Red Bull KTM’s star rallies from a tough start to finish second at Round 7, staying within four points of the 450SX lead ahead of Daytona
Eli Tomac and the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team claimed a well-earned second-place finish at Arlington’s seventh round of the 2026 AMA Supercross Championship, recording his fifth podium of the season tonight in Texas.
Tomac topped the premier class qualifying for the third time in 2026, posting a benchmark 47.688s lap during the second afternoon session at AT&T Stadium and backed that up with third-place in the opening 450SX Heat Race, the 33 year old showing consistent and grabbing a solid gate selection for the Main Event.
Despite a difficult initial launch out of the gate, Tomac quickly recovered on the opening laps with a series of decisive passes, as the two-time 450SX Champion charged into fourth position during the race’s early stages.
From there, an intense, race-long battle unfolded, with Tomac advancing into second during the closing laps of the Main Event. Mounting a late charge, he continued to apply pressure at the front, ultimately finishing in P2 at Round 7.
As the 2026 AMA Supercross Championship approaches its halfway point, Tomac sits just four points from the 450SX series lead, with the SMX World Championship season continuing at the annual Daytona Supercross next weekend.
Teammate Aaron Plessinger made a positive start to the night, claiming fifth place in his Heat Race to comfortably earn a direct transfer into the Main Event.
Plessinger faced an intense opening few laps in fighting for early track position, as the 30-year-old battled inside the top-10 throughout Arlington’s entire Main Event. ‘The Cowboy’ eventually scored an eighth-place finish for the weekend.
With the series moving to Daytona next weekend, ‘The Cowboy’ will turn his attention to the historic Florida speedway, where he landed on the podium – his first of the 2025 season – one year ago.
Eli Tomac: “Those first laps absolutely saved my race. I had to make some quick moves there and was able to find those openings to pass two-to-three riders at a time. By lap two or three, I could see the front of the race and thought, ‘I’m okay, I can work with this.’ What a difficult track [it was] tonight. Of course, I fought to the end as much as I could and second is what we had. Thank you to Red Bull KTM – we’ll come back swinging in Daytona.”
Aaron Plessinger: “Dallas was better. I think we made some pretty good progress with the bike, but ultimately, I just need to be better. I need to put myself in better positions, and just overall, be better myself. The Heat Race, I got an average start and rode my way to fifth, and then for the Main, I went all the way inside gate, so got a better start. I was running good and then [Jason] Anderson ended up going down in front of me, so that put me back a little bit. And then I had a decent flow going there, but I ended up casing a jump pretty good and kind of ruined my momentum that I had going. I ended up eighth, but overall, it just needed to be better. We go to Daytona next week, so I am looking forward to that and, yeah, I’ve just got to focus on being better on race day.”
Four-time world champion Jorge Prado was sidelined for Round 7 after his incident during Seattle’s second qualifying session, with the 25-year-old prioritizing recovery on his right shoulder by taking a week off the bike at this time.
The next race takes place at Daytona, Florida on February 28.
ARLINGTON 450SMX RESULTS
- Hunter Lawrence (Honda)
- Eli Tomac (KTM)
- Cooper Webb (Yamaha)
- Ken Roczen (Suzuki)
- Justin Cooper (Yamaha)
- Chase Sexton (Kawasaki)
- Joey Savatgy (Honda)
- Aaron Plessinger (KTM)
- Christian Craig (Honda)
- Dylan Ferrandis (Ducati)
- Malcolm Stewart (Husqvarna)
- Justin Hill (Team Tedder Racing)
- Shane McElrath (Honda)
- Colt Nichols (Suzuki)
- Vince Friese (Kawasaki)
- Mitchell Harrison (Partzilla Blaster PRMX Racing)
- Kevin Moranz (KTM)
- Tristan Lane (The McGinley Clinic Privateer Support Program)
- Jordon Smith (Triumph)
- Joshua Cartwright (Cartwright Racing)
- Jason Anderson (Suzuki)
- Garrett Marchbanks (Kawasaki)
2026 AMA SUPERCROSS STANDINGS
- Hunter Lawrence – 149
- Eli Tomac – 145
- Cooper Webb – 133
- Ken Roczen – 131
- Chase Sexton – 122
- Justin Cooper – 112
- Joey Savatgy – 95
- Dylan Ferrandis – 87
- Jason Anderson – 84
- Aaron Plessinger – 79
- Jorge Prado – 73
- Malcolm Stewart – 63
- Justin Hill – 61
- Christian Craig – 58
- Colt Nichols – 51
- Shane McElrath – 41
- R.J. Hampshire – 38
- Garrett Marchbanks – 24
- Vince Friese – 24
- Mitchell Harrison – 22
