MONSTER ENERGY® KAWASAKI RIDER ELI TOMAC CONTINUES PERFECT SEASON BY SWEEPING THE GLEN HELEN NATIONAL

Courtesy of Kawasaki

Just one week after an exciting start to the 2018 AMA Pro Motocross Championship, the Glen Helen National hosted Round 2 on the monstrous hills in San Bernardino, California. Following a dominant performance at the opening round, Monster Energy® Kawasaki rider Eli Tomac successfully completed another sweep of both motos and captured his second overall victory to continue his perfect start to the season.

Tomac and his KX™450F lined up for Moto 1 feeling confident after setting the second fastest time of the day in qualifying. As the gate dropped, Tomac found himself behind several of his competitors after the first turn. Despite not being out front, the Kawasaki rider with the No. 1 plate quickly made his way into second. Tomac calmly stalked first place throughout the next several laps before making a pass stick to takeover the race lead at the 20-minute mark. Once out front, Tomac never looked back and crossed the checkered flag with 12.2 seconds to spare on his competition.

In 450MX Moto 2, Tomac once again found himself off to a mid-pack start and would have his work cut out with his rivals just ahead of him. Tomac found unique lines and rode at a consistent pace throughout the entire moto, which allowed him to plug away and begin passing the competition one-by-one. As the race began to reach its final stages, Tomac took the lead with two laps remaining and continued at a blistering pace to win by 16 seconds. It marked his fourth moto victory of the season.

"I felt comfortable on my bike all day and I was just having fun out there," said Tomac. "I found some awesome lines in the end, so I just kept charging until I finally made it to the front. I'm doing everything I can for us to keep this No. 1 plate and we're off to a great start." 

In the 250MX class, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki riders Joey Savatgy, Austin Forkner and Garrett Marchbanks all snagged top-10 finishes and earned season-best finishes. Moto 1 saw all three Kawasaki riders start mid-pack and engage in a heated battle with several of their competitors. The veteran Savatgy and rookie Marchbanks battled each other for most of the 30-minute-plus-two-lap moto and pushed each other forward to finish sixth and seventh, respectively. Forkner suffered from misfortune on the opening lap and was forced to play catch up for the entire race, eventually crossing the line in 13^th.

250MX Moto 2 saw both Savatgy and Forkner grab better starts before mistakes on Lap 2 cost them several positions. Unwilling to give up, Savatgy fought to the front to finish fourth in the moto for fifth overall (6-4), while teammate Forkner finished close behind in sixth, which awarded him 10^th overall (13-6). Marchbanks found himself stuck in the 40-rider field, forcing him to charge his KX™250F from 17^th to 10^th, resulting in eighth overall (7-10).

"I put it all out there today, but we have more work to do," said Savatgy. " It's early in the season so we'll just keep working at it and look forward to Colorado."

"This has been another exciting weekend," said Marchbanks. "I felt really good on the bike today and I feel like I've already learned so much from last week. I'm hungry for even better finishes and hope to continue improving each week!"

"We have to get back to work this week," said Forkner. "I'm glad I was able to pull off a top-10 overall finish, but I didn't have the best starts today. I never gave up and I'm looking forward to making up for it next week at Thunder Valley."

250MX Race Results

1.Aaron Plessinger (1-1)

2.Alex Martin (3-3)

3.Jeremy Martin (5-2)

5.Joey Savatgy (6-4)

8.Garrett Marchbanks (7-10)

10.Austin Forkner (13-6)

250MX Rider Point Standings

1.Zach Osborne 88

2.Aaron Plessinger 88

3.Jeremy Martin 82

6. Joey Savatgy 59

9. Garrett Marchbanks 49

11. Austin Forkner 41

450MX Race Results

1.Eli Tomac (1-1)

2.Marvin Musquin (2-3)

3.Jason Anderson (4-2)

450MX Rider Point Standings

1.Eli Tomac 100

2.Marvin Musquin 86

3. Jason Anderson 73

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