P126
CN
III EMPIRE OF DIRT
BY STEVE COX
A
s I've pointed out before in
this space, there's a mas-
sive difference between
believing you can do something
and knowing you can. Prior to
2017, Monster Energy Kawa-
saki's Eli Tomac had won races
in the 450 class—many times in
completely dominant form—but
he had never actually managed
to win a championship. He be-
lieved that he could, but there's
no way to know he could until
after he did it.
The Supercross series started
rough for Tomac this year, but
after he sorted out his motor-
cycle's settings prior to round
four, he was absolutely domi-
nant, winning two races, then
suffering his first of two front-
brake failures of 2017 (one at the
Arlington Supercross, then one
at the Glen Helen National), but
over the course of the next nine
races, he won seven—includ-
ing five in a row—and finished
second in the other two after
bad starts and crashes. In both
of the races where he finished
second, he put in the fastest
laptimes by far.
After he got the points lead all
to himself with two rounds to go,
though, he had a race in New
Jersey that was just inexplicably
bad. He looked bad all day that
day. His riding position looked
awkward, and he simply wasn't
attacking anything on the track.
Without any other explanation,
it's pretty obvious that nerves
got to him that day. He tried to
pull it together in the main event,
and he took the early lead, but
then an awkward fall in a rutted
turn—not the kind of mistake he
would normally make—followed
by what seemed to be a lack of
urgency to get back going again,
got Tomac back up and running
in 15th.
At the end of the race, it
was obvious that the Red Bull
KTM team used team tactics to
hand the race win over to Ryan
Dungey after Marvin Musquin
led most of the race, and while
that's technically against the
rules (although it shouldn't be),
the three points that Dungey
gained paled in comparison
to the points lost by Tomac's
uncharacteristic eighth-place
finish.
Ultimately, any number of
things could've changed that
Supercross championship for
Tomac: He could've gotten his
bike setup sorted out earlier, or
could've avoided a few crashes,
including the one that may have
DON'T FRET, ELI TOMAC FANS
Eli Tomac handled
the pressure and
came away with his
first 450MX title.
