Photo by: Hoppenworld
Heading into the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Eli Tomac was on the top of everyone’s list to be the 450SX “Rookie of the Year”. Unfortunately, his season started off with a shoulder injury from a crash on the first lap of the first heat race of the year. Since then, there have been flashes of brilliance, but overall, his season has fallen short of expectations. The #3 has missed seven of the 2014 main events due to injury, has finished in the top-ten just five times, top five twice and has one podium—a second place finish at Indianapolis SX—on his 450SX freshman resume. With fifteen rounds in the books, Tomac currently sits in fifteenth in the 2014 450SX Championship.
At the Seattle SX, though, I think we saw the Tomac that was expected to be at Anaheim 1. The former 250SX Western Regional Supercross Champion and 250 National Motocross Champion got a seventh place start and, by lap four, had made his way up to fourth behind Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey. From there, Eli was on pace with the #5 machine, but was unable to make a push for the podium. In the end, the factory Honda backed rookie crossed the line in fourth and showed he is definitely on the right track heading into the final two Supercrosses of the year. We look for Eli to finish the final two rounds of Supercross strongand to be a consistent top-five guy when the riders head outdoors for the 2014 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship on May 24th.
After the checkered flag waved, we caught up to Eli as he was getting ready to head to his hotel room for the night. You can see what Eli had to say about his night in Seattle below.
Eli, fourth on the night in Seattle. How are you feeling about your ride tonight?
It was pretty good, one of the best main event rides I’ve had all year—besides Indianapolis where I did get on the podium—but I thought this was a best ride. I qualified right out of the heat race, and I had a good battle with [Andrew] Short in that. Then, in the main, I actually flinched on the gate a little bit. It jacked me up a little bit, but I still came out so-so. I had to make a few passes, and once I settled into fourth, I was actually catching up to [Ryan] Dungey a little bit. We kind of yo-yo’ed each other a little bit, back and forth, but I just couldn’t quite get to him. I just needed to minimize some of my mistakes and clean some of those rhythm sections up a little bit. It was a technical track tonight, and rutted too. It was just tough, but all the guys ahead of me tonight were gnarly veterans, so I felt good about my effort.
Yeah, overall you’ve always looked good in Seattle. Is the Seattle dirt and the ruts something you’re really comfortable on?
Yeah, I like the soft ground. It makes it a little bit more technical and gnarly, so I like it.
I’ve been to just about every Seattle SX since 1995, and tonight the dirt looked probably the best I’ve ever seen it. There were ruts, but in comparison to other dry years, it looked perfect tonight.
Yeah, it was the hardest base to a Seattle SX that there’s ever been. There was just kind of normal ruts, not super crazy like most mud races, like it normally is here.
You talked about catching Dungey, and it did look at times like you were faster than him, but is catching and passing former 450SX Champions like Dungey a hump you still need to get over?
Yeah, when I was clearing everything, I was faster than him. It’s just building experience and being able to make it through twenty-laps not missing any rhythm sections—that’s how I’m going to catch those guys.
Well, we head to East Rutherford next and there’s not much we know about anything there, but that’s followed by Las Vegas. What do you think about the hard pack in Vegas?
I like Vegas too. It’s actually a lot like my track at home: gnarly, blue-grooved and dry. I seem to do well there every year also.
Alright, well, thanks for talking to us. Good luck in New Jersey, and we’ll see you in Vegas.
Thank you.
