Photos by: CJ Zimmerman
With early dominance from Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac in the 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship before he injured his shoulders, expectations were high for the #3 heading into 2016, but were those same dominant expectations justified after double shoulder surgery, six months off the bike and a switch to a new team? I have been guilty of placing the highest of expectations on Eli, but the answer is probably not.
Eli finished fourth overall in the 450SX Supercross Championship and second overall in the 450MX Motocross Championship, but lofty expectations from fans and media alike have overshadowed what Eli has accomplished under the toughest of circumstances. Overall, 2016 was a solid rebuilding year for the #3. He can now go into this off season healthy, acclimated to the new Kawasaki and ready to get himself back to that pre-shoulder injury level we all now expect from him.
After Eli’s tenth podium of the twelve race motocross series at the 2016 Ironman National finale, he sat down and answered questions for the press.
Eli, you went 3-3 today. Your podium is overall a good result but it was definitely a struggle. You had to work really hard today. Can you tell us about it?
Yeah, it was a long day, for sure. In the first moto I was a little bit of a ways back from the start. I made my way up to Marvin [Musquin], we did some good battling and ended up getting by him. I made a goofy mistake about halfway around the track and dumped it over and he got back by me. I had to get up and I at least made a charge back to the front—or back to him. I was able to get around him. It was a tough track. The lines and ruts were changing every lap, and they were deep. It was tough to keep your feet on the pegs. It was a tough day. I just wasn’t there at the start with Justin [Barcia] and Ken [Roczen] to get out front and really be in there. I was kind of just struggling most of the time.
All 12 races are done in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. How would you rate you and your team and how you guys came together, if you had to give yourself a grade? How do you think that this season ended up for you overall?
I don’t know what you’d grade it. I’m a guy that an A would be first. We did get second but I felt we could have been at least closer in some of the races and fighting for more legitimate wins instead of just second places. I don’t want to grade it, but there’s definitely room for improvement.
What’s your off season look like? I know you have the two GPs, correct? Do you have anything after that?
Two GPs, a little bit of time off and then just back to riding some supercross before Monster Cup. Only off season race would be Monster Cup.
The same thing I asked Justin, is it getting too long? What are your thoughts on all these extra races that we have?
I think if I would of just done our normal American series with the 17 rounds of supercross and 12 rounds of motocross, I would have went to des Nations but I have to race GPs. I’m not gonna put myself through the meat grinder in January through October and not have any time off and just go right back to the supercross track. It gets pretty long if you add in all those events.
Was not racing for Team USA at MXoN a tough decision for you?
It was. I’m a patriotic guy. I’ve been over there twice racing des Nations and I haven’t won. It’s something I still want to check off my list. I guess we have other priorities right now.
You mentioned you want a little bit of a break. How tough is it to have to be doing a couple more outdoors whenever you could possibly take that break early and maybe get an early jump on supercross testing?
There’s really not much time off. It’s not like we’re car racing—I don’t even know what you’d compare it to. We’re riding three times during the week and then we race on the weekends and then we’re flying home between all that. There’s only so many weekends off. It’s a pretty long schedule.
Last year coming into the supercross series coming off double shoulder surgery, you would think you would of wanted that extra time. Not being 100% healthy coming into supercross had to make the testing hard. But you finished the motocross season strong and you’re healthy so it seems like you should have a good off season now.
Yeah, that will be good for us. Last year I didn’t get on the motorcycle until after Monster Cup, and on a stock bike. So we were behind the ball for sure. Hopefully this year it will be kind of a fresh year once we get there and be more prepared.
What’s on the to-do list to do between now and A1? What do you want to work on? What do you want to improve on?
Yeah, just improve on comfort for myself and my motorcycle. Right now I just don’t feel like I’m the guy I should be. I just had a long year.
