Don’t even try to draw parallels. There is nothing in history quite like this, as the top rider in the series stood right on the precipice of another title. He was leading the race. At his home race. Further, he didn’t even have to win. He could avoid taking any risks, as he had built a points lead through a masterclass of season-long management. Did you know there were races this year where Eli Tomac never took the fastest line through a rhythm lane, because he wanted to stay out of everyone else’s ruts and reduce the risk of a crash? He executed that on multiple occasions. In Oakland, he did that and actually won the race after Chase Sexton crashed.
There were nights when he wasn’t feeling it, and simply settled for a decent result instead of pushing. At one point he relinquished the red plate to Cooper Webb, but he never panicked. Last week, his points lead swelled when Cooper Webb crashed out of the series. Tomac spoke openly about just looking for podiums now, so he could wrap up the title safely.
Tomac did everything he could to reduce risk and stay healthy.
And yet, just like that, it’s over. Eli ruptured his Achilles tendon on a routine jump.
“When I look back, I barely over jumped, and I was just standing into that ramp, and I guess the high G load was just too much," said Tomac in a social media statement. "I don't know, I've over-jumped twenty different jumps just as hard if not harder and I've been fine. I guess it's just what happens with racing.”
Well, he said he’s over-jumped a jump like that twenty times, but over the course of 13 seasons in supercross, one would imagine Eli has actually taken hits like that at least 100 times. Maybe 200. Watching the clip back in slo-motion, it was barely a blip. You can find riders extending their calves and ankles deeper in any random run through the whoops than Eli did on that jump. Riders case jumps harder in free practice without incident than Eli hit in that main. Further, there’s little history in this sport of an Achilles injury happening in this circumstance. The standard motocross injury diet is knees, wrists, and shoulders. A few riders recently have suffered Achilles or calf injuries. Carson Mumford tore his calf earlier this year, for example. It’s still rare. Tweaked ankles? Sure, but Achilles? The injury is almost as unprecedented as the circumstances.
A week ago, we were in Nashville. Tomac led the race. Webb was out, Chase Sexton was behind. Just a week earlier, Tomac held a five-point lead over Webb. Now he was threatening to leave Nashville with nearly a full race lead in the standings, and the prospect of wrapping the championship a race early, at his home race in Denver.
Eli said he “straight up” backed it down. Sexton won. A few lost points wouldn’t matter anyway. It would take something catastrophic for Sexton to get the title, so Tomac’s full focus went to preventing that from happening. And yet, it happened.
We’ve all been left in shock the past few days, processing what happened. First, let’s not forget this sport can dish out injuries much more tragic than a ruptured Achilles. Social media posts from Eli and his wife Jessica show they’re well aware they’re still blessed, and life is good. This only effects sport, not life long term. Plus, Eli’s legacy is set. He’s an all-timer already, and any other stat or bonus he gets from here is just icing on a massive cake.
Further, losing a supercross championship that was so close seems terrible, but we can look at it one other way: we all know that Eli was about to win this. I am not sure if Eli will return to racing or not (the more I think about this, the more likely I think Eli will return and not go out this way, but that’s just my guess. He says it will be a month or two before he starts thinking about it). But even if he doesn’t come back, and this was his last race, if you really think about it… he went out on top.
