This past weekend in Arlington, Texas, we saw Eli Tomac unleash Beast Mode for the first time since coming back from injury. He didn’t get a great start, then he crashed but was able to charge through the pack like few have been able to do so far this year.
This ties in nicely to a big argument between Jason Thomas and Steve Matthes on the Fly Racing Racer X Podcast. Yes, JT and Matthes arguing. And the sun also set. A week ago, Matthes declared that he had seen enough evidence from Eli Tomac this year to know that while he could still get podiums and win races, he will not win this title. JT said it was way, way too early to count him out.
Then Tomac went really, really fast over the weekend, so Matthes and Thomas argued whether this means Tomac is back, or if it was simply a great one-off ride that veterans can sometimes pull off. Meanwhile Jason Weigandt played it safe in Switzerland (neutral). So, The List compiles of two differing opinions, read or listen to the exchange below and comment to let us know which side you fall under.
Matthes: Eli Tomac, that was a great ride. That was beast mode. His crash was so, I don't know, that was something. Like I don't know, that was a weird crash.
JT: That’s a high side, I've seen it a lot, right? You grab too much front brake and then you…
Matthes: Yeah, but not from Tomac.
JT: Yeah, that dynamic, that type of crash I've seen many times.
Matthes: That looked like something I would do.
JT: Yeah, it's tough. I mean, you grab a handful of brake, and you don't expect it to slide, it basically slides and then it catches and when it catches you go flying. But I think the real question here is back to the storyline. You and I are kind of on the opposite sides of…
Weege: Yes, here it comes baby!
JT: Yeah, I mean, we have to, that type of ride is what I've been waiting for.
Matthes: Yeah, it was great. It was beast mode.
JT: Listen like, I'm not coming at you. I'm just saying we need to revisit this like we have to talk about what does this mean?
Matthes: No, we don't, we don't need to revisit anything.
JT: We don't? I certainly do.
Matthes: Look if anybody should know it's Weigandt. He's used this theory in our podcast 100 times.
Weege: I'm very, very eager to find out what this is you're going to say here.
Matthes: Weege, you know what happens when the guys get older, Stew, Chad, Eli, they can pull it out, they can do this on their nights. This is a good race for Eli. He could do it, he can pull it out. I said last week that he can win races and he can podium. I didn't say anything about not winning or not podiuming. But, you know, he's fifth in the points. So, Weege’s theory, I mean, I think it's solid for this.
Weege: I had not thought of that interpretation. Okay, yes. So, I have made that point before, the speed doesn't go away. It's just being that “balls to the walls” fast every single week, every time. That goes away first. But there will still be some races of the year where you're still that guy. So, Steve, you're thinking this was just that, this isn't Tomac turned a corner. This is just that he's gonna have this six or seven times this year and this was one of them.
Matthes: Yeah, I mean, I think so. Just what did we see from Ken? What did we see from Kenny last race? Right? Just, just one of those.
Weege: Ohhhh…
JT: You think Glendale was a one off for Kenny?
Matthes: Well, just in the ability to win on a weekend? Yeah. Okay, he was on it. He was great. It was amazing and he won the race and then Tomac will be great and amazing, and he'll do rides like this. But I mean, he's fifth in the points. He was seventh so he's closer than what he was.
JT: I don't know…
Matthes: He’s 13 [points] back.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jett Lawrence | Landsborough, Australia  | 351 |
| 2 |  Cooper Webb | Newport, NC  | 336 |
| 3 |  Chase Sexton | La Moille, IL | 307 |
| 4 |  Eli Tomac | Cortez, CO | 282 |
| 5 |  Jason Anderson | Edgewood, NM | 282 |
JT: I just don't think, and I'm gonna stand by it, and I had several people come up to me this week and they go, “Is Steve serious? Like saying Tomac's out, he's out of the championship, like, he can't win it?” And I'm like, “I don't know, man, you should take it up with him. Like, I don't know, you listen to the podcast, you tell me.” Yeah, I don't know how you can possibly say that about a guy who has done what he's done and just showed you what he showed you on Saturday. Like, how can you say that [he can't win the title]? I've been preaching the same message for three months that it's gonna take him a long time to get back. It's going to take him longer than everybody thinks. I've been saying the same thing and now we're going into his best races of the year. We're going into Daytona. We're going into the back stretch of the season. To count him out now, to me, is absolutely asinine. It is crazy talk to me. Maybe he doesn't win it [the title]. Like I'm 100 percent okay with him not winning it. I get it. But to say he can't win it. Like he's too far out, after watching that [Arlington] and you're gonna stand behind it.
