Tomac is now the lone rider to finish on the podium in each race thus far, with two wins and a third. He has an eight-point lead over Lawrence in the 450SMX Class standings, as Lawrence moved up to second on the heels of back-to-back runner-up finishes. Sexton moved into third, 13 points behind Tomac, while Progressive Insurance Cycle Gear Suzuki’s Ken Roczen dropped to fourth (-14) after he missed the podium for the first time in a valiant eighth-place finish that saw him fight back from 21st on the opening lap.
Chase Sexton – 1st Place – 450SMX Class
“It’s been a long few months, going back to the [crash at the] Vegas SMX finale. That was not good for me. It’s hard to get back here [atop the podium], honestly. It’s been a journey. Even after the Heat Race tonight I was wondering what I was doing wrong and knew I needed to just go out there and do my laps. I strapped up for the Main Event and just rode solid and more within myself. I can’t say enough about the team and everything they’ve done to get us to this point. It’s good to put Kawi back on top.”
Hunter Lawrence – 2nd Place – 450SMX Class
“I just need a little more consistency throughout the day. Every time I went on the track I made a change to the bike, so every time I was learning the track again and trying to adapt to the bike. However, we are learning a lot and hopefully we can carry that through the rest of the series. I need to be better from the start through the beginning of the race. You could see I was a bit slow to get going, but I picked it up towards the end.”
Eli Tomac – 3rd Place – 450SMX Class
“The big picture [championship] is great. That race was a whole lot of everything. A lot of offense, a lot of defense. I tried some moves and got passed, and vice versa. I’m happy to defend that podium spot, it was important for me, but that was a very intense race. Overall, I’m happy with the finish and looking forward to next weekend.”