Eli Tomac 2022 450 champion at Pala Pro Motocross
By Andrew Hill on 4th Sep 22
AMA Pro Motocross Eli Tomac Fox Raceway
Eli Tomac won the 2022 AMA Pro Motocross 450MX Championship today in Pala, California, at the Fox Raceway National, sealing it with a double moto win.
It was a tense, nail-biting end to the season with Tomac just one point ahead of 450MX title rival Chase Sexton as the AMA Pro Motocross Championship arrived at the scorching hot Pala circuit.
Tomac topped the timing sheets to take pole and followed that up with a moto one win to extend his championship lead. That win left Sexton needing to win the second race and hope that at least one rider would get between him and Tomac.
The start of the second race opened the door wide open for Sexton as Tomac got a poor jump out of the gate, taking the first few corners in ninth place. Meanwhile, ahead of him Sexton quickly moved from seventh to third.
The drama ramped up when Sexton appeared to glance over at Tomac and then folded the bike the crash from Sexton was small and at any other time in the season may not have stung so hard. But this was oh-so damaging.
For Sexton, that was the first of three crashes as he pushed beyond the limits in an attempt to catch Tomac.
While Sexton was down in eighth, Tomac had made his way to fourth, passing Benny Bloss and Justin Barcia, leaving team-mate Christian Craig and Jason Anderson ahead.
Craig didn't put up a fight but Anderson did his best to hold off the red plate holder, but when he hit neutral it gave Tomac the lead. Although Sexton never gave up and clawed his way back to second, it was not his year Tomac was the 450MX champion for a fourth time.
In his first year with Yamaha Star Racing, Tomac has done an impressive double, winning AMA 450SX and 450MX titles, which included seven wins in Supercross and five in Pro Motocross, with four of those on the bounce from round four at High Point.
Tomac cements his legacy as only the second rider in history to win four AMA 450 motocross titles; only topped by the GOAT Ricky Carmichael. And this is Yamaha Star racing's second consecutive 450MX title following Dylan Ferrandis' championship win in 2021.
"It's been the most enjoyable year, by far, of my career," said Tomac. "I just had so much fun doing it it started with Supercross, now with motocross.
"The competition was just unbelievable too from Chase [Sexton]. He is the next 450 guy, hands down. We pushed ourselves to the limit and we even raised the bar this year.
"Thank you to my team, Monster Energy, Yamaha; we've done so much work, as does everyone else this is just a very enjoyable moment, and this is the cherry on top."
Eli has previously announced this will be his last season in AMA Pro Motocross but intends to defend his AMA Supercross title in 2023.
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