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ELI TOMAC
450 SX / 1ST
IMAGE / REEVES WORDS / WARNER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> After charging from last place all the way to second and missing the win my just sec- onds last week in Daytona Eli Tomac made sure to bring his speed with him to St. Louis. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider came into St. Louis at full speed by starting off his race day as the fastest qualifier. After awarding himself with a pole position qualification Eli would grant himself first gate pick in Heat Two. St. Louis provided a unique starting gate design. With a bridge over the doghouse splitting the gates in half the riders were given a much larger gap from the left to right side this weekend. Eli used his first choice to select the first gate on the left side of the bridge. He would jump off the gate well, but so would his competitors, and due to his location in the dead center of the start straight the riders to his inside would squeeze inside of him while the riders to his outside would shoot around the outside. Across the stripe, he would find himself in sixth. In the opening laps, Eli made short work of Chad Reed and Vince Friese. On lap three he would be able to shoot around the outside of Marvin Musquin and set his sights on Rocky Mountain ATV/ MC KTM’s Blake Baggett. With four minutes to go, he would be side by side with Baggett, but he would spend the remainder of the race making attack after attack on a never sur- rendering Baggett and would have to settle for third overall in Heat Two. Which based
on how his Main Event went would lead one to believe he was pretty fired up after failing to win his Heat. Due to his struggle to reach the front in his Heat Race Eli would have to deal with a fifth gate pick for the Main Event. He decided to line up three gates from the inside of the bridge this time, and it would work much better! Eli rocketed out of the gate, was able to cut right in front of Jason Anderson, hold his line tight through turn one and that would be the last any rider would see him (unless they were getting lapped) for the rest of the night. After a twenty-seven lap Main Event, Eli would win by 20.7 seconds over second place finisher, series point’s leader Jason Anderson. Eli might be out for the over- all Championship in 2018 with only six rounds now remaining, but in Supercross your only as good as your last race and Championship won or lost, Tomac is on a mission to make sure no one thinks about writing him off.
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GRITMOTO • MARCH 18, 2018