Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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2020 MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS CHAMPION ELI TOMAC P80 Interview cannot let these guys get away. I don't want to give any of these guys any hope for that last race.' That's when I was super focused and said, 'Let's get this going.' I made it all the way up to sec- ond by the end of the race. You know, really, you just can't give anyone that extra hope of feeling like they have a chance. That was my mindset, 'I can't let these guys have any chance at the last round.' It was so important to get that result. Even if it was Cooper getting first and me getting sec- ond, I just minimized the dam- age and made sure there wasn't light at the end of the tunnel for the last round. Like I said, that's where we improved so much this year. Even if we were in the back, we knew we could make it to the front. You've come close to winning the championship before, but something always seemed to happen. What was the difference this year? I think my racing emotions were a lot more steady. I've used that word this year—steady. I felt like I could control my racing emotions a lot more in a positive way. When little things on the racetrack would happen mis- take-wise, I was able to recover from those mistakes. Also, really, my bad races weren't 10th- or 15th-place finishes, they were fourth-place finishes. I never really had those bad races, so that's what has changed. My racing was a lot more steady on track this year. Did you feel that you had the championship under con- trol while in Salt Lake City? Yeah, I felt like it. I wasn't looking behind my back or over my shoulder. The motorcycle, as a whole, was working really well. We had all sorts of differ- ent conditions there and the bike was working in all of them. Gosh, there were days where I wasn't even touching clickers on my suspension. That's just how solid we were and the position we were in. We could just focus on the race, and that's when things come so much easier and then you get those results that you want. Your family, including your baby daughter, were all there to celebrate the title with you. What did that mean to you? It was special. You know, we weren't all able to be there every race day. The last race day, they allowed us down onto the stadium floor, and it was really cool that my family was able to be there that day. My mom and dad were there. My brother was there. Jess and our daughter Lev were there, and it was very cool and very special for us to finish the series that way. Nothing beats family. What does it take to be a Supercross Champion? The commitment in this spot is unbelievable. It starts at such a young age in that way and you have to have such great guidance and then you have to have the passion for it as a rider, as well. A lot of things have to go the right way, but at the end of the day, it's all about passion. 2020 has just been kind of a wild year in that way with everything. There's been a lot of good and a lot of squirrelly and a lot of crazy. Yeah, it's been a wild year that way. Now what? I still love riding my motorcycle, and I'm still motivated to race. Even with locking down the Su- percross Championship this year, I want to keep racing as long as I'm competitive. I hate not being able to win, so as long as I can still win races and be competitive, I think you'll still see me out there. I don't want to put a time limit on anything—at least not for a couple years. Yeah, I'm looking towards the future and hopefully things get sorted out and we can go back to racing normally again. CN EVEN WITH LOCKING DOWN THE SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR, I WANT TO KEEP RACING AS LONG AS I'M COMPETITIVE.