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ELI TOMAC
450 MX / 9TH
IMAGE / CAVAZOS WORDS / KUHLHOFF DESIGN / WILSON
>> It was a wild ride in San Bernardino for Monster Energy Kawasaki superstar, Eli Tomac. After a stellar 1-1 performance last weekend at Hangtown, Tomac came to
Glen Helen to try and further his points lead. After a rough start in moto one, Eli found himself sitting in twelfth place on the first lap. Glen Helen is notorious for being littered with breaking bumps that are constantly changing with each lap, so these riders needed to seize and capitalize on whatever little flashes of momentum they could find if they wanted to make the pass. Good thing for Tomac, momentum is kind of his thing. Eli
was able to dance across the treacherous SoCal terrain, resulting in pass after pass; darting through his competitors. Tomac was sitting in a very impressive fifth place spot around the halfway point, but we all knew that he was hungry for those podium points. Tomac was able to make a swift outside pass on Craig, moving into third. There were now five minutes left, and a mere five seconds between Grant in second and Tomac in third. Flying, Tomac was doing everything he could to close the gap. His hard charg-
ing paid off after he reeled in, and passed, Josh Grant for second. Musquin had a very comfortable lead as the checkered flag flew, but a second place Eli Tomac was truly a man on the mission in the first moto. Eli needed to bring that same kind of fire from start to finish with him into the second moto if he wanted to hold onto his points lead. The track was choppy and the California sun was casting unfortunate shadows galore as the 450 riders lined up for what would be a very unpredictable second moto at Glen Helen. Soon after the excitement of the second gate drop, Eli Tomac found misfortune, as well as confusion, when the front wheel locked up on the number 3 Kawasaki machine. After a brutally long and slow ride to the mechanic’s area, a quick snip to the front break line sent Tomac back onto the racetrack an entire lap down. Eli Tomac looked uneasy as he tried getting back into the groove of race-pace, but he was able to move up to the nine- teenth place spot before the checkered flag went out, giving him a ninth place overall finish for the day. What a shake up in this Championship Series. Marvin Musquin is now leading with 89 points and Eli Tomac is sitting in second with 74 points. Thunder Valley next weekend should be interesting for this Colorado native.
52 GRITMOTO • MAY 28, 2017