MXA MINI-VIEW: ELI TOMAC

_DSC4318_Kyoshi_Eli Tomac_Supercross_Sam Boyd Stadium_Las Vegas_05082016 (2)Eli Tomac scouts the track his mechanic, Brian Kranz (left) and Mike Williamson (right).

Eli Tomac is currently in his third full year racing in the 450 class. During the offseason he made the switch from Geico Honda (riding a factory CRF450) to Monster Energy Kawasaki. His 2016 Supercross season was filled with ups and downs. Truth be told, Tomac was getting used to a motorcycle he had little time on in the preseason due to a double shoulder surgery after crashing at the Lakewood National last year. Little did anyone know that with a few rounds to go in the Supercross series, Tomac and the team came up with a new setting that helped immensely. The results show that the change worked, as Eli became a consistent presence on the podium.

What are your thoughts on the rain in Vegas?  It is what it is. Everyone’s had to race it, but I actually liked it. It doesn’t scare me. Bring it on!

These conditions seem more suited to your riding style. Yes. This race was going to be really slick. The track had a hard packed base earlier. How bad the conditions are is based on how much water they get out from between the jumps. This was always going to be a wild race. It could come down to just vision and getting a great start. There are so many factors when it gets this muddy. It is like rolling dice.

_DSC4318_Kyoshi_Eli Tomac_Supercross_Sam Boyd Stadium_Las Vegas_05082016 (1)Saturday’s race was a mudfest.

What changes will you make to your bike going into outdoors? Many riders change hard parts on the bike (chassis wise). My focus will be mainly suspension. At this point I have the big things dialed in.

Your speed definitely improved over the season. What changed? We made some big changes towards the end of thre Supercross series. I had good opportunities to do better in Santa Clara and Indianapolis, but I ran into some bad luck. I thought I could have made the podium. Since then it has all been improvement.

Many think you win the National title this year. I like the buzz. I will bring what I had last year and I’m ready to race.

_DSC6847Tomac awaits his time in the spotlight after finishing third at the Vegas finale.

Alpinestars put gold lettering on your jersey, and you’re also running some different colored Tech 10s. Do you like the flashiness? It is all about Vegas, and I gotta show some bling here. Alphinestars brought it out. It is cool to have some flash. I also got my helmet done up too. I like it.

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