doesn’t care what side of the aisle you fall, the only difference that is argued is who is the best rider. This race was more than a mere round 11 in the 17 race series.
“”It’s so cool to get to go back to racing here in Salt Lake City and get back to riding and racing and doing what we know,” continued Tomac. “Overall, awesome day there. The track got really slick at the end, lots of dust flying and lots of hunting for traction. I was a little slower early on, got to improve on that next time, especially if these guys up their game. So overall, really good day for points and just thanks to everyone.”
Typical Tomac answer. Short to the point and no fluff. Thats how you know that things, as much as they can be, were normal again.
In the Eastern Regional 250SX Class it was 2020 opening round division winner Shane McElrath leading from the drop of the gate until the checkered flag. The win closed McElrath to within 7 points of the championship lead with four rounds remaining in the division.
Eastern Regional points leader GEICO Honda’s Chase Sexton was third at the holeshot line and quickly into second by the second corner. Sexton kept within two seconds of McElrath for most of the race but could never make a pass attempt. Utah-local Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Garrett Marchbanks, winner of the previous round 85 days prior, was fifth off the start; two and a half minutes into the racing he got into third with an aggressive contact-pass on GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin and held the position until the end.
“This is what we work to do,” McElrath said. “We had, I wouldn’t say some struggles, but it was like a big learning curve for me the first four rounds [on my new team]. Our results don’t show the progress we made. And now I’ve gotten to spend another 85 days since our last race on this bike and working with the team and making changes; and man, it’s been a growing time, not only mentally, physically, but also spiritually. The Lord is using this time, whether you believe it or not, I believe that this is for a reason and I want to be a light. I want to honor this team and the Monster Energy Star Racing team. They want to win, they’re competitive, and I feel like I fit right in there.”
Onto round 12.
The next race takes place on Wednesday, June 3rd, at 10:00 PM ET. Race times will vary; please go to supercrosslive.com for the full schedule and don’t miss the action on NBC, NBCSN, and the NBC Sports Gold app.