Eli is earning all the accolades in ’15. Photo by: Devin Davis
Four rounds of the 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship are behind us and GEICO/Honda’s Eli Tomac‘s riding has been a rumor to the 450MX class. They know he’s out there and they know he’s winning, but staying close enough to the #3 to see how he’s doing it has been next to impossible. Over the first four motos, only Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey has even seen the Honda rider for more than a turn or two on the track, and even the #5 has lost the first four motos by an average of forty-five seconds. While it’s way too early to talk about a 24-0 season for Tomac, this has been the most dominant start to a season we’ve ever witnessed.
In Glen Helen on Saturday, Tomac was not quite as dominant—only winning by 37-seconds and 23-seconds—as he was at Hangtown, but with Dungey stalling twice in moto one and finishing 6th, the #3 stretched his 450MX Championship points lead to 19 over the former two-time champion. With a 19-point lead for Tomac and the series now heading to his home state of Colorado for the Thunder Valley National, it’s hard to think the bleeding will stop for Tomac’s competitors any time soon. As we know, though, it’s a long season and one crucial win by someone other than Tomac can quickly change everything.
After Tomac’s third and fourth-straight moto wins at Glen Helen, he sat down to answer some questions for the press. You can hear what Eli had to say in his “Race Rewind” interview below.
Eli, congratulations! Outstanding day for you at Glen Helen. We were talking about it today and there seems to be a special rhythm to your riding right now. Can you talk about the flow you have with your machine at the moment?
I’m really comfortable right now. I’ve never been in this position before this early in the season to where I feel like I’m really one with the bike. It just seems almost like it’s easy to ride right now. It’s a pretty cool feeling. In both the motos themselves, the first moto I was somewhere around top five on the start, which is good. I think lately I’ve improved my starts a whole lot. It’s been huge for me. I got into the battle with Ryan [Dungey] there. We were going at it for quite a few laps. A long time. I ate some roost and we were pushing each other. I thought we had some good spots on the track where one was better than the other, then he ended up stalling his bike and I was able to sneak around him there. So he made it a little bit easy for me in that first moto. Then going into the second moto I ripped the holeshot. I had an awesome pad that time and didn’t see many people around me. I just had fun.
Can you tell us what it was like actually getting out of the gate, and then on that long, long straightaway heading into that Talladega turn? Was it fun or was it a certain sensation usually you don’t get to feel when you’re racing at pro motocross?
This is the first time I’ve raced at Glen Helen professionally. I’ve never ridden the track prepped like this. Normally on Thursday practice it’s dry and beat up and edgy compared to what we had today. Talladega was really sweet, just holding on. The traction was amazing. The rain made the track, I think, pretty unreal. There were a lot more lines out there, some outsides and some of the little short hills in the back that had embedded rocks that you could kind of jump and almost whip around the corner. There some cool sections and some gnarly sections, but I thought it was good one.
Is everything you’re doing purely for speed, or are there some things that are just fun? Like, let’s see if I can jump to the top of this hill? Let’s see if I can get over these bumps? Is some of it just being creative just to see what you can do as opposed to I know it’s better on the watch?
Yeah, I think some of the little hops, skips, and jumps may not be faster, but it’s saving energy. It’s just about being efficient. A thirty-five-minute moto is pretty gnarly on the tracks that we ride on. Sometimes I think if I was going balls to the wall for one lap, maybe not, but at times I think it’s better for the thirty-five minutes.
We’re heading to Colorado. Everybody talks about a home state and all that kind of stuff. Are you excited? Is it just another round for you or what?
Lakewood itself isn’t exactly a home track for me because it’s like seven hours away, but just being in the thin air is always nice. Just having the atmosphere around you and the local fans backing you is always cool. I’ve done well there in the past. It’ll be the first time for me on the 450 there. Looking forward to it.
Congratulations on an outstanding beginning to the season.
Thank you.
