Oh for a few hours he was so back! So back! Eli Tomac, despite sub-par rides over the last few races, was in a great mood headed into the Nashville round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross. I talked to him on Friday and he was happy, stress free and fired up. He was back to his Anaheim 1 setup, and he slapped the Dunlop MX14 “scoop” tired back on his bike, despite the off-season lesson that the scoop is a problem in supercross whoops. Eli was confident it would work and confident he was back, and he proved it! He crushed both qualifying sessions and then won his heat race.
“I would say I’m back in the groove now and I went out there and proved it,” he said after the heat. “Just been feeling like myself, how I should feel. These last few weeks have been pretty rough on me and I’m fortunate to have the red plate on my bike right now. I’m going to do what I can to keep it. We’ll see how this main event goes.”
Unfortunately by the main event, it was... gone. Tomac started poorly and never got going. It wasn’t just the start, as Chase Sexton started behind him and was able to pass Tomac and leave him en route to fourth. Tomac was struggling, then fell, and took 12th , a season low at the worst possible time. Maybe comedian and podcaster Theo Vonn jumping on Tomac's bike after the heat race changed everything?
Kidding. Still, Tomac was simply not the same rider going forward.
“What a day – the whole day was good, other than the Main Event result!” said Tomac. “I was comfortable with my setup all day, so I’m just frustrated not only with the bad gate selection – I should have avoided the inside on the start – but also the crash. That bad start really put me in a tough spot from the get-go and I had my work cut out for me trying to make passes on such a slick, tight track. I lost a bunch of points today, but all I can do at this point is ride my best at the remaining rounds and let the chips fall where they may."
Was the scoop tire itself the culprit? The Nashville dirt was extremely hard and slick, and that doesn’t sound like a good scenario for a tire built for sand, mud and soft terrain (no other rider even tried the MX14 at Nashville). Tomac, though, said his own home track in Colorado is as hard and slick as it gets, and the MX14 is fine there. He loves the tire and wasn’t worried, plus practice and the heat race provided further reassurance. Perhaps the track was just that much drier by the time the main rolled around.
Our Jason Thomas, former pro and NBC on track analyst, didn’t think the track had changed to the degree that a rider would go from dominating qualifying to taking 12th. Only Eli really knows the answer? Or does he? After these last few weeks, he might be searching as much as anyone else.
As for the scoop tire, remember, it's whoops, specifically, that have been pointed out as a weakness of the tire. Tomac had done well at other hard pack races with this tire, as people often point to his strong riding on an MX14 at the rock-hard Texas Motor Speedway SMX playoff race in 2024. That track didn't have whoops, though. Tomac had all sorts of trouble with the scoop tire/hard dirt/whoops combination at the Australian GP round of FIM World Supercross, and after that the decision was made to shelve that tire for supercross (it's still a very popular option in Pro Motocross).
Tomac went from tied for the series lead to third in points, down 15 to leader Hunter Lawrence. That's one issue, but until he solves the riding part completely the points don't matter. This leads back to what helped make him so fast in the morning in Nashville. Was the scoop working so well for him in qualifying and the heat? Or could he have done the same on the traditional MX34 knobby, and also carried less risk into the main event? We might find out this Saturday in Cleveland, but no one really knows what that dirt will be like. With four races left, Tomac still had time to claw back points on Lawrence. But he needs to win and win immediately.
Red Bull KTM had more disappointment when Jorge Prado's race fell apart due to a crash, and he actually finished one spot behind Tomac, in 13th.
“It was a frustrating Main Event in Nashville," said Prado in a KTM statement. "I felt good all day, and I’m just upset with myself that I wasn’t able to execute the plan I had in my head for the race. I knew I had to push hard – push it to the limit every lap – if I wanted to be on the podium. I feel I had what it took to be on the podium tonight, so I’m disappointed. My bike was good all day and good enough to be up there, so it’s frustrating to know that one mistake cost me what could have been a great night. But the positive is I’m here to learn this year, and learning every week is what I’m doing. I will regroup, keep putting in the work this week, and be even better next weekend."
