Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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SUPERCROSS ROUND 8 / FEBRUARY 23, 2019 FORD FIELD / DETROIT, MICHIGAN P50 MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS Webb (Red Bull KTM) also went searching for new set- tings in Detroit, but the search seemed to do the opposite for his efforts, as he struggled in practice to qualify ninth, then went backward in the first of three main events, finishing sixth after starting very close to the front. He sorted it out by the final main event, which he won, and salvaged second on the night, but he never appeared to have Tomac's speed on the Ford Field track. Still, the effort extended his points lead over Ken Roczen (Red Bull KTM) from two to six points and only lost three points to Tomac, who is 13 points behind Webb as the series heads to its halfway point this coming weekend in Atlanta. Eli Tomac we've grown accus- tomed to seeing. In the seven rounds run prior to the Detroit Supercross, Tomac only had one win and two additional podium finishes, and his 12th- place finish in Arlington a week ago must have sounded alarms at his team that they needed to do something. He spent the week testing and obviously found something, which culmi- nated with his second win of the series after he dominated the first two of three main events in Detroit's Triple Crown format, effectively stopping the bleed- ing in his 2019 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship hopes. On the other side of that coin, points leader Cooper ROCKED OUT Cole Seely (Honda HRC) did not suit up for the main event. During practice, Seely was struck by a rock and was in too much pain to continue. "I'm really bummed I couldn't race tonight, espe- cially because I was feeling so strong and fast during practice," Seely said. "While laying down my fastest time, I got hit by a pretty big rock right in my sternum, which knocked the wind out of me. I tried to ride the second ses- sion but the pain was too much and I wasn't able to hang on. I hate having to make the call to race or not because obviously, the racer in me wants to be on the line, but I also didn't want to risk further injury since I barely had the strength to get around the track for one lap. I'm going to do everything I can this week to make sure I'm ready to go for Atlanta." COVINGTON MISSES DETROIT Thomas Covington (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) twisted his knee in qualify- ing in Arlington last weekend and said via his Instagram page that he sat out Detroit because his knee hadn't recov- ered as much as he had hoped. He says he hopes to be back by Daytona, which probably not coincidentally is the most "outdoor" of all of the AMA Supercross tracks, as he has struggled thus far in his return to racing in the States. WE'VE SEEN THIS BEFORE... Eli Tomac struggled for the past couple races after taking the red plate with his win in San Diego, so he did some test- ing prior to the Detroit round and then looked like a new man on the track there. "It was kind of a light switch, Briefly... Eli Tomac showed speed, once again, but a bad start in the third race nearly cost him the overall win.