Heading into the 2017 East Rutherford SX, Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac had a three-point lead in the 450SX Monster Energy Supercross Championship, but a huge mistake in the main event handed a nine-point lead and possibly the title over to Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey. Everyone wanted to hear from Eli after the main event, but understandably, Eli did not join us in the post race press conference.
Today, though—at the Las Vegas SX press conference—Eli did answer the reporters’ questions. He was asked about his mistake, Marvin Musquin letting Ryan by for the win and more. Check out Eli’s very candid comments below.
Eli, how much can you tell us about what went on last week, because on television, it didn’t even look like you were the guy on the bike? What can you tell us about that?
The whole day was a little bit of a struggle. For one, it was a technical track—conditions were soft—but it wasn’t something we hadn’t dealt with in previous rounds. You had Seattle and some east coast tracks that were soft. I don’t know; it was a little bit different, though. I would say it was the spongiest track we’ve ridden. Going into the main event itself, I put myself in the right position and I was the guy to make the mistake. I just washed the front end out. That’s really all there was to it. Yeah, it would have been cool to have the hero ride and come back after that crash, but if you do crash on the second or third lap, it’s tough to make the charge all the way to the front. It’s tough to push it and not make another mistake, and I even did that, that one time—went off the triple. It was a tough one to swallow, crashing early like that.
Some people were saying it changed because you had the red plate and the points lead. You weren’t the hunter any more and were actually out front. Did that change anything for you?
No, I didn’t feel any added pressure. The week before I had the red plate at the same time, so it wasn’t the color of the plate for me. It was a tough race track for one and then me making the mistake and sliding out. I don’t know what to say; I tipped over. I had a lot of good races and wins before that, and you can only do so much.
Were you aware of what was going on up front? Marvin [Musquin] had the lead until the very last lap and then Ryan was able to get around him. Did you know about any of that or have any idea about what happened there?
After the fact, I obviously knew about it. That was tough to see also, you know. If the Championship does come down to those three points, that’s a bummer for everyone. But if you want to take that home and sleep on that at night knowing that someone pulled over for you, it is what it is.
This year so much stuff has happened for both of you: good rides, bad rides, strange days, points leads and all that. Do you guys pay attention to anything we [the media] say or do, or are you guys just so focused on your own deal that it doesn’t matter because you guys know the bigger picture? There was a lot of talk over the last six days of what happened last Saturday, more than ever, and it has to get back to you at some point.
I do go on social media here and there, but at the end of the day, if you’re not the guy racing us or battling with us in the stadium, you really don’t know what’s going on.
You can watch the full press conference below.
Photo by: Ryne Swanberg
