VOL. 54 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 29, 2017 P55
Villopoto's last AMA Supercross
title in 2014.
"That was not easy at all,"
Tomac said about dealing with
the pressure of the title at the
finale. "I mean, I went back
[between motos] and I was just
like, 'Man, is this day really going
like this?' I don't know, I guess I
let my ego get the best of me in
that first moto, and I needed to
really take it all in there between
the motos and get our head
in the right spot. We went out
there and did what we could, but
this is just a lifelong dream and
goal that has finally come true,
and I'm just kind of at a loss for
words right now."
Unlike Tomac, Herlings had
championship rivals with his bike
bent up a little bit from the fall,
and that hindered his effort mov-
ing forward. Tomac, dejected,
finished fifth.
Going into the final moto,
Tomac carried a 24-point lead
over both Musquin and Baggett
(tied for second in the champi-
onship), and a moto win awards
25 points, so Tomac knew all he
had to do was finish inside the
top 20 to wrap up the title, and
he learned his lesson from moto
one.
Tomac rode conservatively
for sixth place in the final moto
of the year, clinching his first-
ever 450MX Championship, and
the first for his team since Ryan
holeshot of the entire season.
However, just a few turns into
the race, Herlings stuffed his
way by Tomac for the lead, and
instead of just letting him go,
Tomac gave chase.
Tomac learned Herlings' lines,
then chased him back down
and pressured him while the pair
pulled away quickly from the rest
of the field, but it wasn't long be-
fore Tomac tried a creative line
where he jumped from the inside
to the outside into a turn, and
when he landed on the berm he
was counting on in order to rail
the corner around the outside of
Herlings, the berm gave way and
Tomac went down.
He remounted behind his two
