VOL. 54 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 22, 2017 P53
way, and then pulling away for a
seemingly easy victory.
"I'm really happy that I was
able to turn things around in
the second moto and to be on
the podium today," Tomac said.
"I felt great today but had a
rough start in moto one. Going
into moto two, I knew I had to
put myself in a better position
and everything came together.
There's no slowing down now
and we're going to continue to
battle at Ironman next week."
Tomac left the event with a
7-1 score for third overall, and
picked up a point on Baggett in
the process. He heads to the
finale in Indiana next weekend
with 28 points over Baggett (and
30 over Marvin Musquin), which
means if Tomac can finish in the
top 10 in both motos, he wins
the championship.
RCH Yoshimura Suzuki's
Justin Bogle is looking for a ride
But things seemed to turn
around for Tomac at Budds
Creek, at least in moto two. In
moto one, he struggled with
a poor start, getting bounced
around between other racers,
and even after passing a bunch
of riders on the first lap, he fin-
ished that lap in 12th, and could
only muster seventh by the finish
on the one-lined track (made that
way by rainfall the night before
the race).
He lost a grip of points in the
moto, as well. In moto two, he
earned nearly all of them back.
Tomac started closer to the
front in the second moto, but this
time looked like the Eli Tomac
we've become accustomed to,
slicing his way through the field
until he passed title rival Blake
Baggett for the lead before half-
(Above) KTM's Marvin
Musquin ended his win-
streak at Budds Creek,
where he had to settle for
second with a 2-4 score.
(Below) Blake Bagget (4)
and Bogle (19) muscle for
the lead off the start.
