Eli Tomac took his first win of the season and the delight on his face was there for all to see, with the former champ admitting he felt like himself again after doubting himself and dealing with a small injury the last few weeks.
“I had so many questions, and honestly doubt, in my mind that at this point [in the season] before this weekend. You know, questioning the comeback and where I was. So to do this here, to feel that way, to get those rides in all through those motos, that felt like old me. Tonight was old me, I was able to execute everything I was able to do, starts, riding, qualifying, this was big for us. I didn’t like where I was finishing before this weekend. So this was so awesome…
“Putting everything together, executing, everything felt good. To be honest I was struggling in the crazy, soft conditions, just having comfort and getting through those mains. The real story is I tweaked my ankle about three weeks ago and haven’t really been able to balance well, tonight that finally came around too and my balance was back, it was some of that, the soft conditions and it made it worse limping around.”
On the intense battle with Jett in race two, that left them ten seconds ahead of the rest, Eli said learnt from the points leader: “He was better on the end zone in whoops section, so I tried to learn from that, tried some different lines then I lost touch a little bit at the end but, overall, I knew I was good around the rest of the track and that section was the section in moto three I knew I needed to improve.”
And the good starts are back…”they were just consisent. I had consistency the whole evening. I’d been good in one and not good in the other, yeah, just good starts in all three of those.”
Tomac is still 29 points back but, dependant on Jett’s health level, he still might have an outside shot at the title, if he rides like this to the end of the season and stays injury free – and away from Barcia!
Article: Jonathan McCready
