3 on 3: Mosiman, Tomac, and Barcia

You lost your transponder doing that, but what else happened to the bike?
My clutch lever was straight down. Then there was something that flew off when I hit the next rhythm. Probably wasn’t important. It was bent up a little bit, a little tweaked, but nothing too crazy.

Last week, you had a pretty big get-off in that final triple crown race. How banged up were you during the week? You had a couple of crashes again tonight. Is the body feeling okay? Are you looking forward to this break?
Honestly, I’m nursing a few different things. Everyone has been telling me it was a big get-off. I refuse to watch the replay because I just don’t want to dwell on it. I’m nursing a few different things. Actually, in the heat race at Anaheim 2, someone hit me from the inside and my knee has been bruised up a little bit. Even then, that was maybe one of the most hindering things at the moment. Then actually last week in the first practice, I had a crash and I found out at the end of last weekend, I went to Asterisk and got an X-ray, and I actually broke my hand. So, there’s that. It’s actually totally good. I’ve been fist bumping today. It’s kind of strange. Just kind of trying to stay on top of it and take care of the body. Looking forward to the break. Get healthy, go back to Florida and chill a little bit. Also, I’m really fired up and motivated from just the performance tonight. I think I left a lot on the table, and I had a lot to offer. So, excited and motivated for the break.

How do you plan on celebrating the podium?
I don’t think this one gets a whole lot of celebration. I do celebrate podiums. Anaheim 2 I was a little bit under the weather, so I really wanted to take care of my body and I had a great race that night, and I never celebrated because I wanted to…

Isn’t your question usually ice cream or cookies?
No, it’s just natural. It’s not rehearsed. But I will say, I could go for some ice cream.

Watch the full 250SX post-race press conference below:

Eli Tomac | 2nd in 450SX Class

Eli, walk us through your day. Like he said, you swapped leads there for a little bit. Did you have anything for [Jason] Anderson, or was it just one of those days where you were just kind of waiting to see if he made a mistake and get props on that?
Eli Tomac: I tried. I tried in the beginning. I felt like I was good in the first half. Early in the race, I was making time in the whoops and then I went for that one pass in those tight-ass turns and we went double, triple. I wasn’t really pumped. I cased the triple after the double. I’m like, gosh, darn it. Then he got back underneath me. So, looking back, I felt like I messed up the pass, but I kept going. Then made one mistake in the whoops. Then I moved my lines around and that was it. I felt like that was a strong point early on and then I lost it a little bit. But it was solid riding from Jason, too. There were really no mistakes after that. Second is what we had.

You hold onto the red plate, so give you some more confidence or does this kind of shape up with what we might expect for the rest of the year between you and Anderson?
It’s a great position for this time of year. Heading to some different stadiums, different dirt. We’re in a good spot.

You’re leading the series right now and we are moving to the East Coast and a totally different kind of dirt out there. How do you feel about going there? Do you feel even stronger now?
It’s still a little bit of unknown, but I think we’ll be fine. These tracks have been not the totally typical Anaheim tracks. We’ve had a couple ruts in these tracks, for Anaheim. So, I think we’ll be fine. We’ll just be going. It’s unknown. It’s the first year for me on this motorcycle on the East Coast tracks, but it shouldn’t be a problem.

We’re a third of the way through the championship now. Has this shaped up the way you guys expected coming into the season, or differently? What are your thoughts after six races?
Preseason you don’t really know, but it’s a little bit crazy that me and Jason did switch brands and now we’re both in the positions we are. In that way maybe I didn’t expect that.

I want to go back to the sand. In the heat race, you went outside at least once, maybe twice. In that battle with Cooper, he went inside of you. It seemed like you went inside after that. Were you just looking for different lines, or did you decide to change it in the heat of that battle?
Heat race, I went out there and I should never have even gone out there. So, that was a bad move. To be honest, I was watching the 250 race over there and I thought they were jumping into the outside, and they were jumping into the inside. So, that was a bad line on my part. Then in the main, the outside did have some opportunity. Sometimes it would form up and it was okay, but it was tough. It was like an off-camber, and it would send you to the outside. It was hard on the edge of the tire, that sand turn tonight.

