The 10th round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series made its annual stop at the famed Daytona International Speedway—the Daytona Supercross by Honda—where Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac won the 450SX Main Event by a staggering 17 seconds. GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin, in his first-ever 450SX ride, was filling in for the injured Ken Roczen and took 2nd after leading the 10 opening laps.
Tomac was awarded with the holeshot, but was passed on the straightaway after the first turn by Team Martin on the Team Honda HRC CRF450R—Martin normally races for the GEICO Honda 250SX team in the 250SX West class.
Tomac hounded Martin until lap 11 when he made his way into the lead. Tomac then put his KX450F on cruise control and extended his lead almost every lap on his way to his fifth victory of the season. With his win, Tomac narrows the gap to Monster Energy Supercross Championship Series leader Ryan Dungey (Red Bull KTM) to 17 points.
After getting caught up in a false start by Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson and then trapped in the first corner, Dungey found his Red Bull KTM 450 SX-F Factory Edition in 17th place. The defending Monster Energy Supercross Champion was forced to work his way through the field on the rutted Daytona course.
By the end of the 20-lap race, Dungey worked his way up to fourth, which included a spectacular pass on Team Honda HRC’s Cole Seely in the closing moments of the final lap. Dungey had picked up over six seconds on Seely in the final four laps of the race.
Despite his charge through the pack, Dungey appeared to be frustrated with his performance as he threw his goggles to the ground shortly after crossing the finish line seven seconds off the Anderson, who took the final podium spot.
“Obviously, the start wasn’t what we were looking for,” Dungey said, “but we did our best to climb through the pack. The track was actually really difficult to make a pass on, which ended up costing us time in the beginning. Making passes was a lot easier in the second half of the race because we had some more space to work with. Next week is a new week, and we’re looking forward to protecting the points lead and changing up the strategy moving forward.”
Anderson came around the first corner in ninth place and worked his way up to seventh by the second lap. He continued to move through the pack and took fourth by the halfway point. He grabbed a podium position on Lap 10 when he passed Smartop/MotoConcepts/Honda’s Justin Brayton.
“It was a pretty decent night,” said Anderson. “I was able to come from the back and get third. My starts were good earlier in the day, and I basically got the holeshot in my heat race. The start in the main was kind of like a freak accident—someone hit the gate at the start and we all just messed each other up. All-in-all, though, I feel like I’ve been going in the right direction. I’m pumped to get a podium here at Daytona.”
Tomac gave Martin his due after the race. “At the beginning of the race, Jeremy [Martin] was riding really good,” said Tomac. “I didn’t want to push myself too hard. I knew it was a long race. I tried what I could do to stay with him, but not go too hard too early. Once I got in my groove, I was able to get by him there and take it all the way home. It was awesome!”
Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin continues to battle illness, and finished in 15th place, he second consecutive finish outside of the top 10. Team Honda HRC’s Cole Seely finished fifth, moving him into third in the Monster Energy Supercross Championship Standings, six points ahead of Musquin.
Monster Energy/Yamalube/Factory Yamaha’s Chad Reed—a three-time winner at Daytona—ran in fourth for the first half of the race. A spectacular low-speed whiskey-throttle crash dropped him to sixth, one position ahead of Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/WPS/KTM’s Blake Baggett.
Brayton, who held a podium position for the first nine laps, found himself in a three-way battle for seventh at the end with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Josh Grant and Smartop/MotoConcepts/Honda’s Mike Alessi. Grant grabbed eighth, two seconds ahead of Brayton, who bested Alessi by less than a second.
Photography by Simon Cudby
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Results – Round 10 – Daytona International Speedway
- Eli Tomac – Kawasaki KX450F
- Jeremy Martin – Honda CRF450R
- Jason Anderson – Husqvarna FC450
- Ryan Dungey – KTM 450 SX-F Factory Edition
- Cole Seely – Honda CRF450R
- Chad Reed – Yamaha YZ450F
- Blake Baggett – KTM 450 SX-F Factory Edition
- Josh Grant – Kawasaki KX450F
- Justin Brayton – Honda CRF450R
- Mike Alessi – Honda CRF450R
- Justin Barcia – Suzuki RM-Z450
- Davi Millsaps – KTM 450 SX-F Factory Edition
- Dean Wilson – Husqvarna FC450
- Broc Tickle – Suzuki RM-Z450
- Marvin Musquin – KTM 450 SX-F Factory Edition
- Malcolm Stewart – Suzuki RM-Z450
- Jake Weimer – Suzuki RM-Z450
- Kyle Chisholm – Honda CRF450R
- Vince Friese – Honda CRF450R
- Nick Schmidt – Suzuki RM-Z450
- AJ Catanzaro – Kawasaki KX450F
- Scott Champion – Yamaha YZ450F
2017 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Standings (after 10 of 16 rounds)
- Ryan Dungey, 214 points (2 wins)
- Eli Tomac, 197 (5 wins)
- Cole Seely, 169
- Marvin Musquin, 163 (1 win)
- Jason Anderson, 143
- Davi Millsaps, 121
- Chad Reed, 116
- Blake Baggett, 113
- Dean Wilson, 105
- Broc Tickle, 103
- Josh Grant, 88
- Justin Brayton, 79
- Cooper Webb, 71
- Jake Weimer, 66
- Vince Friese, 57
