GRIT 312 — 450SX — 3rd — Eli Tomac

The legend, had returned to the racetrack yet again. Despite suffering an injury of sorts in events prior, Eli Tomac was ecstatic to compete with the 450SX category once more. For practice he was on-par with his usual opponents, including that of Ken Roczen and Hunter Lawrence. Though, Eli knew, that there were a multitude of laps that had yet to be embarked on...and his aggressiveness on the motorcycle was set to be unveiled, for that of Heat Number One. Once there, he launched from the grate to collect an early race standing of ninth, after battling just inside of the top-ten! Steadily, he would pick his way through the field, with his machine ahead of opponents including Dean Wilson and Vince Friese, (residing near a standing of approximately seventh), before the red-flag was thrown. Moments after the single-file process dispersed, Tomac had moved into sixth, trailing Justin Hill. Ultimately, he would move past the Oregon native, and when the final flag was thrown, Tomac would secure a standing of fifth, behind Honda's Christian Craig. In the finalé, Eli would contend for the third-place position alongside Cooper Webb, before descending to fourth...and once there, he unfortunately appeared to stall the motorcycle in the sand! He would descend to that of approximately the seventh-place position, while forced to work his way past former amateur rivals, Malcolm Stewart and Justin Barcia! Ultimately, he would do so. He would then pass Cooper Webb, near the mechanic's area, to then claim the fourth-place standing! Tomac then, strove to overtake Jorge Prado. After a series of back and forth swaps (amongst switchback areas Tomac was able to cut beneath Prado to make the pass work, once and for all, around the halfway point! Eli was putting forth a phenomenal pace in the third-place residency. He could see the leaders ahead, and Tomac knew the type of trajectory that each of the championship rivals were one. Nevertheless, with numerous supporters around the stadium, Eli continued to remained composed. In a minute by minute process, he would tackle rhythm lanes while dodging lap-traffic, and deteriorate jump-faces. This track was in an unrecognizable state, but Tomac knew he could hang onto the bronze medal accolade. When powering through the final two right-handed bends, Eli would prove that he was able rebound from adversity...and in the end, Tomac was awarded with the third-place result!