Insight: Jett Lawrence vs Eli Tomac

“Yeah, it's awesome, especially getting our first attempt,” Jett said about winning the coveted Daytona main event in his first 450SX start at the venue. “The track…it was a gnarly one too. It wasn't like it was an easy track to ride in the first place. So, was super happy and especially kind of how it happened too with going down to the wire with the start gates dropping and having my tire cover still on and trying to get that off quickly. So, it was…I was already tweaking before the gate [drop], but thankful we got a not too bad start and was able to kind of calm down and then get back to races. Bike was awesome, even with how difficult the track was. So, I’m just super pumped.”

As the gate was about to drop on the main event, Jett’s mechanic Christian Ducharme was still pulling off the tire cover after putting on a fresh tire following the site lap.

“Didn’t mess me up not too much, it was kind of…I already had in my head: ‘All right, I'm gonna have to try and if it does not come off in time, all right, let's see how fast we can get to this field,’” Jett stated in the post-race press conference. “But the team luckily enough got off just at the very last seconds you could say before the gate drop and I wasn't even like kind of fully sat on the bike. I think as the gate dropped, I slid my butt, slid back on the seat, but we're able to get it going, like our bikes super fast. So, I went to hit the dirt, thing ripped, I think that new tie definitely helped. But, but no, I think the team handled it very well for perhaps stressful. The situation was…super happy we had done just in time, yeah.”

“I think it obviously makes us stronger,” Jett said on his relationship with his mechanic and the trust that goes both ways. “I always, in the back of my head, I always knew we were gonna get it just in time. In my head, I like to think he likes to play with me maybe a little bit, make my mental stronger. But, but no, I think, he's such a good mechanic and I don't think it's ever gonna really affect our relationship at all. I think it's only gonna make it stronger. And as the years gone on, I think we've gotten closer and closer and he's like family and the rest of the team is like family now.”

Do not look now, but the #18 has a ten-point gap back to P2 in the championship, Cooper Webb. There is a lot of racing still to go, but the #18 is starting to take a grasp on the championship at the moment.

Tomac managed the not only get his smoking machine through the finish line, but he got it there in second place after a late race pass on Sexton.

“No, I didn't recognize the smoke went out, and honestly, my clutch felt fine,” Tomac said on his bike. “So, for what people were saying, I'm surprised I didn't feel it in my lever, but I didn't at all. And that's just the conditions out there. I mean, the ruts were crazy deep and I'm a kind of a clutch abuser guy. So, I obviously got the bike hot and that's what happens.”

[Our Steve Matthes later confirmed it was not heat from the clutch causing smoke in Tomac’s bike, but rather a valve cover gasket.]

ET3 sits 16 points back in the championship after eight rounds. This is around the time he either starts or is in the midst of a mid-season run of wins. But this year, it’s Lawrence who has the momentum.

“Yeah, it's just, there's no place like Daytona for me, you know,” Tomac stated after the race. “It's always a good feeling here, good vibes. And, yeah, it's just a track that suits me, you know. And second’s just what we had tonight.”

Despite a strong night, he had no answer for Jett. Much of it came down to the big rhythm after the start, which Lawrence consistently quadded in to create a big combo to the end of the section. Tomac took to long to try it, and he feels that was a huge difference.

“Yeah, it was,” Tomac said. “I mean, really that cost me any chance at the win. And I just, I didn't do it at all in the heat race and then, in the main, I didn't do it until after I got passed by Jett and then whatever it was somewhere past halfway there. And it was frustrating because once I did do the quad, I was on the right side of that lip and it was like, no big deal. So, yeah, it was just a mistake. I wish I would have caught on to it earlier. Took a little more risk. But that's what happens.”

While Jett won this battle—on Eli’s unofficial home turf—is he going to hold on to win the war? Will a rookie mistake become costly and change the championship? What about Tomac? Does he continue building, or did we see a “beast mode” ride that this time was only good enough for second at his best venue? Tomac still has Webb and Sexton in front of him in the championship, but as we all know these riders could easily swap positions at the next round. Or Jett could start a mid-season run and pull away. While there’s still much to play for and many are hoping this tight 450SX championship remains well into the later stages of the series, Lawrence’s competitors will need to bounce back quickly and stem the momentum. If they don’t, winning at Daytona, in this fashion, could be seen as a turning point.