It was there in all its glory. Beast Mode. Maybe now it’s a retro or throwback thing, or maybe it’s actually just still the way things are in the present day. But whatever it was, is or could be, it was there in Arlington, Texas. Eli Tomac hammering late in the race, logging unmatched lap times and marching forward. After an early-race crash put him as far back as 16th, Eli charged all the way up to third, then took second after a pair of late crashes from Jett Lawrence. It was as strong as we have seen Tomac this year, and a nice improvement after the last two weekends, where he lost positions during the races.
He addressed quite a few topics in the post-race press conference.
Eli, what’s the difference on nights like this and A2 when it’s really clicking for you versus nights when it is not, like Detroit for instance.
Eli Tomac: Detroit I just had really bad arm pump, and when that happens, your hands are tied behind your back and you're hanging on for survival, you know. And you drop multiple seconds per lap and that's it, you know, if you get an arm pump around like lap six or seven, it's over and I was struggling in that specific condition with the dirt being tacky clay, the way it was, was pulling down my bike and I think I have fixed some of that with that being said, can't, you know, blame it all on the bike because look how long I've been doing this, I should know for that situation, you know, what's gonna make me race more comfortable and get me out of the arm pump situation. So, that was that specifically for this year at Detroit, you know, that race that, that's what caused, you know, me riding around and getting lapped. That's the difference. And, tonight was just being comfortable, you know, riding like I should, I guess.
Post-race, the comments for you on the broadcast was the first time we've sort of seen some fire come out from inside of you referencing back to, potentially the comments about you being the old guy. Do those comments creep in or is it just more frustrating for you?
Yeah, they creep in. I've kind of just heard it the whole season, and I just know I'm not like there yet…but I don't know, maybe some people are right. I haven't won an overall yet, but one thing for sure is I have improved and I'm getting better. So, yeah, I'm ready to put up the fight in this last half and, you know, maybe show some of the young guys that they're still young.
We never hear the terminology from you, you never say, “beast mode.” Was this "beast mode" or we just getting this thing going?
I mean, I made passes this time. I wasn't going backwards after halfway, so it was good.
Was it important to run this well, this week now that you're heading to Daytona, does that give you a little added confidence or does it make any difference? Daytona is just your track regardless?
Well, I mean, regardless, I love Daytona. It’s the favorite race for me, hands down. So, this was a race I needed, even though it wasn't a win. I'll tell you that I was really struggling with these situations before this weekend. So, I feel like I'm a lot better now. Bummed to make the mistake, you know, early on, there was all on me. Just overshot a triple there and tucked the front end went over the berm. But, yeah, obviously looking forward to next week.
![Tomac remounting after his mistake early in the 450SX main event.]()
Tomac remounting after his mistake early in the 450SX main event. Align Media ![Tomac and Plessinger battling.]()
Tomac and Plessinger battling. Align Media
Arlington - 450SX Main Event
February 24, 2024| Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Cooper Webb | 27 Laps | 45.474 | Newport, NC  | Yamaha YZ450F | |
| 2 |  Eli Tomac | +2.968 | 45.388 | Cortez, CO | Yamaha YZ450F | |
| 3 |  Aaron Plessinger | +4.884 | 45.438 | Hamilton, OH | KTM 450 SX-F | |
| 4 |  Jett Lawrence | +7.903 | 45.147 | Landsborough, Australia  | Honda CRF450R | |
| 5 |  Hunter Lawrence | +18.303 | 45.765 | Landsborough, Australia | Honda CRF450R |
Late into the race, you dropped your lap times pretty substantially. Was there something you found specifically that allowed you to do that?
I think that's around the time like, there was a two really inside lines before the whoops and maybe even the bowl before that, I felt like I was really good in those two bowl turns, like the left and the right. So I was able to square up the turn and really get a good drive in the whoops. Then getting the right combo through them was a big deal too, like being able to get a triple going all the way through there. I think it was triple, triple, triple, and some sort of balance thing at the end. When I did that, those were the better laps and I think I caught that later in the race there.
I'm gonna definitely say that you're in beast mode tonight. The inside that you were talking about before the whoops. When you made the pass on Hunter Lawrence, you could literally hear your bike in the stadium over everybody else's bike. So, when you're in that mode and you hit that kind of the state that you're in, what does that feel like? Does it feel different? I cannot imagine being able to do the things on a motorcycle that you're doing when you're gone from basically last to the podium and to make a 450 just drown out 21 other motorcycles on a racetrack. It is insane.
It's just…you find the right flow. So, for whatever that is, you have a couple of good turns, you know, on whatever track you're riding and you have that flow, that feeling, it's almost like things come easy and they come slower, you know? So, it's when everything's working, right? And you can go in the places you wanna go and you got the flow. So in that situation I can just keep pushing the whole moto.
Yeah, this one's for Eli and Aaron. You guys were going back and forth in the heat race. Talk us through that battle. That was, that was fun to watch.
Eli: Hey, I'll say that that pace was hot! [Laughs] I know both of our heart rates were to the moon at the end of that one. So, it was fun. I mean, we were just pinning it. We get the first laps around the track now with it being the first heat race. So, you're just wide open and the speed was incredible. So, yeah, we were both shredding that race.
Aaron Plessinger: Yeah, that pace was unbelievable! [Laughs] I think we got down to 43-second lap times. It was gnarly and, like he said, we were the first ones out there so we could just give her the beans and it would stick. Once he got next to me, I was like, "Man I don't want to let him pass me, but I don't wanna bang into him!" [Laughs] But we had a really, really good race, unfortunately he got by me the last lap. But, you know, it happens. [Laughs]
