Jett Versus Eli!

Tomac, never one to use more words than needed, summed it up like this:

“For me, this is probably the second time we really battled [San Diego], we maybe battled a little bit as des Nations too,” he said. “You have to expect a guy like that to be there like that. It’s been enjoyable.”

The second moto was high speed chess, with Lawrence and Tomac each having strengths, and Tomac making multiple runs, with Lawrence playing defense.

“In moto two we both had our strong areas on the track,” said Tomac. “Unfortunately for me I was behind him the whole time! But it was a good learning experience for me to see his lines and see his style. Yeah, it was a good battle for about 30 minutes!”

Late in the race, Lawrence had enough left in the tank to pull away. Still, there’s no doubt Tomac, the four-time 450 National Motocross Champion is ready.

That second moto battle keeps the mystery headed up the road to Hangtown. Lawrence won round one, and he has never lost an overall at Fox Raceway, a magical 8-0 in his career. All three second motos he’s raced on a 450 there have been close, though. Sexton was glued to him most of the way in 2023 and 2024, and Tomac hung for 30 minutes this time. Lawrence also admitted that it’s a very hard track to pass on. His incredible outdoor starts are still here, which gives him the advantage of being out front each time. Then he manages the pressure from there.

“It’s very, very rare in a whole lap or in motos that you’re going all out,” said Lawrence. “Especially this track, it can only take so much traction before you start to slide out. You can only go so fast in so many areas. I can’t really give you a percentage of how hard I was pushing because I’m bad at numbers!”

Jett was then asked if he could have could you have gone faster if Tomac did.

“I don’t know!” Jett laughed. “I’m glad he didn’t though!”

There was a time last year when the relationship between Tomac and Lawrence had turned icy. That’s clearly thawed, with Jett’s non-serious attitude making it tough for even the normally-stoic Tomac to do anything but laugh at his response.

“Right now, when I hear Hangtown I have that image of Eli wiping everyone by a minute and a half!” said Jett. “We just have to go there and minimize the mistakes and not complicate things.”

Several times during the press conference, Tomac buried his face in his hands while laughing at Lawrence's answers.

On a serious note, it's pretty clear both riders are strong after missing time with injuries.

“I felt pretty strong all day and especially after recovering from an injury,” said Tomac. “It was good. I look back on the day, and I wish I had changed a few things in moto one. Always trying to learn things and improve, even at this age.”

If we’re noting that Jett seems back to his old happy-go-lucky ways, Tomac, also, seems happy to be in this battle. After the moto, he looked totally unbothered.

“The usual guys are fast, so let’s go back, try to improve it and get better,” Tomac said.

Onto Hangtown we go, Lawrence versus Tomac outdoors for the first time ever. At round one, it was as good as advertised.

Jett Lawrence's professional results at Fox Raceway at Pala: