While Bench Racing Ammo often focuses on the great successes of riders and teams—like the recent dominance of Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki, or Chad Reed ending the supercross tour with a win and following it with more as soon as the outdoor tour began—this week, we focus on a few riders who are hoping to put their streaks to an end.
In this case, it’s a draught without a win, and Colorado holds the potential to end it.
In the 250 class, GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac began his pro career on fire by winning his first-ever pro race last year at Hangtown. Trouble for Tomac is, he hasn’t won a moto since! After taking essentially zero days to get win number one, win number two has now waited 56 weeks, and in fact, he has only made the podium in three motos since that debut ride (the first moto at Freestone last year, and two podiums so far this year).
It has been 56 weeks since Tomac last tasted victory.
Photo: Simon Cudby
After a strong season in Monster Energy Supercross, Tomac certainly wants more Ws soon. And this weekend could provide the right medicine. It’s his home track race, and his experience with altitude could help. Better yet, Tomac can look to his teammate from one year ago, Trey Canard. Trey had an even tougher season going at this point last year before putting it up on the podium at Thunder Valley with 3-2 overall scores. After that, Canard caught fire and eventually rallied from way back to win the championship. Tomac now sits 38 points behind Tyla Rattray, which is closer than Canard was at this point last year. So, there’s that.
The Thunder Valley National has presented plenty of great racing over the years, and perhaps the track’s wildest race took place there in 2007. With the altitude and summer heat wreaking havoc on bodies and bikes, the overall battle in the 450 class presented a mish-mash of talent, with riders surging and struggling at alternate moments. No one understood this more than the moto winners. Davi Millsaps won moto one but struggled to eighth in moto two, and Tim Ferry went 11-1 on the day.
Through it all, James Stewart won his only overall that season via 4-2 scores, a solid performance considering he had crashed out of the Unadilla round a week earlier. Ferry would get an overall win at the next round at Washougal. But that rider who might look back at that ’07 Colorado race most often is Millsaps—for his first moto win there was his last moto win in AMA Motocross.
Tomac and Millsaps hope to put their winless streaks to end this weekend in conditions they have ridden well in before. But will the fast men in front of them cooperate?
