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PRO MOTOCROSS 450MX CHAMPION ELI TOMAC P150 INTERVIEW and then I had a tip over in a turn and because it was early in the race, I was at the back of the pack. I just struggled. It was really disappoint- ing. Especially after the weekend we had the week before at Salt Lake. New Jersey was probably one of the hardest days that I've ever had as a professional racer because we were so close and I knew we couldn't get those points from Dungey. It took you a little while to get rolling after you tipped over. Were you stunned a bit when you went down? I was. For one, I knew it was bad because when you crash on, say, lap two, there is still a train of guys all lined up, basically. You go down early and you're getting passed by 15 guys instead of three guys or what- ever. That's a position you don't want to be in, so yeah, that was bad. Then the final round of the series at Las Vegas. You wanted to win and the Red Bull KTM team wanted to play it safe for Ryan Dungey and to, understandably, protect what they had. Yeah, I mean that was tough to see how there were some team tactics. I mean there were even some team tactics after that crash I had and at the end of that race in New York. Going into Vegas, that was already a monster and all that kind of added to it. We were just going all out for that race. We tried everything we could and that was to get out front early and maybe try to cause a mistake by even bunching up the field. I literally tried to make it happen and I did everything I could without being completely crazy or getting disqualified. I did everything in my own power to do everything I could. But man, it came right down to it. That was something else. On the upside of things, you won nine of the 17 races in the series. That's an amazing number of victories. It is. With the 450 class, like I said, there are a lot of good guys. There always is, but it seems like nowadays you don't ever really get that total domination by one person. It was pretty cool that we were able to go out there and basically win half of the races, which was nine out of 17. What was your mindset, as well as the mindset of the team, lead- ing into the opening round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Champi- onship at the Hangtown Classic? Talk about a second chance at a second season and another shot at a 450 title. For one, I obviously had a huge amount of motivation from the Super- cross series. And two, we had a re- ally good base. We were healthy and there was no nagging injury or any- thing and it was another year on the bike for me. We were already start- ing with a really good base. We went out to Hangtown and clicked off a one-one. It's always good to make a statement there. We had very good preparation for motocross. You didn't hit the podium at the next three rounds at Glen Helen, Thunder Valley and High Point. Nonetheless, you appeared to have things reasonably under control. How was that opening phase of the season for you?