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ELI TOMAC
450 MX / 1ST
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Eli Tomac entered last weekend’s race at Unadilla with a fteen-point points lead and he would exit Unadilla with a fteen point points lead. With all the rain and mud, many thought a big championship swing could go in either direction once the day of racing concluded but instead Tomac and his title rival, Marvin Musquin, swapped motos going 1-2 and 2-1 with Musquin earning the overall victory. Tomac visibly struggled at this round while trying to maintain the points lead in a similar scenario but he is another year wiser and made sure to have a solid day and minimize any potential loss of points. With two rounds to go, he is still in prime control of the championship stand- ings. Tomac kicked off his day at Budds Creek with a pair of great morning qualifying practice sessions. The Colo- rado native threw down the fastest lap times in both sessions and asserted himself once again as the man to beat. His mindset was to go out and ride his own race and not worry about any of the title scenarios. Tomac’s heart rate probably started beating a little quicker than he would have liked to begin moto one. He did not get the best of starts and on a hot, humid day, that is not a great combo. He managed to claw up to seventh at the end of lap one and slot in behind Benny Bloss. The racing was feisty in the early going and it resulted in Tomac failing to nd a rhythm and make as quick of passes as we are used to seeing from him. It took him two laps to pass Bloss for sixth and then on the next lap he managed to squeak by Phil Nicoletti for fth. The top four had distanced themselves from everyone else so he had some work to do to get up to them. He reeled off a few solid laps and managed to catch and pass the returning Jason Anderson on lap seven. As they headed into the second half of the race, he started reeling in Justin Barcia who held down third. The two riders would duel ercely for several laps before Tomac nally managed to make a pass stick on lap twelve. Unfortunately for Tomac, although he caught and passed Barcia,
his pace was not on par with the leaders, Ken Roczen and Marvin Musquin. He was not able to make up ground and would actually lose ground to eventual winner Roczen. He settled with the third-place nish, but he must have been happy Roczen held off Musquin, so his points loss was only two instead of ve. The second moto began with Tomac getting another shaky start. He made few moves to get up to sixth by the end of lap one. He endured a wild battle with Blake Baggett and Phil Nicoletti over the rst few laps. The riders battle back and forth but Tomac was able to pass Nicoletti on lap ve to move into fth. Tomac just did not look like his usual, dominant self out there and although he was moving fast, he just didn’t have that all out, raw speed we have grown accustomed to seeing. However, this would change in a hurry. At the halfway point, Tomac found his rhythm and started unleashing a fury on his competitors. He passed both Baggett and Barcia on lap eight to move into third and then he set his sights on Musquin who held down second. There was an eleven second gap between the two but Tomac made up that ground and passed him in a matter of three laps. It was unreal. Roczen, who was looking for his rst overall victory in nearly two years, unfortunately fell victim just a few laps later as well as Tomac continued his charge to the front. He took the lead and started pulling away on lap twelve. He did receive some slight pressure surprisingly from Baggett during the nal two laps but Tomac had enough in the tank to thwart it without much concern. Tomac would nish the day with the overall victory thanks to his 3-1 moto scores. He now holds a twenty-point lead heading into the nal round of the series.
32 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 19, 2018