Last week at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., Eli Tomac became the fourth winner in four Monster Energy Supercross Series races and solidified his position at the top of the Power Rankings after Round 4.
Tomac got off to a slow start for the 2022 SX season with a third in his heat and sixth in the feature in Anaheim 1. The following week, he showed promise by winning his heat, but a poor start in the feature in Oakland denied him a podium finish; Tomac was fourth in Round 2. Since then, he found his rhythm with a second in his heat last week, followed by a second in the feature. More importantly, that gave him the red plate heading back to Anaheim.
A perfect weekend in Round 4 not only solidified his points lead, it keeps him atop our Supercross Power Rankings.
MORE: Eli Tomac becomes fourth winner in four Supercross rounds
With a second heat win in 2022 by more than six seconds over teammate Ken Roczen, Chase Sexton held onto the second position in the rankings. He followed that with a second podium finish in the main, and if not for a couple of falls in the season opener, he would challenge Tomac for both the series’ points lead and the top spot in the Supercross Power Rankings after Round 4.
Justin Barcia edged Cooper Webb in both his heat and the feature last week to assume the third spot on the list. Barcia’s podium in Heat 2 followed Webb’s sixth-place finish in the first heat. In the feature, they were nose-to-tail with Barcia finishing seventh and Webb eighth.
Last year, Supercross began with four winners in four races and both Barcia and Webb were part of that list, so this week’s Triple Crown race in Glendale, Ariz. should be watched closely.
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This week there was a tie for fourth.
Jason Anderson followed his Round 3 victory with a runner-up finish last week and bounded up the rankings from seventh. A sixth-place finish in his heat in Anaheim 2 kept him from taking the spot outright.
For the second straight week, contact between Anderson and Roczen sent last year’s second-place points’ finisher to the ground. With the crash, Roczen fell from fifth in the points to seventh, but his position in the championship standings took an even bigger hit because of a 13th-place feature finish. He is now ninth with 23 points that need to be made up on Tomac.
450 Rankings
1. Eli Tomac (last week: 1); [1 feature win, 2 heat wins]
2. Chase Sexton (2); [1 feature win, 3 heat wins]
3. Justin Barcia (4)
4. Cooper Webb (3); [1 heat win]
4. Jason Anderson (7); [1 feature win; 1 heat win]
6. Malcolm Stewart (6)
7. Ken Roczen (5); [1 feature, 1 heat win]
8. Dylan Ferrandis (10)
9. Marvin Musquin (9)
10. Aaron Plessinger (8)
11. Justin Brayton (11)
12. Shane McElrath (13)
12. Dean Wilson (12)
14. Max Anstie (14)
15. Joey Savatgy (15)
17. Mitchell Oldenburg (17)
18. Brandon Hartranft (18)
19. Fredrik Noren (19)
20. Kyle Chisholm (20)
Christian Craig wasted no time rebounding from his third-place finish in San Diego. Craig immediately rebounded to win both his heat and feature last week in Anaheim 2, but he felt pressure from the second-place rider for most of that race as Michael Mosiman led early and did not lose contact with Craig once he was passed.
Mosiman’s third heat win combined with his runner-up finish in the feature to elevate him one spot in the rankings, but more importantly he is learning how to contend for wins. Although the points’ differential right now is 14 between these two riders, it will only take a bobble or two by Craig for Mosiman to pounce.
Three was the operative number for Lawrence in Anaheim 2. He finished third in his heat, third in the feature and landed third in the Supercross 250 Power Rankings. Except for a fourth in the Anaheim 1 heat, Lawrence has been on the podium for every race this year.
Jo Shimoda climbed one spot in the rankings from fifth to fourth. Part of the reason for this advance was a hard crash by Vince Friese late in the feature, but Shimoda has also been a model of consistency with a worst of seventh all season.
Want to say unlucky but If I made passes a lap before this shouldn’t happen but what can I do in this situation… and some people told me (why didn’t you stop You almost kill him?) but when thing happens right in front of me sometimes was difficult to avoid them hope friese is ok pic.twitter.com/IfIgJUuPkz
— 下田丈 (@joshimoda) January 30, 2022
It could have been much worse for Friese. After crashing in the whoops and getting hit in the helmet by Shimoda’s front tire in Anaheim 2, Friese failed to finish the main and was credited with 19th. Friese bit his tongue and required stitches, but he might just as easily have been forced to sit out a race or two with a concussion.
That is precisely what happened to Jalek Swoll after a hard crash in Anaheim 1. He was forced to sit out Oakland, but roared back and landed 13th on the chart last week by benefit of seventh-place finishes in his San Diego heat and feature. In Anaheim 2, he swept the top five in both events and climbed to 13th to make his debut among the 250 Supercross Power Rankings after Round 4.
250 Rankings (Update)
1. Christian Craig (1); [3 feature, 4 heat wins]
2. Michael Mosiman (3); [1 feature; 3 heat wins]
3. Hunter Lawrence (2); [1 heat win]
4. Jo Shimoda (5)
5. Vince Friese (4)
6. Nate Thrasher (6)
7. Carson Mumford (9)
8. Jalek Swoll (13)
9. Cole Thompson (10)
9. Chris Blose (8)
11. Carson Brown (12)
12. Robbie Wageman (11)
13. Garrett Marchbanks (7)
14. Ryan Surratt (14)
15. Dominique Thury (15)
16. Logan Karnow (17)
17. Dylan Walsh (16)
18. Dilan Schwartz (18)
19. Justin Rodbell (26)
19. Derek Kelley (20)
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 1 AT ANAHEIM: Ken Roczen, Christian Craig have a perfect weekend
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 2 AT OAKLAND: Justin Barcia climbs to the top spot
POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 3 AT SAN DIEGO: Consistency pays off for Eli Tomac
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