Edited Date/Time
2/12/2023 3:46am
...is not normal when compared to his previous results this year.
Was he straight up beat by four dudes last night?
Wrong direction with setup or was he ill?
He gave up 5 points to Sexton with that 5th place.
We would have had two red plates had Sexton not dumped it in the whoops.
This Championship is heating up...
He was lucky Anderson and Barcia went down.
It was super strange to watch. He definitely wasn’t feeling it last night and sort of just looked to be in the “just want to get this round over” mode.
Yup.
A 20 lap main and he only got a 5th and as you pointed out, it could have been a 7th had Anderson and Barcia not tripped each other up.
My take is he wasn’t comfortable and he rode smart. Sometimes you have to take the intermittent L to win the war.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
He had speed earlier in the evening, 3rd overall in the combined qualifying. I reckon Star got something wrong with the setup for the main.
When AP passed him in the heat race it became apparent my RM SX picks were not going to pan out lol.
Something was off for sure. We can all speculate, was it setup, injury not disclosed, or just plain not feeling it. Either way he leaves with the red plate.
Flu.
I think it was the track more then anything else. It did not have a good flow and Eli really likes to open tracks up and carry momentum. Was very hard to do that in Tampa.
also 90’s after whoops is terrible track design.
That is my guess. Since when does Kenny drop Eli in the last half of a race?
If it is the flu sucks for him as he would have had a week off, but now has the make up Oakland race. But riders have been dealing with this forever in sx because of the time of the year and crazy travel. Do any of the guys still chip in and fly private?
Does anyone think that maybe when he went down 2 weeks ago he may have injured something that’s been bothering him right now?
No, he’s been in this position sooooo many times in his career and always pulls through. Doesn’t get fazed easily. That’s part of what makes him a champion.
He didn’t seem to have any issues in the main last week.
True, but he also seem to struggle last week in the qualifier. In the main he got the holeshot and being Eli he just put his head down and gutted it out? I really don’t know, I’m just curious if maybe he did tweak something.
Now, now, now.
You know all of the argumentative kids here aren't going to let it die with that logical observation.
Did you forget where you are ??
Yeah, though the reason why he wasn't feeling it and riding better is something I think we are all interested in. I doubt he'd disclose anything and will just say "do better next weekend".
Anyways exciting how the series is tightening up between Cooper, Chase, Tomac. Anderson could get back in it if he goes on a tear but has to stop wrecking his own chances.
Tomac doing something he's never done; won A1 and leading the series early on. Chase being really consistent (despite small crashes, no knockout crashes) , Webb coming back when he didn't win anything last year.
Wasn’t a lot of passing it seemed, slick track, lots of 90s. Mreh, he’ll be fine.
Pit Row
Was bizarre to see him finish 30 seconds down. I sure hope it isn't the flu.
Someone said on here that Justin Coopers rich girlfriend flys him private.
I am merely providing context…
And yet some people call it the best race of the year..
It was strange to see him that slow and i wounder if the ”last weeks on the job” mentality starts to creep up on him.
Someone, sometime ago came up with a funny play on his name (unknown who gets the credit for it!?) as a nickname for him, and it still seems to ring true now!?
Even now, we just never know which version is in the house until the gate drops…
Will Eli Tomac “the Beast” show up & destroy or Elito Mac “lose the least” show up & leave everyone wondering WTFlip was that!!?
Either way, I hope he is ok, not dealing with an unknown injury and he is well, not dealing with an unknown illness!
He is an amazing champion and ambassador for our great sport!
I really enjoy watching him ride and I wish I had even 1/100th of the talent he has!
No one has ever watched my riding and thought “beast mode” although it is highly likely an observer might see me riding and think that guy is probably a great bowler!?
Haha! 🤪 😎 👍
Smartest dude in the game, Eli wasn't feeling 100%, so keep the title hunt alive by riding smart.
Or possibly he just plain ole' got outran last night? The other thread with Sexton finishing second has loads & loads of criticism about how he CHOKED, panicked or whatever you want to claim went wrong. So I guess I'm wondering why the two totally different outlooks between the two riders? Tomac rode safe, had the flu, wrong bike set up etc..etc but with Sexton finishing on the podium he still choked or made rookie mistakes? Just wondering why the totally different opinions from so many even though Sexton beat Tomac pretty badly last night and is right there in points to strike??
Years ago when he had a bad night he would be riding around in 12th. His "chokemac" moments aren't nearly as bad. Any Tomac fan should be happy with a 5th on a bad night.
Something was off that is for sure. First 'weird' ride on the Yamaha I think? He had many on the Kawi.
This is kind of what I expected last week after his big crash. Maybe the crash got in his head last night due to a slick track. He was basically just as fast as Chase in qualifying. He was fast enough to have won four in a row so this is strange.
Maybe because Tomac didn’t ride like he normally does while Sexton has a pattern of throwing it away and people thought he was over it?
Tomac purposely slowed it down. That was obvious.
Someone turned the switch to "least mode" by mistake.
Post a reply to: Tomac's 5th overall...