Page 12 - Issue43

ELI TOMAC
450 SX / 1ST
IMAGE / LANGSTON WORDS / ECKERT DESIGN / WILSON
>> Fighting through the shadows of Ryan Dungey’s #1 plates and the mountain of a point deficit he faced earlier this year, Eli Tomac was coming off of four straight victories as the Colorado Cowboy trickled his motorhome into the streets of St. Louis for round thirteen this past week- end. Clearly the rider to beat as the season is reaching it’s final stages, his recent finishes
have increased the excitement of the series by pushing the points battle to reach critical levels through the last few rounds. Each week gaining valuable points and every day, getting closer to a premier class championship title, Tomac has continued to make things interesting and this past Saturday was no different.
As the night started out, Tomac sat 7 points behind Ryan when the gate was dropped for heat one, a race that Dungey would win. In heat two, Eli’s heat, Eli was buried off the start but after refocusing immediately, he made his way into 7th early on in lap two. Per usual, it didn’t take Tomac long to move into 6th around Justin Bogle and begin his hunt on Josh Grant. With the lead group, at this point, all running a blistering pace atop the St. Louis surface, Tomac muscled around JG in the back rhythm section to slide into 5th and put the #33 in the rearview mirror. Now on the back wheel of Justin Barcia, with relentless pressure and side-to-side lines, Eli got by Bam-Bam safely and moved into the final qualifying spot before the finish. The hard charge allowed Eli to avoid a semi and focus on the main event, which would prove to be helpful when the St. Louis gate was dropped for final time.
As the pack unloaded down the start straight, Tomac was bar-to-bar with Ryan Dungey through the first two turns. Sliding through the whoops in what seemed to be a gear higher than every- one else, by turn number three, Tomac was up the inside, around Dungey and into sole pos- session of the lead. With a clear track in front of him, the laps continued to pass by with Tomac up front and Dungey close in toe. Eli would inch away and Dungey would eventually gain a foot back. Making a slight mistake, Dungey closed the gap to less than two seconds but running into some trouble in lap-traffic, Dungey was never given the chance to mount a charge on Tomac as Eli recovered his sails and rode the wind for the remainder of the race. The victory marked Eli’s fifth in a row and the first time a rider has done so since Villapoto in 2013. As the night ended, the result earned Tomac 3 more points on Dungey’s lead, putting him a mere four points behind with three races left and an exceptional build up to the end of the 2017 series.
12 GRITMOTO • APRIL 2, 2017