There were lots of question marks surrounding Eli Tomac coming into the 2022 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. Despite just winning his second Monster Energy AMA Supercross championship, Tomac was nursing a torn MCL that kept him sidelined for the final round at Salt Lake City. It was clear Tomac wasn’t going to be 100 percent by the time Pro Motocross got underway and he further drove that point home when he himself said he felt around 90 percent with the knee coming into the season. Even so, racing is always a bit different, and it was just going to take one weird moment for the knee to flare up again.
After finishing 7-4 for fourth place at the opening round at Fox Raceway, Hangtown was a welcomed sight for Tomac who had seen years of repeated success at the Northern California racetrack. The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider then went out and qualified third, finished fourth in the first moto, and promptly won the second moto en route to his first overall podium of the season. It’s still not exactly the same Eli Tomac we’ve come to expect over the years, but he’s certainly progressing on the right track with each passing moto to start the season.
With a successful day at the races behind him, Tomac spoke with the media in the post-race press conference about it all.
We know when the #3 machine gets into beast mode, this track really played into your style, without question.
Eli Tomac: Yeah, second moto was way improved. I was missing a couple of lines compared to moto one. There was that one double in the middle of the track, that was the one I was missing, and I lost a lot of time there. Just riding a little bit tight. Fixed some balance on the motorcycle in moto two, started in about the same spot and I was able to move forward. The track, yeah it was the typical square-edged and tough-to-ride Hangtown. There were decent lines, and I had a lot of fun. I liked that new rhythm section, that was kind of neat. It did have decent moisture though, and the overcast skies probably saved us there.
Seemed like throughout the day you were testing the limits of the track. You let the race come to you, and then we use that term beast mode. When did you find that double?
That far end of the track there, I was making up time there heading to the step up. That was a good, technical section, and you had to make sure to stick to the inside once you got to the top of the step up there. Me and Chase [Sexton] went at it for a while, he stayed right on my wheel. Right down to the end, I even got a little sketchy on the last lap and he was right there when we got to the hip jump on the last lap he was right there. Barn burner to the end.
Any close calls we didn’t see?
Once on that double on the middle of the track, drifted right. Other than that it was pretty clean.
Last week wasn’t quite what we’re used to from you. Wasn’t horrible, but with that in mind was in important for you to come back and put in a strong showing? Or is it too early to worry about that?
Yeah, it was important since I lost 18 points last week and I lost more today. I looked at that and I was like “Whoa!” I had no choice, really. First moto last week I just went backwards, and that sucks as a rider. I started in second and I was like “I’m going to be okay” and then I ended up seventh. Moto two was better but I was still pretty far off of the top guys. So yeah, this was a big rebound for us.