Justin Barcia | 3rd in 450SX Class

Justin, great qualifying today. It looked good in the main as well. Take us through your day, and any adjustments that you made to be pretty successful.
Justin Barcia: Good day, for sure. Last weekend the last main event we made a change because we struggled absolutely so bad. We were struggling to get off the start the last few weeks. That put us in a good position, so during the week I rode that setup. Felt really good. Didn’t really make any adjustments, and tonight worked good. Got off to qualifying and felt comfortable. That was nice. The track to me was a really good racetrack. The whoops were obviously really gnarly but made for good racing. The heat race was phenomenal. Got off to a good start. Rode smooth. Was able to just kind of do my own thing, which was nice. Main event, decent start. Fought in the beginning. These two were hammering up front, and I was behind Marv. We weren’t able to cut that gap soon enough. For me, once I got around Marv, I was putting in my laps but couldn’t close the gap to these two. It was a good race, though. The last couple weeks have been difficult, so to be up here feels awesome. Like Jason said, the three of us have been racing forever and it feels pretty cool to be up here with these guys. It was a fun day.

This being your second year on the bike, do you think that that plays into your advantage into making adjustments and stuff like that?
Yeah, I think so. It’s hard, though. Everybody is always trying to be better. You have to pick and choose your battles with the motorcycle. For me, I think, we were a little bit too aggressive in the middle rounds trying to make it better than it was, and it was already good. So, we’re pretty much with just a little gearing change. Now we are getting off the start good and feel really good on the track. For me, I know the bike well, so I don’t feel like we need to change it too much. We can just kind of dial in here and there. Our bike is super sensitive to little changes. Today was super simple. A couple clickers here or there and it felt really good.

The West Coast is done so this thing is going to head east. Are you going stay on the west coast or are you going to go back east? I know you did make the change last year. Secondly, how has it been working with Olly [Stone, mechanic]? First year with him, how has it been?
Ollie is a legend. Got a few Brits in the crew now, so it’s pretty fun. He keeps it good. It’s nice to have a guy who’s as passionate as I am about racing. A lot of fun. Keeps me on my toes, so it’s cool. East Coast, I’m excited for it. Like Eli said, the tracks have actually been quite rutty, so I think we’ll be pretty good going to that East Coast stuff. Obviously, we’ll get some more sticky dirt and stuff like that. Looking forward to it. I plan on staying here on the West Coast. No plans to go East Coast. I’ve been enjoying it out here. Having a good time with the team and training with Michael [Mosiman] and Pierce [Brown]. Looking forward to Pierce coming on board. I think he’s going to have a good season. It’s been awesome sharing some podiums with Michael, as well, especially tonight. That’s cool.

What do you think about the sand section? You had a gnarly one through there in the qualifying session.
Yeah. I love the sand, but let’s keep the sand to the outdoors. [Laughs] The mechanics hate the sand. It tears the bike up. Sand down your back in supercross isn’t that fun. Honestly, I do enjoy it and I do whiskey through it and get through it pretty gnarly. I didn’t crash in it, so thumbs up.

For you, were you able to measure yourself with these guys at all, or were you too far back to even know what they were doing and what their pace was and what it would take to get another win?
I would say I was a little too far back tonight. It was definitely hard. I needed to be better in the beginning tonight. Marv was riding really good, but I kind of got stuck on his pace and Eli and Jason, they were there but I just got stuck behind Marv. Day late and a dollar short, kind of. It’s good to be back up here tonight. Like I said, the last two races were mentally tough on me and the whole crew, but I think it shows a lot that we pushed through it, and we figured it out and we’re back tonight. It felt great. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the rounds. I want to be up here with these guys battling and having fun. Just like the amateur days.

Watch the full 450SX post-race press conference below: