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ELI TOMAC
There was an underlying narrative in the leadup to the 2018 Motocross des Nations that dated back to last year’s showdowns at Ironman MX and WW Motocross Park between Eli Tomac and Jeffrey Herlings
-- who is the fastest man on the planet? It was supposed to be an epic battle be- tween the current Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Champion and the current MXGP World Champion, but the battle never transpired. Both riders were able to set some of the fastest lap times throughout the various races that they contested, but they never actually found one another on the track. One of Tomac’s main issues from Satur- day’s racing to Sunday’s racing was his starting position, regularly emerging from the first corner outside of the top ten and therefore forcing himself to charge through the field. In the MXGP Qualifying Heat on Saturday, Tomac was fighting his way back from a bad start when he encountered an electrical problem with his Kawasaki at the bottom of Larocco’s Leap, forcing him out of the race. Ironically, it’s the second and only other time this year that he’s suffered a mechanical failure and it happened at RedBud...again. He had the speed to chal- lenge for the podium on Sunday in the first and last moto, but Tomac didn’t do himself any favors out of the gate. He started the first race back in 9th position and rode his hardest to come back for a 4th place finish, but the 14th place start in the final moto was too much to overcome. Tomac pushed himself into a mistake as he attempted to fight his way towards the podium, eventu- ally finishing in 7th position. It’s bizarre to think that the best rider in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship didn’t manage to finish on the podium at any point through- out the weekend at RedBud, but that’s exactly what happened at the seventy-first annual Motocross des Nations.
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