ELI TOMAC - GRIT 243 450SX

GRIT-243 |450 SX

One of the greats in the sport, regardless of era, rolled onto the racing surface of Birmingham with his mindset focused on performing at the highest level. Eli Tomac had faced countless variables, obstacles, and competitors throughout his career, and was going to back-down to no-one as the green flag waved for action on Saturday. After a solid showing in practice, he embodied a flow for the heat race thereafter and proceeded to launch from the grate(s) of heat two with authority. Accelerating around corner number one, with Cooper Webb and Jett Lawrence near his rear wheel, Tomac paid no attention to his combatants - and pushed forward with an emphasis on stating a point, to the competition and crowd. In the laps that followed, he seemed to tower over the field with a phenomenal presence, flowing over the finish line jump and into the corners that followed with exceptional momentum. Through the fifth-lap, his gap seemed to steadily increase...but Jett Lawrence would have another agenda per se, and the Australian marched forward in the final moments, creating a bit of suspense-filled margin at the final stripe. However, it was Tomac who took the win as all was said and done...obtaining quite the gate choice for the main event. However, the initial laps to the final weren't as desired for the Colorado competitor. Beginning the march to the checkered flag in roughly eleventh place, he would have a difficult time making creative passes with a number of strong competitors all around him. Tenth became ninth, and then eighth, until he and Justin Barcia would undergo a strenuous battle around a quarter of the way in. This transpired to roughly the halfway point of the moto, and Barcia's defense seemed to be too much for Eli to overcome. However, he broke through definitively on the eleventh circuit and proceeded to attack Aaron Plessinger in the moments that followed. Through the bowl turns he would fly, and over the camelback triple, Tomac cemented the position over Plessinger on the sixteenth circuit. Chase Sexton was the next opponent to conquer, but Tomac's surge forward seemed to stall in the final stages...especially as Jason Anderson would close-in, and Eli would suffer a miscalculation of sorts on the far-side step-on/step-off. The loss of speed, also resulted in a loss of position. Jason Anderson would pass him, diverting Eli to seventh at the checkered flag...but the fight for the championship remained, as action ceased in Birmingham.

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