Eli Tomac's quick win streak to start the year ended in Anaheim, but his 1-1-3 scores to start the year create his biggest points haul to start a season, ever. At Anaheim 1 two weeks ago, Tomac and Ken Roczen pulled a massive gap on the pack. The field has gotten better since, and now the likes of Chase Sexton, Jason Anderson, Hunter Lawrence and Cooper Webb are back in the fight. Eli's A2, then, was a battle, and a few key moments might have made all the difference.
Eli talked about it with the media after the race.
Okay. Eli Tomac, it seemed like constantly if you weren't defending amidst a battle, you were chasing, but still in a battle. What ultimately are you taking away from this round?
Eli Tomac: Yeah, it was just like, I felt like I was in offense and defense mode the whole time. So, it was very busy. I was happy to defend the podium spot, but also a couple of things I think back to maybe I could have done differently to try to stay in front of Hunter, but that's all should have, could have, would have at this point. I mean, like one time on the sweeper before the mechanics in there, we were both side by side and I probably should have went for the triple, but I ended up rolling out of the throttle there and letting him triple back by me.
So, that was probably the most frustrating part for me was when he was able to really finish that pass on me there, but otherwise had a lot of heat from Webb there, changed up some lines and then got a gap from him. But yeah, the race had just a little bit of everything.
Eli, the time you spent behind Anderson, did that tighten you up and take away some of your lines in your momentum? Because it looked like before getting caught up in his pace, you had a really good chance to run to Chase. The early race pace looked good, but I mean, simply put, you had to finally put in that aggressive pass and after that, did it just knock you out of your rhythm?
I don't totally remember, but yeah, they got away then and then they were a couple seconds up and then I just wasn't able to get back to him. So, plus then I was getting heavy heat from Webb, so it was a tough spot to be in.
The pass with Jason with the line, just taking it away and cutting down, you finally had to get a little aggressive with him. Was there nowhere where you felt like you really had big enough advantage to just get the move done?
No, he wasn't riding too defensive or anything. I basically just went in there and just did a full block pass, in my opinion, just went in there and really finished the pass. That goes back to the whoop thing with Hunter and the triple, is I didn't commit and finish the move, right? So, I guess at that point, maybe there was some frustration there and then I was like, "Okay, I'm going to go all the way to the edge of the track."
Was the track hard to pass on? It seemed one lined.
Hmm, it was a mix. I mean, there was definitely, you could make the move in that 90 before the whoops, like that was an easy spot. If guys were going outside and you were going to make the pass, there was just like, how were you going to defend it? So, that was a good spot for passing. Other than that, we're all hauling the mail and it's fast-paced. So, you have to either wait for a mistake or make something happen.
Sometimes in these races, especially when you feel good on the night, there's a single moment where you wish you could have had that back or made a change. For you, Eli, what was that moment?
Well, if I could have something back, it was the whoop thing with Hunter, having him get back by me and that changed the momentum. He got back into second there and then I was in third, or I don't know if Anderson was still up there at that point. Anyway, then all of a sudden, I was trying to find off the attack from Webb. So, that was a big moment for me and I was like, darn, it's something that you would want back.
Two rounds in, you have two wins. How important is this win at A2 really if you already got two on your go?
I mean, good to finish or get through this with the podium here. So, man, if you told me at the beginning of the series, I would go one, one, three. That's an awesome start. So, I'm proud of the team.
How did this track break down? It looked like a lot more traction, a lot more moisture than it did at Anaheim One with all the wind.
I mean, yeah, it's a tough, tough condition. The rhythm lane and the heat race was pretty rowdy. The long rhythm lane, it was like an East Coast race, to be honest. There was not any hard pack out there. And they actually cleaned it up for the main. It was easier to go down that lane, but the heat race was chaos. The cross-rut thing would still happen.
And the Next kids were after you guys come heat race?
Yeah, I see why there was some carnage. The track was gnarly. The toughest track actually was that heat race without all those ruts.
Can you just talk about that in the last three weeks as being probably the best version of someone getting on a new bike that we've seen?
Well, there's always hope that you're going to get some wins, get some podiums right away with the new team. It's not always the outcome, but we've had that good outcome. So, yeah, but it didn't come just out of thin air. It's plenty of preparation and throwing ourselves in a lot of different conditions and tracks and trying to show up ready. So, yeah, it's been a great start for us.
