Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac returned to the podium at the Washougal National, finishing third overall (2-3) and advancing his position in the 450MX Championship standings at Round 8 of Pro Motocross in Washougal, Washington.

“It was nice to be back on the podium with the 2-3 today. It was just refreshing to be at the front of the race, period. I could see the frontrunners in both motos. Of course, I still need to be a little bit better, but this is a major improvement over our result from the weekend before. I’m now looking forward to improving my riding, and also the weekend off. It was a much better weekend than Millville.”

Tomac qualified fifth and got a good start to Moto 1, slotting into fourth and making the pass for third on the second lap. He continued to lay down consistently fast times and capitalized when the championship leader went down before the halfway mark, advancing to second. The Colorado rider started to build a gap, and despite losing some time in lapped traffic, he kept his head down and distanced himself from the competition, securing the runner-up finish.

In Moto 2, he quickly made his way to fourth. The frontrunners were locked in a four-rider battle before a red flag reset the field. With the debut of the new staggered restart procedure for outdoors, Tomac resumed in fourth and quickly claimed the final podium spot on the opening lap. He kept the leaders in sight, but with five laps to go, he lost some ground and finished third. His 2-3 moto scores earned him third overall—his fifth overall podium of the season and eighth career overall podium at the Washougal MX Park.