Last week, during the Triple Crown-format Round 9 of the SuperMotocross World Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, the overall winner and second-place riders each experienced incidents that might have cost them a shot at the championship. Worse still, those incidents might have eliminated them from the 2026 Supercross Championship.
In the second feature, Eli Tomac narrowly avoided running into the back of Vince Friese. A few minutes later, Lawrence was unable to avoid hitting Cole Thompson as he attempted to lap him. The contact with Thompson cost Lawrence a position on track. Tomac was the runner-up in that moto and second overall. Lawrence finished fourth in Race 2 and won the overall to extend his lead over Tomac to four points.
“I don’t mean to get on a rant, but it always seems to be the same repeat offenders on the lap traffic that are just pretty sketchy, and I know they got their race on, but I don’t know, it’s tricky and very unique for sure,” Lawrence said following the race.
Thompson had a different perspective.
“I’m just a lapper in the way, apparently that means retire and get a real job,” Thompson commented on social media following the outcry of criticism. “‘Cause god forbid I go racing outta the back of my van with no mechanic. Pay my money to race and try to compete with the best. Also does this mean I’m a privateer too? Ahhh dang, I should really pack my bags and quit, lol. Nobody racing wants to be in the way of the leaders but stuff happens.”
For a privateer, Thompson was enjoying a solid showing. He advanced directly into the evening program of the Triple Crown-format by posting the 16th-fastest lap. His time of 47.336 was 1.9 seconds slower than Tomac’s best time. Thompson finished 16th in the first race, one of 10 riders who were lapped by the leaders. He retired from Race 2 after the Lap 6 crash and failed to line up for the final feature.
Thompson has qualified for two evening shows in the 450 class in 2026 with a best of 16th in the Daytona Supercross. He finished 21st overall in Indianapolis and sits 27th in the championship standings.
Tomac was much more vocal than Lawrence in his call for consequences for lapped riders who fail to get out of the way of the faster racers.
“I was able to get to second at one point and then got balled up by lappers and paid the price for it,” Tomac commented about an incident in the first moto. “So, it was frustrating that way.”
Tomac finished third in Race 1.
Another incident in the second race was equally frustrating.
“And then I almost got taken out in the second moto by lappers,” Tomac continued. “So, yeah, it’s bad. It’s bad. I think if the track [is] sub-50 seconds, make it a 15-man gate. I mean, they’re just riders that are way off the pace of the top lead group.”
Tomac believes that the alternative to finding an effective penalty is grim: “And if the promoter wants to potentially lose championship contenders, I mean, then let’s keep it the way it is.”
While lapped racers are a factor in every sport, there is an unspoken rule that they should maintain their groove when a faster racer is attempting to pass. That allows the overtaking rider to pick a line with confidence that they will not make contact.
It is also much more difficult for a dirt bike racer on a heavily rutted track like Indianapolis.
“Well, when a guy goes from the very far right side of the track to the very far left side, like what happened to Moto two, and like what Hunter said, it’s repeat offenders,” Tomac said. “It’s the same people doing the same thing over and over again, and they don’t get a big enough penalty for it. It’s kind of outrageous. It’s frustrating for us. I mean, these guys are, what are they? six to seven seconds elapsed slower, maybe even more, and they’re out there with this, so really they’re just a hazard.”
Tomac’s suggestion of limiting the grid to 15 riders would not completely solve the problem, but it would help.
In the short 12-minutes, plus one lap motos that make up each Triple Crown race, the leaders lapped up to the 12th position. In Race 2, they lapped all but 10 riders and in Race 3, the number was 11.
Cooper Webb finished third overall with results of fourth in Moto 1, third in Moto 2, and fourth in the final race. Webb was equally emphatic that the sanctioning body should respond.
“I heard [Tomac], and he’s right,” Webb said in the post-race media scrum. “There should be penalties. There should be, whether it’s money, because they clearly don’t care about points, because they’re not in the points. So, if you take their money away and that’s how they live, then maybe they’ll get it. I think it’s unacceptable.
“The series needs to step in and do something because they clearly haven’t. And yeah, I think like Eli said, he could have been out in the championship from a lapper and any other motorsport that never happens. And it’s a joke for our sport.”
