Eli Tomac rebounded from a disappointing race in Glendale, Arizona, last week to win his third race of the season at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington. With this victory, he closed back to within one point of the championship lead after losing it with a Turn 1 crash in State Farm Stadium.
“Seattle was the usual,” Tomac told Peacock’s Will Christien. “It’s a tough track to get a hold of and get comfortable on. I saved my best for last. Had my best start, had my best ride there. I cleaned up my lines, did some different jump combinations. This is just typical Seattle; one of the toughest [tracks] we have. I’m glad to have conquered it.”
Cooper Webb earned the holeshot and led the first half of the race. Tomac took the lead with a block pass, but Webb refused to give ground, and they battled for several laps until Tomac found a better way around the track and pulled away to a nine-second lead. Webb entered the race after winning the last two races in Lumen Field in 2024 and 2025.
“Overall, it was fun with a side of sketch,” Webb told Jason Thomas. “The track was really gnarly. It’s always gnarly here, but this one, with us having to still hit those rhythms, especially the three out of the turn, was brutal. Eli picked up on a good line and kept doing it. I saw that when he passed me.”
Webb continued to chip away at the points’ deficit that came from a disappointing start to the season. He is tied with Ken Roczen for third in the standings, 11 points behind Hunter Lawrence.
Justin Cooper earned his first podium of the season in third. He took advantage of a crash between Lawrence and Roczen as they battled for the final spot on the box.
“It’s Seattle; the track was gnarly,” Cooper said. “Twenty [minutes] plus one [lap] with all those 450s, it gets really demanding. A lot of focus is involved. I put in some solid laps and got a little gift there from [Lawrence and Roczen], but you’ve got to stay in it, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Lawrence recovered from his late-race crash to finish fourth and hold onto the red plate.
“It started with wheel spin off the start,” Lawrence explained his difficulties. “Just didn’t get myself off to a good track position. I was coming through, had good pace, and I feel like an idiot. I jumped to the inside. I was already going down, and then I got Kenny involved. That just sucked, honestly; it’s not how I wanted the night to go.”
Chase Sexton rounded out the top five.
Roczen lost a lap while restarting his bike and finished 10th.
In-Race Notes
Lawrence got a bad start and landed outside the top five in the first lap.
Webb earned the holeshot as Tomac overcame his Glendale mistake and settled into second.
On Lap 3, Lawrence stumbled and nearly crashed. He fell to seventh when Cooper passed him.
Roczen was third on Lap 4. He is part of the three-rider battle for the championship lead.
Tomac found his rhythm, but Webb is one of the best racers at finding new, better lines during a feature.
Aaron Plessinger faded after challenging for a top-five early. Cooper moved up to fourth by Lap 10 with Sexton fifth.
Lawrence took fifth from Sexton in traffic.
Tomac took the lead at the halfway mark with a solid block pass on Webb. Roczen followed closely behind in third.
Garrett Marchbanks crashed on Lap 15 to bring out a local red cross flag.
Lawrence moved up to fourth in the sand section on Lap 16. The top four in points were all fourth or better.
Margins narrowed among the top four on Lap 18 with five minutes remaining, but Tomac accumulated a couple of solid laps and extended it to four seconds with three minutes remaining.
Tomac led, but it was apparent the track was vicious. Tomac looked like he could be bucked off the KTM at any given time. He held a seven-second lead with two minutes on the clock.
Lawrence caught Roczen on Lap 22. They crashed and both went down. Lawrence jumped long and crashed into the side of Roczen. They had a big enough lead that Lawrence only dropped to fourth. Roczen had difficulty restarting his bike and lost a lap.
