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ELI TOMAC
450 MX / 4TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Eli Tomac has asserted his dominance over the rest of the 450 eld here in 2018 during the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross series. The Factory Monster Energy Kawasaki rider has won a ton of motos and eight of the eleven overall so far this season. His seemingly impossible late race charges to victory have been so fun to watch. He simply has had an extra gear that no one else in the class has come close to nding an answer for. Just when people thought the nerves of another champion- ship were getting to him last weekend at Budds Creek, he threw down one of his most improbable charges through the eld to win the second moto and ultimately the overall. All of his great perfor- mances have set him up with a comfortable twenty-point points lead heading into the nal round.
If there were any nerves heading into the race, Tomac sure did not show them in the morning qualifying practice session. The Colorado native looked like his usual self, putting down the fastest lap time of the class by over a second. The mud and rain didn’t appear to bother him, and he looked ready to battle his way to another title come race time. Tomac kicked off moto one by getting out
to a decent start. He rounded lap one in fth place. Over the course of the next two laps he would manage to pass Chad Reed and Dylan Merriam to move up to third. He then closed up on the two leaders, Phil Nicoletti and Justin Barcia, a handful of laps into the race and it looked like he would try and go for the lead but both of them were able to weather the storm and keep Tomac behind. Tomac would just settle into his own pace as he did not want to push the envelope too hard with everything at stake. He was able to ride at a strong enough pace to actually run Nicoletti back down late in the moto to take over second. But by this time, Barcia was long gone so Tomac would settle and take home second place. Unfortunately, he missed out on clinching the title by one point, so he would still have some pressure looming over him in moto two. Tomac did not start his second moto so great as he got pinched off in the rst turn and was outside the top twenty on the opening lap. He used his veteran poise to stay calm and move forward through the sloppy conditions. He hopped into fteenth by the end of lap one and then into eleventh by the end of lap two. Isaac Teasdale and Valentin Teillet would be his next victims over the next two laps and by passing them, he moved himself into ninth place. There he settled in behind Reed and began riding a nice safe pace. He rode calm and collectively and would stay right behind Reed all the way to the nish right there in ninth. He would go 2-9 for fourth overall on the day and it would be more than enough for him to win his second Lucas Oil Pro Motocross championship. He became the rst rider to go back to back on a 450 since Ricky Carmichael over a decade ago. He will take this momentum with him to Red Bud later this fall to represent Team USA in the Motocross Des Nations.
40 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 26, 2018