Matthes: Great, great. Yeah, he's still got to beat Chase Sexton, AP, Cooper, and Jett Lawrence? So, go on Eli and I'm looking forward to seeing this.
JT: You're telling me that your thesis is that he can't win the title because he's got to make up six points on Aaron Plessinger over the next eight rounds? Okay, you stand behind that, go for it. Like I don't know what to tell you, man.
Matthes: I mean, you can look again and all these idiots on social media, I didn't say he can't win. I didn't say he can't podium or win races. I said he can win races and he can get on the box and all of that. I'm not counting that part out. I never said that. So, when everybody says, "This race should have been a third. This should have been a third." It was a second. He didn't even win. He rode great. He rode amazing. I'm not taking anything away, but he was old Eli Tomac. But does old Eli Tomac maybe win. Does he catch Jett and Cooper Webb? Maybe? I mean, we've seen Eli Tomac put on all-time rides, Carmichael-level rides and this one should have been a third. But hey, he still rode great. But just there is an example of maybe the old Eli Tomac wins this thing?
Weege: From a crash? I don't think so.
Matthes: I don't know. I don't know.
Weege: I feel like the fundamental argument this week is... so JT, Steve is saying this isn't just that Tomac needed time and now he's had enough time and now he's figuring it out and now he's putting together. Steve's thesis here is that you're gonna see this a couple of times here and there throughout the year, but it won't happen enough for him to win the title. JT, do you think this is a sign that he has turned the corner and we're gonna see a lot of this now?
Matthes: Obviously he does, right?
JT: I've been saying from the very beginning that don't judge Eli off of January. Don't judge him early. It's gonna take too long. You can't stay off the bike for five months and be your best right away. Like, I've never seen it in my entire life. This doesn't happen that way. And I was not shocked to see Eli struggle early on. I'm not saying he's gonna win the title. I'm just saying to count him out after six races to me is a mistake. It is a mistake. And I think this weekend was a very powerful message of like, you don't think that guy is still there and you don't think he can make up points? These guys aren't infallible. It's not like somebody's running away and has four wins on the season or is like, clearly the best guy. It's been all over the map, and we run that parody graphic every week [on TV] for good reason because the points are all over the place. So, to me saying that Tomac can't make up 13 points and we're not even halfway? Like, I don't even have a response to that.
Matthes: Again, again though, you don't get it.
JT: Clearly, I don’t.
Matthes: He's not second in the points, 13 points back.
JT: But it doesn’t matter! It's 13 points, is all that matters. That doesn't matter.
Matthes: No, no, no, no. There's other racers ahead of him that have gathered more points in seven rounds.
JT: It doesn’t matter, Steve. To win the title, it doesn't matter. It's 13 or zero. It doesn't matter if there's 75 people or one if you’re pass fail on winning the championship. All that matters is the points in between first and whatever place he is in.
Matthes: Well, he is ten back of Cooper Webb. So, he needs to beat Cooper three straight races. Yeah, first and second place to make up those 10.
JT: Okay, well, if you're gonna go the Weege math, if they're gonna go 2-3, 2-3, 2-3…
Matthes: I'm not going by the Weege math. But, if you're gonna just say that the other racers don't matter, then that's also like, Jason Anderson's four back to him. Jason Anderson has beaten him in as many races as Tomac has beaten Anderson this year, Anderson's beaten Tomac. They've literally split the difference I believe, on who's beaten who and he's four back. So, if you're Jason Anderson, you're like, “Hey, man, Tomac’s, four ahead of me, I've beaten him as many times this year…”
JT: I'm not counting Anderson out. You are. That's the thing. That's the difference. I'm not counting anybody out of this thing.
Matthes: That's awesome, JT. Then you can come on the podcast, and you can tell everybody that whoever wins the title, you knew they had it the whole line, and you'll continue to waffle and that's fine. You can be the waffle guy. I'm fine with that. That's great. If you want to absolutely put no takes out there and no real hard opinions, then sure, everybody's in this title fight, then. That's great. Good for you. Everybody should get a balloon.
JT: You sound upset
Matthes: No, everybody should get a balloon and we'll go on because everybody's in this according to you.
