Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac won $100,000 after taking his first Monster Energy Cup win Saturday night in Las Vegas after Ken Roczen sailed over the bars. There was $1 million for any rider who could win all three 10-lap main events. Honda debutant Roczen won race one but crashed spectacularly out of the lead of race two, taking him out of the running for the overall win.
Tomac, runner-up in the opener, went on to win the second race, and so was leading the points heading into the final race of the night. But KTM men Marvin Musquin and Ryan Dungey were close behind him in points, and all three found themselves fighting in the middle of the field after Chad Reed took the holeshot for the last moto. Reed’s lead was short-lived, however, as Mike Alessi took over in the next corner and Reed went down.
Roczen took half the race to catch and pass Alessi for the win, followed by Musquin, Dungey and Tomac. That gave Tomac the win, with Dungey second for the fifth time.
“It was a crazy race and I did not make it easy on myself with a terrible start,” said Tomac. “I knew going into the race that I just needed to finish behind Ryan Dungey and I was able to catch up to him and have a good battle before settling on the last lap. I’m really happy with tonight’s performance and looking forward to the next season.”
Results
- Eli Tomac 2-1-4
- Ryan Dungey 3-2-3
- Marvin Musquin 4-3-2
- Cole Seely 6-5-6
- Mike Alessi 8-6-5
- Blake Baggett 5-7-9
- Ken Roczen 1-21-1
- Chad Reed 7-4-12
- Benny Bloss 9-8-7
- Vince Friese 11-12-8