Slaw
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Eli Tomac had a bad race at Spring Creek and you would have thought he should just pack it up and retire the way it was talked about around the Internet. How quickly narratives can change.
At the start of the year, Tomac was coming back from injury and “was the only one who could challenge Jett” and “thank goodness Tomac is racing, because without him, Jett would have another perfect season!”
A few weeks later, and “Tomac should retire!” and “Has Tomac given up?” were the headlines.
Tough sport, but that’s why you get paid the big bucks. Or… something like that.
Either way, Tomac was back (did he ever leave?) at Washougal. He looked like the “old” Tomac that we saw just a few rounds ago. I’m not going to pretend like this is the best version of Eli Tomac we’ve ever seen, but it’s not as bad as some have made it out to be.
Alas, we finally got to hear from Tomac after a third overall at Washougal and it was telling. The previous two rounds his post-race comments in Yamaha’s press releases have been… well, short.
“Yeah, just different setup, straight up,” Tomac said after Washougal. “So, different setup. Found something that I was really comfortable on, and [I] was in the same zone as these guys, like same zip code, so that was nice.”
Tomac, never one to make excuses, said the problem was his fault.
“Yeah, so what happened at Millville is before that I went and did some testing and, yeah, it’s like it’s on me,” he added. “I’m like, ‘Hey, I think the bike’s better.’ And then I take it to the race, and it was not better. So, I take responsibility for that, for telling the guys and, of course, it looked faster like on the clock and stuff and whatnot. Like, yeah, it’s better and then it just, it didn’t work in a race environment. So, it was unfortunate. But I feel like now that I was able to make some improvements from what I was racing earlier in the season. So, I’m excited for the last couple.”
While he didn’t dive into a vast amount of detail, he did say he’s been working on the fork and the shock. Not crazy revealing, but in this sport, it’s something.
“I was changing…the fork and the shock,” he said. “So, really it was like wholesale bike changes to try to just find a different feel. That’s what happened before Millville and whatnot, so yeah, we were taking some serious swings at motorcycle setup and trying to be better. I mean, for me, like last week I wasn’t close. It’s like, a whole, I was, you know, lost myself, so it’s back to kind of usual for me, so that’s nice.”
So, this week we have confirmed Tomac should indeed not retire.
See everyone back here post-Ironman in a few weeks. Who knows, we could be talking about Captain America….
Images: octopi.media
