Vital MX Perspective: Salt Lake City 5

Surprise! An early title for Justin Hill, and an amazing come-from-behind ride for Eli Tomac.

GuyB

4/23/2017 6:08pm

Whoa, were there ever a lot of surprises in Salt Lake City for round 15 of the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross series. It had been a few years since the series had visited Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus, and the thin air that comes with the territory. Let's dive into the action.

Austin Forkner (Monster Energy Kawasaki) got the early jump in the 250 main, but Aaron Plessinger (Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha) quickly took over the lead.

Early in the main, the running order was Aaron Plessinger, Shane McElrath (Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM), and Austin Forkner.

Mitchell Oldenburg (Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM) was fourth at A1, third at Seattle (after missing several races due to and injury in San Diego), and second when the checkers flew in Salt Lake. He's got his eye on scoring the only remaining better result.

Coming into Salt Lake City, Justin Hill (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) had an 18-point lead over Aaron Plessinger in the 250 West title chase, and was looking at having to go all the way to Las Vegas to wrap up the title.

Justin Hill (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) started out fifth, but was third at the finish.

There are some moments that make a huge difference in a season, and the sequence below was one of them. Aaron Plessinger had a comfortable lead, but after getting bucked around a bit, and and having a foot slip off he pegs, the whoops bit him. Check out where his chin bar hits the front brake lever and snaps it off.

Aaron acknowledging the crowd on the way out. Here's hoping there's no long-term injuries.

After Plessinger went down, McElrath took over the lead, and was unchallenged on the way to his third win of the season. Short of bike problems for Shane in Arlington, this championship would still be in play.

Finishing 1-2 was awesome for McElrath and Oldenburg.

There was quite a bit of confusion after the race. Justin had fended off a challenge from Martin Davalos in the closing stages of the race, which gave him enough points to wrap up the title...but he didn't actually know it, and was looking for confirmation from his crew. It was about at this point that he was just figuring it out.

Plessinger's crash, combined with Shane McElrath's crash also moves Shane back into second in the 250 West point standings. Mitchell Oldenburg was psyched on his best-yet finish, and obvously Justin Hill was happy rocking the championship jersey, trophy, and number one plate.

This put an end to a long championship drought for the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad, and they were plenty excited about that.

A 1-2 for the TLD boys? Yeah, they wanted the souvenir photo to remember this.

Justin Bogle (RCH/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing) grabbed the holeshot in the 450 main, and was in fourth up until about lap eight. But a crash in the whoops, and a scary cross-lane transfer ended with a 21st-place finish.

Chad Reed (Monster Energy/Yamalube/Chaparral/Yamaha Financial Services/Yamaha Factory Racing Team) and Davi Millsaps (behind Chad on the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC-KTM-WPS machine) finished sixth and seventh in SLC.

Ryan Dungey (Red Bull KTM) quickly jumped past Justin Bogle and into the lead.

Monster Energy Kawasaki's Eli Tomac (behind Davi Millsaps) was maybe 19th going into the first turn. Blake Baggett was lined up next to him, and when he flinched, it caught Eli off guard. While Eli blazed into tenth by the end of the first lap, he still had a lot of work to do go get to the front.

While most of the attention was focused on Ryan Dungey and Eli Tomac, Josh Grant put in a great ride to finish fifth.

When Eli charged past Jason Anderson for second on lap 13, that was the last roadblock to making a charge and try and catch Dungey, and the crowd knew it.

Marvin Musquin (Red Bull KTM) had a charge through the pack that nearly equaled Tomac's, as he was 13th on lap one, and he was fourth at the end.

Watching Eli charge through the flat area in front of the mechanich's area, and then the whoops was amazing. He was making huge amounts of time there, and afterwards even Ryan Dungey admitted that trying to jump through them like he'd been doing, "Was probably a no-no."

Eli got by Ryan Dungey on lap 19 of 27, with a clean pass at the end of the whoops. He'd tried there several laps in a row, and finally got it done.

That's Eli's ninth win of the season.

That was an amazing ride by Eli Tomac. The crowd sure appreciated it. Listening to the noise level rise as the fans in each area of the stadium cheered when he went by was amazing.

Things are all good here. Ryan Dungey and Eli Tomac shook hands on the podium, and we've got a respectful championship race going on. Jason Anderson did opt out of the post-race press conference due to issues with the altitude, something he's experienced before during the Nationals at Lakewood.

Eli Tomac now has a three-point lead on Ryan Dungey, and sole possession of the red plate heading into Met Life Stadium next week. Can Dungey fire back? Will Eli keep the train rolling? We'll have to wait and see.

All photos: GuyB

Want more from the Salt Lake City Supercross?

Pit Bits
Results Sheet
250 Press Conference with Shane McElrath, Mitchell Oldenburg, and Justin Hill
450 Press Conference with Eli Tomac and Ryan Dungey
Championship interview with Justin Hill

Salt Lake City

Vital MX Perspective

Supercross 2017

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Vital MX Perspective: Salt Lake City 5

Surprise! An early title for Justin Hill, and an amazing come-from-behind ride for Eli Tomac.

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