Eli Tomac earned a perfect score at the inaugural FIM World Supercross Championship Grand Prix in Cardiff, Wales. Tomac took the win in the 450 WSX class after three GP race victories. Shane McElrath also claimed an overall victory in the SX2 250 class.
Tomac was the third quickest in qualifying behind Joey Savatgy and Ken Roczen. Roczen had won his heat race and set the fastest lap. Changing track conditions in the main event caused Roczen to crash. Tomac capitalized on the moment and grabbed the lead. In the second of the three GP races, Tomac and Roczen went one-two at the start. Tomac continued on to win the next races.
“Coming in here I thought that the eight and 12-lap races were going to be a little short but that wasn’t easy and it obviously showcased some good racing and I had a lot of fun doing it. The World Supercross Championship is real: it was a real supercross and nothing was second level with it, it was all first class and it was great to see the big crowd here,” said Tomac.
Shane McElrath finished third in his heat race in the SX2 category. He managed to finish fourth, third and fifth in the three GP races which earned him the overall win.
“Winner of the first ever World Supercross Championship SX2 race has a pretty good ring to it, said McElrath. “This was a lot of work to get everything ready to go in minimal prep time, for a lot of guys. Coming here was like, okay, we’re all kind of starting from the same level, and the track was really good. I felt good on the bike and we were really learning every time out there. Here for the first ever world supercross event has been a blast and there’s been some really good competition, really good racing between our class and the WSX class, and I’m very excited for the future of this. It’s big.”
