Jason Anderson wins in Denver as Tomac takes title

2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Round 16 Denver Empower Field At Mile High Denver, CO

Report by Trevor Hedge – Images by Jeff Kardas

450 Heat One

Eli Tomac scored the holeshot ahead of Justin Brayton in the opening heat, much to the delight of a very vocal Denver crowd on the high altitude hard-pack track that presented the Supercross riders for this penultimate round of the 2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship.

Marvin Musquin chased hard but Tomac had enough speed to remain unchallenged throughout and take a convincing victory over the Frenchman.  Justin Brayton third.

450 Heat One Results

450 Heat Two

Chase Sexton fired out of the hole in Heat Two to take the early lead over Justin Barcia, Jason Anderson, Cooper Webb and Malcolm Stewart.

Anderson took second place from Barcia on lap two and set about chasing down Sexton but he had two-seconds to claw back in order to get on terms with the young Honda rider.

On the final lap Malcolm Stewart and Justin Barcia had a great tussle over third place while Jason Anderson was now all over the back of Sexton to try and steal the victory. Sexton managed to hold on by a single bike length for the win.   Stewart held off Barcia for third.

450 Heat Two Results

450 Main Event

Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton went around turn one side-by-side ahead of Justin Brayton but it was Sexton that had the best run off the turn to take a few bike lengths, as Jason Anderson moved up to third place and was looking hot to trot.

Tomac was working his speed advantage through the whoops and put the pressure on Sexton who eventually made a mistake on a small hard edged outside line that took him down.

With 16-minutes to run it was Tomac leading Anderson by under a second, while Sexton had been shuffled all the way back to eighth.  Malcolm Stewart was third at this early juncture, Justin Barcia fourth, Marvin Musquin fifth, Cooper Webb sixth and Brayton seventh.

Jason Anderson closed in on and then passed Tomac with 15-minutes left on the shot clock. Anderson then pulled away from Tomac, while Malcolm Stewart started chasing Tomac down for that second place…

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Malcolm Stewart took second from Tomac with 11-minutes left. It looked as though Justin Barcia was then going to relegate Tomac further back but the GASGAS rider made a mistake before he could get close enough to make a move and was pushed all the way back to seventh before he was back up and running.  A few minutes later though Marvin Musquin did however get the better of Tomac to move up to third place.

Chase Sexton took fourth place from Tomac with two-minutes left on the clock and pulled away with ease as Tomac was content to just roll home with the championship in his pocket…

Eli Tomac just rode safe and did what he had too in order to wrap the championship.  The title marked Tomac’s second 450 Supercross Championship, adding to his three premier class outdoor championships to underline his status as one of the greats and done nicely in front of a big home Colarado crowd. The championship win also breaks a 13 year drought for Yamaha, who last won the 450 Supercross Championship with James Stewart back in 2009.

Jason Anderson was the winner in Denver though, on the Monster Energy Kawasaki KX450F that Tomac vacated at the end of last season in favour of the Monster Energy Star Racing Racing Yamaha YZ450F he rode to the championship on this year. With that race victory Jason Anderson also cemented second place in the championship.

Malcolm Stewart was second and Marvin Musquin rounded out the podium ahead of Chase Sexton. That second place promoted Stewart into third place in the championship, four-points ahead of Justin Barcia, who finished seventh at this Denver round. Third place for Musquin also keeps him in the game for the #3 plate as they head to the Salt Lake City finale next weekend.

Eli Tomac Champion Press Conference

450 Main Event Results

450 Main Video Highlights

450 Post Race Press Conference

450 Championship Standings (Round 16 of 17)