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ELI TOMAC
450 MX / 1ST
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Round seven at Red Bud could not have gone worse for Eli Tomac. An engine failure in the rst moto while he was in cruise control with the lead with just three laps to go forced him to DNF and then in moto two, a series of crashes and a horrendous start resulted in a ninth place. His massive points lead was completely eliminated and taken from him by Marvin Musquin. To make matters worse, he had a whole extra week off to think about it. He would enter round eight at Millville with a three-point de cit behind Mus- quin and he would be absolutely determined to take it back. Tomac started his day aboard his new white number-plated machine with a fantastic showing in the morning qualifying practice sessions. The Colorado native threw down the fastest lap time of the day and was nearly one full second faster than anyone else. He certainly looked hard to stop and was ready to prove it in the motos. Tomac kicked off moto number one with a pretty good start. He made a few moves to get into third by the end of the opening lap. He led in right behind Musquin and the fans prepared for a battle. The two riders rode hard for two laps before Tomac would be able to whisk himself around the French rider and take over second. The battle lasted a lot longer than many would have expected but Tomac showed everyone how much he wants that points lead back. Once in second, he started to reel in race leader Ken Roczen. It would take him a handful of laps to really initiate the battle. With around twenty minutes to go, the ght began to heat up. Tomac would catch Roczen in areas but Roczen would respond in others. It was a true game of cat and mouse that lasted nearly the entire moto. But nally, with ve minutes remaining, Tomac’s pressure caused a Roc-
zen mistake and he was able to take over the lead and charge on for the victory. It was a strong-earned victory for Tomac and he would like more of the same in moto two. Tomac did not get as good of a start in the second moto. He started somewhere around tenth but worked into sixth at the end of lap one. He had some struggles passing Weston Peick, Blake Baggett, and Justin Bogle as quickly as he’d like to and that cost him. By the time he passed the trio of them to move into third on lap three, Roczen and Musquin had built a comfortable lead up front. This is when Tomac put his head down and started charging. He already had the overall win on the day wrapped up while he was in third but that did not matter to him. He wanted more points and he wanted to pass Musquin and get the red plate back. He started inching up on Roczen for second and then really made his presence felt halfway through the moto. It was a repeat of moto one but this time, Tomac would be able to make the move with ve laps remaining. This gave him more time to chase after Musquin. Musquin had nearly a six second advantage and it initially looked like it would hold. But with four laps to go, Tomac began an unimaginable charge. He attacked every inch of the track like his life depended on it and turned a lap time four seconds quicker than Musquin. He began the third to last lap two seconds or so behind him, but he was moving at such a spectacular pace that he caught and went around the outside of Musquin at the bottom of Mt. Martin. He was simply on another level and ended up nishing seven seconds ahead of Musquin. This dominating and resilient 1-1 performance was enough to retake the red plate and the points lead. He will head into Washougal with a seven-point advantage.
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GRITMOTO • JULY 22, 2018