Page 14 - ISSUE _38

ELI TOMAC
450 SX / 2ND
IMAGE /MPG WORDS /HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Tomac came into Atlanta fresh off his third win of the year. The rider hailing from Colorado is in the midst of the best season of his 450 career. He seems to have finally found his groove on his Monster Energy Drink Kawasaki and he has argu- ably been the fastest rider in the series. Despite all the progression for Tomac, he is still struggling in two major areas: starts and consistency. Some races he will be buried outside the top ten at the start and some he will be right at the front. He just has not been able to master those areas and it has showed in his results. When he has not won, his next best finish is only a fifth. That severe inconsistency has hurt him in the points standings but he was hoping to take a step in the right direction in Atlanta.
Tomac showed off his blazing fast speed in practice yet again by securing the pole position. He was the favorite to win when they lined them up for the heat race. But when the gate dropped, Tomac found himself mired deep outside the top ten. He managed to climb to eleventh by the end of the opening lap but in those short heat races, the damage had already been done. He only got up to eighth and had to try his luck in the semis. Tomac got a much better start in his semi coming off the line in third. He shadowed Brayton for a few laps before making the move for second. He tried making a run at Anderson but it was too late and he settled for second and got ready for the main. Tomac fell back into his bad habits at the start of the main as he came around lap one in ninth. He had some serious work to do if he wanted to catch the early leader Ryan Dungey. He put his head down and started plugging away on the slick and choppy red Georgia clay. His charge started off a little slow as he was figuring out his lines but after a handful of laps he dropped the hammer. He was up to fourth behind Seely at the halfway point. It took him two laps to get by the Factory Honda rider and then he chased down and passed Blake Baggett for second several laps later. He settled in and attempted a charge at Dungey but would come up short despite knocking off several seconds of the lead. He must be bummed that he did not get the start he needed to give himself a better opportunity at the win. He’ll look to come back more consistent next weekend in Toronto.
14 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 26, 2017