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Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac had a good start to the day by qualifying 3rd overall and proving
to the doubters that his speed from Daytona and early pace in Toronto was no fluke. The track was technically similar to Toronto, but it turned out to be surprisingly slick and hard-packed for an east coast round which could potentially work against the outdoorsy, berm blasting style that Tomac has on a motorcycle. He did exactly what he needed to do in his heat race by pulling a superb start and coming into the first rhythm section in 2nd place behind none other than Ryan Dungey. Tomac attempted to keep his front fender as close to the rear wheel of Dungey as possible, but he didn’t have anything for the champ and had to settle for the runner up spot. It seemed that he was losing a bit of time in the whoops, because he was struggling to be as consistent as Dungey through the first set. Tomac was electing not to jump through them which had the potential to be faster, but it was a far riskier approach. He turned the second fastest lap between both of the heats, 4 tenths off of Dungey’s time, which set him up for a good gate pick in the main. Eli elected to line his Kawasaki up directly to the inside of Dungey, a couple gates from the inside. When the gate dropped, Tomac got his nose cut off by
two KTMs and tried to get on the brakes early and hug the inside. Unfortunately for him, he had been shuffled too far back and could only manage to come out of the first corner mid-pack. He was able to make a quick move around Phil Nicoletti and ended up tucking in behind Blake Baggett in 8th position for a couple of laps. On lap 6, Tomac made a move for 7th as he forced his way past Mike Alessi and then he set his sights on Baggett who was putting in one of his best rides of the season. Tomac put his Kawasaki ahead of the Suzuki of Baggett on lap 9 and started to gap him a little bit, attempting to track down Chad Reed in 5th place. He settled into a rhythm, clocking fairly consistent laps and eventually picked up 5th place by way of good fortune when Brayton pulled out of 4th with a flat tire on lap 15. Tomac failed to find the speed to track down Reed and finished 5th for the second weekend in a row, but one of the positives he can take from this performance is that he moved forward instead of backward.
words/LAKEKILPATRICK
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