As the pack approached the first turn, the crowd erupted as they saw Eli Tomac struggle to the finish line ahead of Jett Lawrence. Meanwhile, Chase Sexton had a bad start and when he swerved to the inside outside the pace lane, Justin Barcia landed on him. Sexton didn’t go down, but he was in obvious pain and appeared to favor his right hand. He couldn’t continue and returned to the pits.
At the front, the battle was between Tomac and Lawrence, with Hunter Lawrence about three seconds behind. The crowd was enjoying it, and if you missed Tomac and Lawrence, all you had to do was listen to where the cheers were coming from – the noise was literally following them around the track! After about four laps, Tomac began to open up a gap on Lawrence.
Behind the leading trio of Jason Anderson and Aaron Plessinger, there was a battle for fourth place. Anderson had enough breathing room to not have to worry about Plessinger, but he couldn’t afford to make a single mistake or Plessinger would easily pass him. Fortunately for Anderson, he was able to put in some great laps and pull away from Plessinger. But it didn’t matter because Anderson made a mistake in the double-quadruple rhythm lane and fell with two laps to go. He ended up seventh.
One of the best battles on the track was between Justin Barcia and Ken Roczen for eighth place. The two were locked in a deathmatch, neither rider willing to give the other an inch, but Roczen eventually managed to get around Barcia and take eighth place.
Up front, the battle between Tomac and Lawrence began to heat up again with just a few laps to go. Tomac made a mistake in the double-quadruple pace lane that prevented him from hitting the pack properly, and suddenly, Lawrence was back on Tomac’s rear wheel. The two went on a wild battle for nearly a lap before Lawrence was able to close in on Tomac and make a move. This time it was Lawrence’s turn to pull the gap, and he wouldn’t give it up either.
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