Eli Tomac became the third superstar in a row to get a major injury without even crashing! Jeffrey Herlings was the first when he injured the ACL in his knee on the last lap of his last race of the season – and he still won the moto!
But it was just announced this week that Herlings will not be ready for round one of the MXGP World championship on the first weekend in March.
Next up was Jett Lawrence who jabbed his foot in the ground in Glendale had tore his ACL and amazingly, just one week later, Eli Tomac jabbed his foot in the ground and got it cut under his own frame fracturing his Fibula but once more, not even crashing. Ending his and Jett Lawrence title hopes within a week of each other!
Tomac showed toughness and desire to win by racing with a leg he didn’t realise was broken on his way to a painful 17th position and riding with one leg on the peg in the whoops due to the pain!
Tomac is out of Q2 favoring his left leg 😳 #SupercrossLIVE #SMX pic.twitter.com/0VcaYGNT6t
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) February 8, 2025
A dejected Tomac admitted 2025 was the best he ever felt on the bike indoors: “Unfortunately, this was more than an ankle sprain and a bruised calf. After two days of pain not improving, I got additional scans on my leg, and I do have a broken Fibula. This is such a bummer as I’ve never felt better on the motorcycle in Supercross and getting a win at San Diego was great. I don’t have an exact timeframe of recovery at this time but will be working to come back as soon as possible.”
While we wait for them to recover, look back at the Tomac/Lawrence battle at San Diego when they were both firing and going at it for the win. If Eli does indeed continue his retirement plan at the end of the year, this will be the one and only head to head to head of Jett v Beast mode Tomac.
Let’s hope it isn’t, but this news is a big blow to the supercross series who, just two weeks ago, looked to be set for maybe the best season ever with all the top tier legends on form. Now, it’s up to Webb, Sexton, Roczen and maybe Jason Anderson to fight it out for the 2025 supercross title but nothing, as we have seen, can be taken for granted!
