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ELI TOMAC
450 SX / A2
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / ECKERT DESIGN / WILSON
>> Through two rounds of the 2017 Supercross season, Eli Tomac is yet to prove to the world what
it had expected to see. As we have noticed in previous seasons, though, with a boat load of potential and an extremely high level of support behind him, it’s only a matter of time before the Kawasaki team is seen back up front battling for the win. Back in Anaheim for round three, in front of a crowd that
had just witnessed heat one and another win by Ken Roczen, the stage had been set for Eli Tomac
to battle in a heat two showdown. As fate would have it, Eli heads to the first turn neck and neck with Ryan Dungey, sitting just inside the top-ten. With the pack now entering the first rhythm, Dungey’s direction goes right and the Champ contacts the back end of Tomac, with the #3’s momentum proving too powerful and keeping the Kawasaki rider upright. While the mishap caused Dungey to go down, Tomac kept his eyes forwards and rode the first two laps ins 6th place, two spots out of a transfer position into the main event. Latching on the 5th place rider, Weston Peick, Tomac was putting on the pressure as Peick followed Webb for the first few laps. As the #2 of Webb pounced on Brayton in 3rd place, Peick and Eli both took the opportunity to squeeze around the Honda rider and each picked up a spot; Eli gaining 5th. The green #3 was still hungry, and, with Peick just ahead, it didn’t take long for Tomac to get around the Suzuki and make his way into a transfer position. In the process of making his way into the top four, Eli caught a groove and continued the momentum onto the back wheel of Webb in 3rd. Gaining the drive through a whoop section, it took a few straights for Tomac to set up the pass but Eli took the position by getting back-to-back inside lines in the switchback before the finish line. Eli continued to make up time on Millsaps up front, even making his way within striking distance of the top two riders, but Tomac ran out of time and settled for a 3rd place ticket to the main.
As the gate dropped for the final time in Anaheim this season, Tomac got a good jump to the first turn but after being pushed towards the outside, Eli had to settle for 7th heading through the first rhythm. Over the course of the first lap, line choice proved to be key as Tomac got shuffled back to 10th to start lap two. Before lap two was over, though, Tomac had given up his 10th place spot to Blake Baggett. The pass appeared to only be temporary, as two laps later Tomac made his way back around Baggett after the #4 stumbled and dropped to 13th. As the race reached the ten-minute mark, Tomac had completely turned around had picked off Malcolm Stewart, Chad Reed and a downed Ken Roczen to hold 7th place. Staying there for much of the second half of the race, it became apparent that Eli wasn’t going to be able to make a podium run with time ticking down. Then, in the final five minutes
of the race, Eli made a bobble which allowed the #22 of Chad Reed back by, forcing Tomac to 8th. Losing a few seconds to Reed and owning a sizeable gap over Millsaps in 9th, Eli coasted to for the remainder of the race to an unsatisfying 8th place finish. It’s hard to say what exactly Eli is lacking to return to championship contender form but through three rounds, the #3 camp is still searching for so- lutions. Known to turn up the intensity as the season progresses, look for some signs of improvement for Tomac next week in Phoenix as the race heads to the Valley of the Sun.
66 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 22, 2017