After dominating the 2026 AMA Supercross season opener in Anaheim, Eli Tomac acquired his KTM to the highest step of the rostrum once more in San Diego.
Tomac had a cautious begin to the race and settled into third place early on, however Ken Roczen and holeshot winner Hunter Lawrence battled for the lead.
Lawrence started to fall again after a number of laps, and Roczen and Tomac each pulled out in fast succession after six minutes.
The 2 veterans then battled for the lead, with Purple Bull KTM’s Tomac passing Roczen on the 90-degree nook on the finish of a protracted rhythm, however Suzuki reversed within the flip after the go-ahead.
Tomac then took a number of laps to recuperate and eventually moved into the lead with six minutes remaining. This time the nook was one lap slower than my first try.
For Roczen, his quest for victory was right here. Tomac shortly moved the German into second place, however was quickly overtaken by Lawrence. Lawrence by no means closed greater than two seconds behind the chief after dropping to 3rd place, however he was additionally handed by Lawrence within the first flip after the end, just some laps after shedding the lead.
Lawrence began second place with a virtually two-second hole over Tomac, however was capable of shut the hole to zero by the ultimate lap. His first win on a 450SX got here shut for the Australian, however there was little margin for error as he overtook the second-most received rider in Supercross historical past by only one lap.
The Honda HRC rider landed within the whoop part and jumped the ultimate over-under bridge on Tomac’s rear tire. Lawrence switched from outdoors to inside within the braking zone of the following nook, however stopped the transfer on the final minute sensing potential heavy contact with Tomac.
Backing out the move value Lawrence momentum and time and he was unable to regain it with laps remaining, releasing Tomac to take the win and keep his early undefeated file within the 2026 AMA Supercross season.
Tomac’s fifty fifth win extends his factors lead over Roczen, who held onto third place, to eight factors, whereas Lawrence is now 10 factors behind.
Chase Sexton had a greater evening on his KX450 than in Anaheim as he didn’t make any main using errors in both his warmth race or the primary occasion. Nevertheless, the 2023 champion hit the gate initially of the primary.
Regardless of the early setback, Sexton was capable of get again into the highest ten inside just some laps. However from there it was much more tough. By the center of the race, he had moved as much as 4th place, however couldn’t enhance any additional and finally completed greater than 15 seconds from victory.
Even when issues had been higher for Sexton than they had been every week in the past, they had been a lot worse (no less than on paper) for Jorge Prado. Jorge Prado began tenth and completed thirteenth after an important podium in Anaheim. Jason Anderson, who completed fifth in A1, did just a little higher in his second run with the HEP Suzuki group in eleventh place.
Again on the entrance, Joey Savatgy had a formidable run to complete fifth, being handed solely by Sexton all through all the 20 minutes, beating quite a few Firepower Honda manufacturing facility riders together with Justin Cooper in sixth and Aaron Plessinger in seventh.
Reigning champion Cooper Webb was additionally behind Savatgy and crashed after being handed by Sexton, who was in sixth place on the time, ending in eighth place. It wasn’t fully his fault, nevertheless it was one other troublesome evening for the Star Racing Yamaha No. 1, who gave Tomac 21 factors in simply two rounds.
Behind Webb, Dylan Ferrandis repeated his ninth-place end in Anaheim, whereas Malcolm Stewart fought by the ache of a rib damage, a lately dislocated shoulder and a fractured scapula to race in San Diego, ending tenth every week after his horrific crash with Justin Barcia.
250SX: Deegan rebounds
If the 450SX race had been determined solely on the final lap, the 250SX showdown would have ended a lot sooner, with Hayden Deegan taking the lead from teammate Max Anstey after six minutes.
Deegan made sufficient inside motion – in the identical nook that Tomac would make the race-winning move on Roczen later that evening – to lock his rear wheel to stop Anstey from slicing beneath him on the exit, and when Anstey slowed to keep away from his teammate’s bike there was gentle contact, sufficient to trigger the British rider to fall.
Deegan made no errors from then on and took a cushty victory forward of podium finishers Cameron McAdoo and Michael Mosiman.
Levi Kitchin suffered his second fall of the race in flip one, however recovered to fourth place, ending forward of Anstey, who was unable to land resulting from Deegan’s accident.
Likelihood Heimas completed sixth, the Honda rider overcoming a mid-race scare when he spun ahead from the kick-off of a triple earlier than the penultimate nook with about two minutes left.
Ryder DiFrancesco, Max Borland, Dylan Schwartz and Anthony Bourdon rounded out the highest 10.
Spherical 3 of the 2026 AMA Supercross season shall be held on January twenty fourth in Anaheim.
