He wasn’t the fastest rider when he got the red plate, but since he has worn it on his Star Racing Yamaha, Eli Tomac has become the main man in the 2022 450 AMA Supercross series. Ever since his first race win of the season, the confidence is evident in his demeanour on and off the bike, more realaxed, smiling and happy to speak to the media an open Tomac is clearly loving life on the Yamaha and the environment he’s working in at the races and during the week – he is even getting holehots!
“It’s great,” said Tomac to the media. ”We started it with last week where I felt like I was finally where I deserve to be, in the front of the race, or at least contending for the front of the race. It just feels really good to do it again. These Triple Crowns are long nights, especially come the third round. It’s like, all right, we have to go do it again. Thankfully, I put up those two good scores right away. That was my mindset tonight. Put up the good score in the first one, and then just try to maintain from there and do what we can do. Had two holeshots, too. That was awesome. A lot of people don’t expect that from me, but we did it. It was cool.
“A lot of it is just feeling like you’re in the right spot. When you’re not fighting things and you’re just riding. The days that you feel like you’re at the practice track. It takes a lot of work to get there, but once you’re there, we’re feeling good. Moto two, I felt one of the best I’ve felt on a supercross track in a long time. So, it’s exciting for us.
On bike changes from A1, Tomac said: ”I was not consistent at all on my starts, so finally figured that out. Then a little bit of gearing things and figuring out what feels right and what feels good through the whole moto. That’s all I’m going to give you!”
Eli Tomac is hitting form earlier than usual, despite being on a new machine and now, even the also in-form Chase Sexton and Jason Anderson cannot afford to let Eli get anymore wins and confidence – nevermind defending champ, Cooper Webb, who was only eighth overall and almost a full race behind in points already .
In a season where no-one looked able to take charge, in a space of just eight days, Eli Tomac is now the man to beat -and they have to beat him quickly to stop him running away with this series.
Article: Jonathan McCready
Images: Yamaha