For Eli Tomac, another day with a moto win…and another day with another moto he wishes he could have back. His 5-1 scores left him third overall at the Ufo Plast High Point National.
“It was like I just had two different days,” said the four-time 450 Pro Motocross Champion, of Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing. “I mean, it's crazy when you get out front, how, quiet the race is, and I've just been in like the chaos and in war the whole these past, you know, few motos. So it was honestly a strange feeling, leading some laps early in the race. I mean of course I got the one [moto win at] Hangtown, but this was a different feeling, getting in the lead early. It was just a breath of fresh air.”
Tomac getting buried in moto one obscured his speed, because he did put in two burner laps at the mid-way point, the fastest of anyone in the race. He ran a 2:04 and a 2:05 lap while the leaders were running 2:07s. What changed?
“So I think that was before I got to my teammate Justin [Cooper],” said Tomac. “I just was in a like a really good spot of the race. I was in open air and I made a big run up to him and then I just got kind of stuck behind him. I just got stuck. I needed to make a move early, got stuck in his pace and that was it, unfortunately. Yeah, I didn't make a move in my opinion, early enough. That was it.”
For the second moto, all the riders would have to deal with different conditions. The softer ruts from earlier in the day had baked and grown harder…at least until the rain showed up.
“It's honestly a pretty nerve-wracking condition when that starts happening,” said Tomac of the harder ruts at the end of the day. “The good thing is everyone has to deal with it. That, that's about it. Like it's kind of to be expected at this track too where there's, you know, there's gonna be ruts here and also a hard base.”
Moto two Tomac got a better start and quickly maneuvered his way into the lead. At the exact moment he made passes, the skies opened up and High Point’s trademark rain finally hit. Tomac said the track was tough in those conditions, obviously. For example, the ramp to that big quad jump on the far side was getting slicker with each lap.
“Yeah, that's a tough race, because it’s starting out dry and then you're trying to anticipate the feeling of the dirt and how slick it's gonna get,” he said. “Honestly, I was pretty nervous about the quad and stuff. It was hard to judge like how slick is this ramp really gonna be. So it's tough when the rain comes mid moto cause you just have to adapt. But when you have a mud race or the rain comes before, it's like you know it's gonna be slick, but this was, it's always a fine line of where the track conditions go.”
One thing that helped Tomac massively? After the parade lap he switched to roll off goggles for his moto. As the skies opened, his move proved prudent. From there, he rolled on to the moto win, good enough for third overall with a 5-1.
“I feel like really good, I just have not been consistent with both my motos,” he concluded. “So, it's been tough that way. I'm happy with the day but also frustrated with the day. I've like had this weird push and pull, but overall, yeah, it's been nice to be back.”
