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not meant to be. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider pulled the holeshot in fairly uncharacteristic fashion, immediately gapping the pursuing riders. Tomac rarely nds himself at the front in the rst corner and has made a career of cutting through the pack on his way to victory, but he made things easy on himself in Anaheim...until he didn’t. The Colorado native made a slight mental error and washed the front end over a jump, consequently injuring his shoulder. Tomac pulled off in the middle of the race and made an early trip back
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and impeccable starting technique earned him the win, but he was closely challenged by the likes
of Aaron Plessinger and Adam Cianciarulo. Joey Savatgy put together a championship caliber ride, climbing from eighth to fourth in order to salvage some valuable championship points, and Justin Hill struggled to a seventh place nish after topping the daytime qualifying session. Houston, do we have a problem?
ROUND 2 | HOUSTON
Two of the major stars of the sport didn’t even line up for the 450SX main event at NRG Stadium in Houston. Eli Tomac’s shoulder was still too damaged from his crash at Angel Stadium one week prior, causing him
to call it quits after riding
to the semi-truck, leaving him twenty- ve points down heading into round two. It was a surprise that the heavy title favorite suffered a blow to
his championship hopes so early in the season, but not as much of a surprise as Justin Barcia nishing on the podium as a ll-in rider for the injured Davi Millsaps. Jason Anderson quietly took home a second place result and put himself in good standing for the championships and Ken Roczen put forth a valiant ride, battling back from outside the top ten to a fourth place nish. In the 250 class, Shane McElrath’s smooth riding style
The Factory KTM rider took a tumble in the whoops section during
a couple of practice sessions, somewhat ending his chances to win the title that has eluded him. It provided Marvin Musquin with an immense
his heat race and
injured his shoulder, causing him to forfeit the rest of the evening.
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