Well, the second round of this three week stop in Salt Lake City seems to have made big improvements as the track was a lot better, the racing was a lot better and obviously apart from having to get up at 6am central European time to watch it, the night racing was better.

While I was not about to sit up all night long and watch it, and I doubt too many people did, at least in Europe, the main events in both classes had a lot of drama and great actions.

Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen totally missing the start and already within the first 100 metres of the race they were buried in the pack, and came into the first corner mid-pack, they are so much better than everyone else they worked their way through the field pretty quickly.

At one point Roczen seems to start having trouble, and be that his fitness, or his bike, I got no idea, but a similar thing happened to him on Sunday night, so you have to feel that maybe he struggles with the altitude. As for Tomac, he looked so comfortable on the start and I felt he would blast out of the gate and lead, but I am not sure what happened, but very quickly after the gate dropped, like in the first 50 metres it was clear he wasn’t going to be holeshoting this race as he just got pushed around going up the start straight.

Good to see former GP rider and Team USA man Zach Osborne leading for so long and he looked comfortable, but eventually had to give way to the faster Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac. Watching Tomac and Roczen coming through the pack was really enjoyable and I really thought they had enough to go 1-2, but as soon as Roczen started slowing, maybe from fatigue, maybe from the fact the whoops broke down badly, and he was mastering them early on.

Super happy to see Cooper Webb win, that guy is just a pure racer. Webb qualified sixth overall in the combined sessions but he quickly changed the momentum as soon as racing commenced as he powered his KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION off the line in 450SX Heat 1 to capture the holeshot and early lead. He went on to lead the first seven laps before getting passed with two to go, ultimately securing a solid second-place transfer into the Main Event.
 
In the Main, Webb captured a second-place start and he patiently chipped away at the leader for the first 20 laps of the race. He made his move into the lead on lap 21 and from there he focused on minimizing the mistakes to maintain his lead through the checkered flag. Webb’s Round 12 victory marked the reigning champion’s second win of the 2020 season. 

Overall, a great night’s action and do not forget that we will have all the action on Sunday night when the schedule again suits us Europeans based people and started early in the evening, rather than at 1am. Keep an eyes out for the press conference we will have up soon, and later today the video highlights.