ANAHEIM – This is usually the time of the Supercross season when Eli Tomac can feel the unrelenting pressure building on his shoulders.

He can sense that he is beginning to fall behind in the points standings, his light at the end of the championship tunnel growing dimmer in the dust as his rivals speed away on their dirt bikes each weekend.

Earning that No. 1 plate will once again require some heavy lifting.

“Yes. Yes. That is why it feels awesome to be where I am right now,” Tomac said. “Looking back, I spent a lot of time digging my self out of some holes. It is much better to be up than down.”

Right now Tomac can’t get any higher.

The factory Yamaha rider extended his lead in the rider standings from one point to six over Chase Sexton after cruising to a 4.619 second victory over Jason Anderson on Saturday night at Angel Stadium.  Sexton finished third with Dylan Ferrandis and Malcolm Stewart completing the top five.

“This is a testament to what the team has going on,” Tomac said after winning the 38th 450 Supercross main event of his career. “We have been fine tuning and inching toward this. It feels so good.”

Tomac was running as low as fifth place after Ken Roczen grabbed the hole shot, but Tomac steadily made up ground each lap, turning in times that were as much as one second faster than Roczen at times. On Lap 4, Tomac was in third, and one lap later, he was in second thanks to an aggressive move by Anderson. Anderson slammed into Roczen in the sand section and took over the lead as Roczen fell, but Anderson couldn’t shake Tomac.

The duo steadily pulled away from the field with Tomac eventually grabbing the lead when Anderson made a mistake on Lap 8. His Kawasaki momentarily stopped in a turn after landing a jump.

“You never want to race like that (knocking down a rider),” Anderson said. “But we managed to salvage a result.”

Tomac has gotten up to speed quickly on his new bike. In just his fourth event riding for the Yamaha factory team, Tomac won the 42nd heat race of his career, beating Aaron Plessinger to the finish by 3.096 seconds.

“The team had a really good base. They had a couple years under their belt with the bike, and well, I am older now, so I know what I want now,” said Tomac, who previously rode for the Kawasaki factory team. “And as a rider, you have things that definitely fit your style.”

Plessinger got the early lead, holding half-second advantage over Tomac through the first four laps. For a few moments on Lap 3, the two raced side-by-side, but Plessinger flew back in front of the field over a triple jump.

But at the end of Lap 5, Plessinger couldn’t hold Tomac off any longer, falling to second in a 180-degree hairpin.

Ferrandis finished third followed by Justin Brayton and Stewart.

“I was feeling really good tonight. We had a great battle. There were a couple of close moments,” Tomac said. “I thought I was going to get him in the whoops earlier in the race, but he picked up his speed.

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In a season as competitive as this one has been through the first three races, heat races have taken on an extra importance. A rider’s finish in the six-minute race determines their gate pick. And where they line up, plays a crucial role on where they come out of the first turn.  Getting that hole shot, almost guarantees a victory.

“But I am realistic and if I get in the top five, I give myself a chance to get a podium or the win,” Tomac said. “The start is crucial. My goal is to always get a hole shot.”

Sexton turned a hole shot into an easy victory in his heat race, leading all seven laps to cruise to a 6.065-second triumph over Roczen, Sexton’s Honda factory teammate. Justin Barcia, Marvin Musquin and Shane McElrath rounded out the top five.

It was the third heat-race victory through four races this season for Sexton, but this was the first time he didn’t set the fast time combined time while speeding to victory in his qualify race. Tomac beat him by 0.323 of a second.

“I am having fun with the dirt bike. It is in a good spot,” Sexton said. “I feel like when I was a kid just having fun. Getting a win last week was big for us. Things snowball.”

Christian Craig passed Michael Mosiman on Lap 11 of the 15-minute 250 Supercross main event and used lapped traffic to extend his lead and beat Mosiman by 2.948 seconds to record the sixth victory of his career. Hunter Lawrence earned a spot on the podium, moving into third after Vince Friese crashed in the whoops with one lap to go. He placed 19th, two laps behind.