Page 12 - Issue45

ELI TOMAC
450 SX / 1ST
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Eli Tomac headed into the Easter Break riding a huge wave of momentum. He had won six of the last eight and despite finishing runners-up to Marvin Musquin in Seattle, he had managed to tie Ryan Dungey in the points standings. Tomac had been chipping away at that points lead since round one and finally erased it all. He seems to have Dungey reeling as he has started to show unusual signs of incontinency. He looked to keep the pressure on and take full command of the title as the series resumed here in Salt Lake City.
Tomac started off the day right where he left off by throwing down the quickest time in qualifying practice. He looked ready as ever to go out for another win. The gate dropped in his heat race and he rounded the first lap in third just behind Anderson and Dungey. It took him a few laps to pass “El Hombre” but once he did he went after his title competitor. Tomac hounded him for the last several laps of the race foreshadowing what was to come later in the evening. He would come up just short of making the pass settling for second. He’d head back to the pits to go prepare for the main event.
Tomac has been getting great starts at the last several races but could not accomplish that
feat in SLC. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider crossed the holeshot stripe absolutely buried in fifteenth position. Only two riders were behind him coming down the start stretch. To make matters worse, Dungey got a great start and almost immediately assumed the lead. At that point it looked as if Tomac was going to go into damage control mode to try and limit the points loss on the night, but he would have other plans. Tomac put his head down and put together the most dominating performance a supercross track may have ever seen. He was passing riders so quickly that it was hard to keep track of who he was passing and what position he was in.
He was entering and exiting corners with such force and power but did so in such a smooth, ef- ficient manner. He was skimming the whoops and keeping flow through the rhythm sections so well it was truly mesmerizing to watch. The crowd was on their feet as he reeled in Dungey ever so effortlessly and after a few laps of stalking, he made the pass. Tomac did not let up and con- tinued pouring it on by gapping Dungey by six seconds in the final nine laps for good measure. It was an utterly dominating performance as he secured the lone share of the points lead. He is now up three points on Dungey heading into the final two rounds.
12 GRITMOTO • APRIL 23, 2017