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ELI TOMAC
450 MX / 3RD
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / TILLS
>> After a dominant beginning to the season and another dominant stretch during the heart of the summer, Eli Tomac enters the penultimate round at Budds Creek sputtering to the fin- ish. His large points lead has been dwindling after a rough couple of rounds. He has not won a moto or an overall in over a month and the doubters came to fruition after last weekend at Unadilla where he struggled in the mud going 10-5 for ninth overall. His points lead had fallen to just twenty-seven points. With just two rounds left, tired of all the talk, Tomac was ready to get back to his winning ways and retake a firm grasp of the championship.
Early during the morning practice sessions Tomac looked poised and ready to race. He quali- fied with the second fastest lap time and was ready to do battle in the races and silence the critics.
The first moto started with Tomac easing out of the first turn inside the top ten but then missing a shift and nearly falling costing him several positons. He grabbed the green flag in fifteenth and would have to labor his way forward. He did not slice and dice his way forward with ag- gression like we have seen him do so many times before and had only made it up to eighth by the halfway point. He began to pressure Weston Peick around that time but struggled to make the pass. It took him several laps to do so but he finally got it down to move into seventh. The rest of the riders ahead of him were too far away and he’d have to settle with seventh. Another subpar moto left the critics chirping until the start of moto two.
The second moto began much better for Tomac as he emerged from lap one in fifth place. Al- most immediately one could tell that he looked much more aggressive this time out. He quickly passed Wilson, Peick and Bogle in the first four laps to slide into second behind title rival Blake Baggett. Tomac stalked him for two laps and appeared to be riding on rails. Hitting every corner with unmatched intensity and letting it all hang out. He made the pass and continued to walk away with the moto win. The Eli Tomac we were used to seeing this season had returned and stopped the bleeding on his points lead. Officially he would go 7-1 for third overall and gain one point on Baggett giving himself a comfortable twenty-eight point lead heading into the season finale at Ironman.
14 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 20, 2017