Eli Tomac earned his first win of the 2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship at the round-four Anaheim 2 Supercross last week. Then at the fifth round on Saturday, Tomac became the first 450SX rider to earn his second win of the season after he finished 1-1-3 in the first Triple Crown event in nearly two years. He pulled two holeshots in the first two races and checked out both times but got slightly pinched off at the start of the third race. However, he did not need to win that final race of the night to win the overall, and his third-place finish allowed him to claim his class-leading fifth 450SX Triple Crown overall win. Here is what the Monster Energy/Star Yamaha Racing rider had to say about his night.
Eli, this is your second consecutive overall win of the season. How good does it feel to now start gaining that momentum behind you and the team?
Eli Tomac: It’s great. We started it with last week where I felt like I was finally where I deserve to be, in the front of the race, or at least contending for the front of the race. It just feels really good to do it again. These Triple Crowns are long nights, especially come the third round. It’s like, all right, we have to go do it again. Thankfully, I put up those two good scores right away. That was my mindset tonight. Put up the good score in the first one, and then just try to maintain from there and do what we can do. Had two holeshots, too. That was awesome. A lot of people don’t expect that from me, but we did it. It was cool.
Did you expect that from you?
No, not two! [Laughs] I just had good starts. I had a good gate, too. That paid off, having the fast qualifier for that gate. Overall, just a good night.
One of the biggest storylines from the off-season was you switching to Yamaha. When in your heart did you know that this experiment worked? After San Diego? Pre-season? When did you know that you made the right decision?
Pre-season, of course. I felt great. I felt awesome. Then Anaheim 1, I was off. Main event time, it wasn’t great. Then I’m like, okay, we have work to do. But, we kept improving and I knew we could get there. By San Diego, I knew I was just a tick away from finding something that we could get to the front of the race with and be in contention for the front of the race. It took a few rounds. After Anaheim 1 I had a couple questions for sure on my mind.
When the announcement first came that you were going to leave Monster Energy Kawasaki, go to Star Racing Yamaha, the question was asked the reason behind it. Pretty much you just said it was going to be easier to win on this motorcycle. Back-to-back wins right now. It looks good. Is this thing just easier to win on?
Right now, I’ve gotten to the point where it is just really good. Moto one and moto two tonight, actually moto two specifically I felt like I had Velcro on my tires. It was really, really good. It was a fun race to ride. This is one of the best bikes I’ve ridden in supercross. So, in that aspect, it’s really exciting. It makes you feel good.
Glendale - 450SX
February 5, 2022| Rider | Hometown | Motos | Bike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Eli Tomac | Cortez, CO  | 1 - 1 - 3 | Yamaha YZ450F |
| 2 |  Malcolm Stewart | Haines City, FL | 3 - 2 - 4 | Husqvarna FC 450 |
| 3 |  Chase Sexton | La Moille, IL | 11 - 3 - 1 | Honda CRF450R |
| 4 |  Jason Anderson | Edgewood, NM | 2 - 12 - 2 | Kawasaki KX450SR |
| 5 |  Ken Roczen | Mattstedt, Germany  | 4 - 6 - 7 | Honda CRF450R |
There’s a maturity and an effortlessness that we’ve seen with your riding, that I haven’t really seen before. How much do you contribute that to the bike, and how much do you say would be kind of your mindset in this season?
A lot of it is just feeling like you’re in the right spot. When you’re not fighting things and you’re just riding. The days that you feel like you’re at the practice track. It takes a lot of work to get there, but once you’re there, we’re feeling good. Moto two, I felt one of the best I’ve felt on a supercross track in a long time. So, it’s exciting for us.
You had mentioned coming out of A1 that you had some work to do with the team to get the bike to where it needed to be, and then you just mentioned that it’s as good as it has ever felt. What were the kinds of changes that you were making? Do you feel comfortable getting into that with us?
I can get into it a little bit. One was starts. I was not consistent at all on my starts, so finally figured that out. Then a little bit of gearing things and figuring out what feels right and what feels good through the whole moto. That’s all I’m going to give you.
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"Right now, I’ve gotten to the point where [the bike] is just really good. Moto one and moto two tonight, actually moto two specifically I felt like I had Velcro on my tires." - Eli Tomac Align Media ![]()
"It’s [Star Yamaha] a good environment. For this stage in my career, it was a perfect fit for me to go down to Florida for pre-season time and ride with different guys. It was something new to do and look at." - Eli Tomac Align Media ![After five rounds, Tomac continues to lead the 450SX points standings.]()
After five rounds, Tomac continues to lead the 450SX points standings. Align Media ![Tomac becomes the first 450SX rider to get two wins in 2022.]()
Tomac becomes the first 450SX rider to get two wins in 2022. Align Media
With a little bit more newfound freedom with the new team, do you feel like it’s also making you a better tester?
There’s freedom there, but there’s also the guys that are working on the bike and making the changes. It’s people behind the scenes too that’s making this all work.
We missed the Glendale event last year. It was obvious that the reception was there. The fans turned out. How did it feel to be back in Glendale, and how would you describe the atmosphere racing the triple crown tonight?
I thought we had a great crowd. The pits were packed. I thought it was the most jam-packed pit party we’ve had this year. Obviously, the stadium was pretty full. This place is huge. It looked really full to me. A little bit of the upper deck wasn’t there, but it was a big turnout for us. People were excited. When you miss a year, those fans are excited to get back to racing. As always for us it feels good to have them back.
We talked a ton obviously about the motorcycle. It also seems like you’re really happy with the personnel, the people around you. Did you know that you would get that going to this team? Or is that actually like a bonus, a pleasant surprise of how much fun you’re also having over there and it’s not just the motorcycle?
I knew a few people there, but at the same time, half the people there I didn’t know either. So, it was a bit of an unknown. It’s a good environment. For this stage in my career, it was a perfect fit for me to go down to Florida for pre-season time and ride with different guys. It was something new to do and look at.
Watch the full 450SX post-race press conference below:
