ELI TOMAC - GRIT 241 450SX

GRIT-241 | 450 SX

Knowing that he had the ability the ability and talent to remain at the pinnacle of the field, Yamaha's Eli Tomac leapt onto the SX course in Arlington with the utmost focus. He believed that his prowess on the motorcycle were world-renowned and proceeded to display it with baffling lap-times in qualification...which translated to the first heat race of the evening where he immediately established a presence in the runner-up position. Stalking the rear tire of Aaron Plessinger, many could sense that Tomac was "firing" on every facet of the raceway, landing within transitions with precise timing and leaping into the corners thereafter while tracking the Yamaha chassis with a slight tilt. As laps began to dwindle, it was "ET" who continued to lessen the distance between he and the number seven...scrubbing over the "SX" triple with a daring whip that wasn't too often seen out of the veteran rider. Tomac's line through the sand, where he had changed from a full-outside, to an acute-inside path, was beginning to gain time as well...which nearly enabled him to make a daring pass when leaping over a small double and into one of the rimmed corners on the track with only a few moments remaining! However, the Plessinger stayed amongst the outside of the course and never wavered with the throttle - maintaining the lead as they took the white flag. And just when it may have seemed that Eli was attempting to catch his breath and collect his composure, the former champion darted to the outside of the whoop section...the final run through the moguls, as Aaron was occupied and had nowhere to divert to after a lapped rider had fallen in the corner ahead. Solidifying the move in the corner thereafter, Tomac would sweep through the outsides to take the victory! The main event was next to complete, with Eli around the seventh-place position in the early going. He was making moves, and quickly, but an over-jump would cost him when flying into the following right-handed corner...his hand appearing to come off the bars, which subsequently lost him a ton of positions! However, "ET" embodied the idea of redemption and wanted nothing more than to charge through the pack. Minute by minute, he pushed forward from the (then) sixteenth-place spot...marching through the pack with confidence while ripping through the sand, jumping into the whoops (from the double beforehand), and scrubbing his way over the largest obstacles on the track. He had emerged ninth, as lap five came to fruition - indicating that he was on an optimal path to the podium. While simultaneously running the fastest lap-times on the track (by a significant amount), he would make passes on Chase Sexton, Justin Cooper, Vince Friese, and eventually Hunter Lawrence. The race was beginning to funnel into the final minutes at this point, but Tomac was willing to lay it all on the line while stalking the podium position (that Plessinger held). A valiant effort was then made on the twenty-third circuit, to overtake the Ohio native...and with Jett Lawrence having two, costly errors amongst the proximity of the white flag, it was Tomac who surged forward to second at the checkered!

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