WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 54 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 31, 2017 P49
ance with the bike.
The result? Instead of eighth
place like he finished at Anaheim
II, Tomac got the holeshot in
the main event and just took off.
Tomac set a blistering pace in
the opening few laps that saw
him hold a full straightaway lead
after only three laps.
"The only thing I can say is
I've been in a funk lately and it's
been a bummer. It's been tough
mentally, too," Tomac said. "All
I can say now is I feel like I'm
back. I was able just to ride
this time. The past few weeks it
wasn't me. It was pretty scary at
one point, but hey, we're here.
Thank you to all the guys. We
could have easily just given up
on 'er. We were kind of in the
dump. But hey, we fought, we're
back now and bring on the next
few races."
Way behind him, MotoCon-
cepts Honda's Justin Brayton
was fighting to hold off Honda's
Cole Seely while defending
champion Ryan Dungey (Red
Bull KTM) fought his way for-
ward from the tail end of the top
five. After Dungey and Seely
both pushed Brayton back to
fourth, Chad Reed soon pushed
Brayton back to fifth, then began
reeling in Seely and Dungey who
were battling.
While Seely and Dungey re-
peatedly attempted to pass one
another, it gave Reed all the time
and room he needed to dispatch
of them both. Did Reed's pass
be addressed.
That's what both of them
did during the week between
round three of the 2017 Monster
Energy AMA Supercross Series
in Anaheim and round four in
Arizona. And it seemed to pay
off. For Tomac, the result was
a dominant victory. For Reed, it
was a battle that took him right
past defending champion Ryan
Dungey and Honda's Cole Seely
to finish second.
In the 250SX West, a similar
story played out after round
one, where Monster Energy Pro
Circuit Kawasaki's Justin Hill fin-
ished fifth, but then went to work
to try to get stronger and quick-
er. At round two, he finished a
close second, and round four in
Arizona now marks his second
win in a row.
450SX
Arm-pump can be enough to de-
rail the efforts of any supercross
racer, no matter how good they
are. For the first three rounds,
Monster Energy Kawasaki's Eli
Tomac has been uncharacteristi-
cally floundering late in the main
events, losing positions in the
closing laps. Known as one of
the fittest racers in the series,
it was understood that he was
suffering from arm-pump, but the
reason for it wasn't.
The week between Anaheim
II and Phoenix, Tomac and his
team had a good few days of
testing and found a better bal-
Tomac's win
was a stark
contrast of his
other three
performances
this year.