Weege: This has gone too far.
We will keep this going below, but you can listen to the FLY RACING RACER X PODCAST SHOW from Arlington below around the 13:25 minute mark to listen along.
JT: No, no, I'm unwilling to count out Eli Tomac just like I was last week, just like I am this week.
Matthes: Great.
JT: And if you're not, that's okay.
Matthes: It doesn't sound like you're okay. I just can't believe one race has just made you just go to the wall, just one race.
JT: I said the same thing last week.
Matthes: Yeah. But just one race now you want to revisit it and you just…
JT: We’re gonna revisit it every week I thought?
Matthes: You're just the recency biased guy. So, he rode great. He rode him amazing. He was great. He was old Eli in a stadium that he's done really well at.
JT: But you can't in my opinion, when I say something and then he looks a lot better. He cuts the points lead down by like 25 percent of what he was down. Like, that was a significant sign that he still has it in him. Right?
Matthes: He cut the points lead down when the leader went down with three laps to go when he was all by himself.
JT: That's a part of racing, man. I don't know what to tell you.
Matthes: Okay, cool. But I also look at Jett Lawrence leading 71 laps to Eli Tomac’s uhh, zero [laps] and zero wins.
JT: He won one of the Triple Crowns…
Weege: Oh, no, no, don't go there. Don't go there on laps led at the Triple Crowns. Don't get Steve started on that. No, we're too far down that road.
Matthes: He absolutely did not [Steve likes to rant that AMA stat sheets don't count laps led in Triple Crown races].
JT: Now you're mad at me about the AMA, I don't know what to tell you.
Weege: This will be interesting going to Daytona with Tomac. He’s good at Daytona.
Matthes: Right. No, he rode great in Arlington. He crushed it, you know, but it's a long season.
JT: You know what Steve? You're probably gonna be right in that he doesn't win the title, because he is 13 points down and he doesn't have the laps led, I get all that. My only point in all of this is that if you were like, holding on to hope that he was gonna get back in this fight, it was a hell of a sign of life.
Matthes: Sure, it was, it was great.
JT: Okay, then we can let it go there. That's all I'm saying.
Weege: I thought it was interesting. Tomac showing a little bit of attitude there on the podium. You never really get anything from him ever, in any direction. But here he was kind of clapping back a little bit at people that were saying he was old. And then I also thought it was interesting in the press conference, he was asked about Detroit because he hasn't really done anything [media] since then. And he just said he got arm pump. But he said something I thought that was really interesting and he said, “But I can't blame it all on the bike.” He's like, “I've been doing this long enough. I should know what it takes to not get arm pump. So, a lot of that's on me.” So, I thought that was more revealing than usual. Most riders, Steve, I don't know if you've noticed they'll just take the bike as the out. So good on him to be like “That's on me to set up the bike right for myself.” So, good on him there. But him clapping back, I don't know if I've ever really seen Tomac do that. So that was interesting.
JT: He hears this stuff too, like, you know I heard enough people saying it to me this weekend, I'm like, “Man, you guys all hear these things that we're talking about whatever?” Like I'm sure people are telling him what they hear, right? Like I don't think he loves hearing that, he's probably like, “You're counting me out now?” like I don't think he loves that, and I don't think he's like mad about it, but at the same time, he's his own person and he's not worried about every other rider. He's only worried about himself. So, yeah, whatever. I think he put in a great ride and he's probably gonna let us know about it. Whatever it is what it is. I don't really blame him for it.
Weege: He did add “And maybe they're right.” He did add that!
Matthes: [Laughs] Right.
Weege: Credit for him. But I'm just not used to Tomac being anything more than a cyborg in responding to things. I thought that was quite interesting. And when I think it also shows, by the way we know Star is not afraid to get on their guys, that worked with Webb in the past and it obviously worked again on Saturday. I think they're on him a little bit. I think when Eli says that “I can't blame the bike that's on me. I should know better.” I think that reflects Star. They do not coddle their guys like other teams do and I wonder if that's a little bit of this as well. I mean, they didn't bring Eli Tomac back to be out of the title after six rounds either. They want to be in it. So, I wonder if that's a little bit of it too.
Matthes: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look Daytona, he's gonna do well this weekend he may not win, but he's gonna do well if not win and then we'll go from there. Right. We'll see how he is. [But] He's currently in the middle of his longest winless drought as a full time 450 rider....
