If you would have told me that eleven races into the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, the #3 Monster Energy / Kawasaki would have five wins and seven podiums, I would have bet my house that Eli Tomac would have a nice points lead. Incredibly, though, Eli is a massive 60-points down to Jason Anderson, who has been rock solid in 2018. Even still, when Eli has been on, he has been untouchable. The St. Louis SX on was one of those days.
In St. Louis on Saturday night, Eli qualified with the fastest lap time of the day, but struggled to get around Blake Baggett in the heat race and finished third behind Baggett and Anderson. While Eli was not able to get a clear track and show that qualifying speed in the heat race, in the main the only people that saw that speed were the spectators. The riders saw Eli briefly off the gate, but one lap later he was up front in his own little world.
Even with the red plate holder, Anderson, second off the gate, Eli immediately checked out with some big original combos through the rhythm sections. In the end, Eli crossed the line 20 seconds ahead of the #21 and notched his fifth win of the season. After the race, Eli sat down and answered some questions from the press about his dominant main event in St. Louey and we transcribed it for you.
Eli, in the heat race you made some moves early and kind of got stuck there in 3rd and didn’t really find your rhythm, but in the main event, it was something completely different. Was that a result of getting out front early with a clear track or was it something you found in between the heat and the main?
I didn’t really change anything. Staring out front, it’s amazing what clean air can do sometimes. I felt like that’s where I kind of should have been all day, and we brought it to the main. It was a fun track. I think the dirt is the best on the circuit so I just had a good time on my dirt bike tonight.
Congratulations on your 18th win, also Kawasaki’s 150th win in SX. That stat is courtesy of Ben Bridges. Talking about that clean air, before the starting gate dropped, did you say in your mind, “Hey, if I get the holeshot, I’m going to pull the trigger and do that quad into that corner,” because that is where you gapped Jason [Anderson] right away.
You try to do your best to visualize that, and that just comes with confidence and how the day goes. You want to go in there with a level head, but at the same time you want to visualize going in there first. I was feeling it and I knew if you did get those combos you could make a break like that. It ended up happening.
It looked like you even added in some little sections–that triple coming back where you met up with the first turn. Adding things in the main event?
I did it once or twice in the heat, but it had a nice little rut for the main. It was just a little triple, but it ended up being fun and it was a good spot to make up time. It was a good one to get.
It seemed like this track was one of the better tracks with a lot of options through the rhythm sections. Does that make a night of racing better for you? Does it keep you more motivated?
Yeah, there’s places to make up time, and it makes the track technical. I was doing the triple maybe the first half of the race but then it went away from it, because the rut gets blown out and you can only do it for so long. It is good when you have those there to do. Or when you can pull those, it’s good.
This is your eleventh-straight week of racing. I know a lot of guys get to this point of the year where they’re still a little bit away from a break and they’re ready for some time off to regroup and recover, but you’re kind of in the swing of things right now. How do you feel as we start winding the season down?
I think we should just race every week and then get our week off before outdoors. Then we get another weekend. What’s one weekend off at round 13? Lets go all the way.
Photos by: Octopi
