WASHOUGAL, Wash. – The 39th running of the MotoSport.com Washougal National at Washougal MX Park belonged to Eli Tomac on Saturday afternoon.
Tomac enjoyed arguably his best performance of the season aboard his Monster Energy Kawasaki, sweeping the motos en route to his fourth win of the summer.
In the 250 class, Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing’s Dylan Ferrandis withstood heavy pressure all afternoon to earn his second victory of the season after a sweep of the motos.
The first 450 class moto got underway with rookie Joey Savatgy capturing his first holeshot over Cooper Webb and Ken Roczen. While Savatgy was able to clear the field and grab hold of the lead, Roczen was on the move and stormed up into second. The German then closed in on Savatgy for the lead, and while the rookie was able to hold him off to lead his first lap in the 450 class, Roczen pounced to seize control of the moto.
Roczen quickly sprinted out to a multi-second lead over the field, while Savatgy settled into second. Behind them a battle started to form for third, as Webb was under heavy pressure from his teammate, Marvin Musquin, Jason Anderson and Tomac. Musquin made multiple attempts to get around his teammate, but Webb withstood every attack.
This allowed Tomac, who passed Anderson for fifth, to close in and make it a three-rider battle. As Webb continued to hold them off, Anderson joined the fray as well. The increased pace of this group eventually allowed them to take big chunks out of their deficit to Savatgy, in second.
Musquin’s inability to get by Webb proved costly, as Tomac made the pass for fourth. Shortly thereafter, Anderson dropped the Frenchman to sixth. Tomac was determined to keep his forward charge going, and was soon all over Webb for third. A bobble briefly halted the KTM rider’s momentum, which made it easy for Tomac to move into a podium spot. Anderson attempted to follow by Webb as well, but was unsuccessful. With his exceptional pace, it was only a matter of time before Tomac closed in on his teammate for second, and he easily took control of the runner-up spot. At this point, he sat about eight seconds behind Roczen.
Savatgy continued to lose positions and eventually dropped off the podium, and then out of the top five. Webb moved up into third, Anderson into fourth, and Musquin eventually into fifth. As Webb and Anderson engaged in a captivating battle for the final spot on the podium, Tomac was making his march toward Roczen. The Kawasaki rider effectively closed to within striking distance of the lead, and with three laps to go he started to look for a way around.
Lapped riders brought them even closer together, but as he tried to make a pass, Tomac tipped over. That gave Roczen some breathing room, but a relentless Tomac closed back in as they approached the white flag. Tomac showed extra aggression as they traversed through the trees on the far section of the track and got alongside Roczen.
They made contact, which sent Roczen off the track. Tomac successfully battled his way from eighth out of the first turn to first, and carried on to the win by 8.4 seconds over Roczen, who recovered to finish in the runner-up spot. Webb and Anderson both endured through late crashes to finish in third and fourth, while Musquin ended up fifth.