In a stadium devoid of fans but fulfilling the promise of the full 17-round 2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, Round 11 Presented by Toyota, Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac took the 450SX Class victory after some early-race battles at Round 11 in Rice-Eccles Stadium. KTM’s Cooper Webb fought his way up to, then defended the second-place position, and Honda’s Ken Roczen held onto the bike during a scary near-crash in the closing laps to grab the final spot on the podium.
When the gate dropped after an unprecedented 85-day break in the season, Blake Baggett jumped into the lead ahead of Adam Cianciarulo and Justin Brayton. Cianciarulo went down hard early while the three main title contenders, Webb, Tomac, and Roczen, battled and scrapped in tight formation. Tomac at one point dropped back to fifth, then found a pace no one could match and marched his way to the front.
Six and a half minutes into the race Tomac got by Webb, and a minute and a half later the Kawasaki rider was past Baggett and never challenged for the lead. It marked Tomac’s sixth victory in 2020 and complemented his win in Daytona on March 7, the previous round in the modified 2020 Supercross schedule. The win stretched Tomac’s championship points lead from three to eight.
The Salt Lake City round kicked off seven races that will run over the next three weeks. Races will take place and air live every Sunday and Wednesday, each held at an elevation of 4,637-feet inside the University of Utah’s football stadium, to complete the full 17-round 2020 series on June 21.
Feld Entertainment’s Responsible Return to Racing plan has enabled the world’s premiere action sport to return for the fans, racers, and teams. The compressed but not truncated schedule allows the completion of the full seventeen-round series. The original Round 11, scheduled for Indianapolis on March 14 was the first race in the sport’s history to be cancelled.
In a sport that traditionally brings racing to stadiums across the continent, Feld Entertainment’s new schedule keeps racers and teams in one city. They will adapt to the high altitude, alternating race-time schedules, more frequent rounds, social distancing guidelines, and the empty stadium seats; the 2020 events averaged 49,953 screaming fans through the previous ten rounds.
The next race takes place on Wednesday, June 3 at 10 p.m. ET. Race times will vary; please go to SupercrossLIVE.com for the full schedule and don’t miss any of the action on NBC, NBCSN, and the NBC Sports Gold app.
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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