I have given up on Tomac's starts...

No comment on the start thing but it hurts worse than my first break up to write this: if he holeshots I still don’t think it matters after what we saw today. 

Starts aside, which are inconsistent at best, he does not look as good on the bike this year. Not terrible, but fighting the bike.

Everyone else caught on to the Dunlop tire secret.  It's not an advantage when everyone else runs it.

Eli was never a great starter before he started running it and he showed everyone else that it was usable.  All of his "Beast Mode" days were the result of so-so starts.

His suspension looks like it's extremely active, bike is not planted anywhere, I am however sitting on the couch not a pro rider by any means lol. 

ET3 swan song...

Yeah I’m heart broke too.  I wanted nothing more than for Tomac to go out as the top dog but this is the way it’s destined to end.  MX champs don’t last forever just like girlfriends.

Even Carmichael would have lost if he extended retirement another few years.   

I believe Weege brought up a stat recently about Eli’s starts and it was mind boggling bad. Imagine how many more wins throughout his career if he started like Jett.

I’ve become a Tomac fan in the last couple years and as sad as it is to see, it feels like he doesn’t have the speed to consistently run with Jett.  I was really hoping we would get a battle of the giants this summer, and fingers crossed it still comes at some point, specifically with Tomac and Jett. 

I don't think anyone has the speed to run with Jett. Sexton might but the mental thing comes into play. I really don't know if we have seen how fast Jett can really go but today might have been close. 

Keep in mind Jett won after tucking the front end too.

Jett and Hunter have the starts so dialed in it makes everyone else look bad. Tomac is probably starting about as well as he always has. He’s never been known as a holeshot guy. 

I don’t know why Tomac practices anything besides starts during the week…fix those and the results fix themselves….its crazy that he is that far off ebery start almost every moto…

It’s a bummer as a Tomac fan. I believe his speed is there to compete for wins. Today he didn’t have a hope with near dead last gate pick in 2nd moto. Regardless, the Honda team have starts figured out. Hard to beat Jett with his speed alone, add in his starts and dang…..

I’ve been saying this all year, his bike looks the most reactive of the guys up front. As far as Tomac starts, his first start wasn’t too bad. Second one his gate pick was nearly last, not a good spot to be in at redbud.

Exactly. He's been a poor starter his whole career. The field has caught up to his speed that he can't overcome them anymore 

Except for 2022 where he was the best avg starter on the new bike in both SX and MX and even in 2023 SX his starts weren't bad at all. I really wonder what made the difference there... Was that really just the tire?

Tomac has a better chance in SX with short starts and a smaller grid. Right now I do think if tomac starts top 3 he can win but Jett is on another level and I don’t think it matters where anyone starts , Jett is gonna win 

One of the problems is that when you practice starts all by yourself they will always be and look perfect. No other riders that disturbs you and how do you measure if it was a good one then?.

If Eli were to train more at the farm and get gate drops against other riders he might improve. 

 

I can't think of a past champion that has more come from behind wins than Tomac. He made a career out of winning exactly how Jett won today. So many last to first thrillers. That's where the name "Beast Mode" came from. He could always depend on that speed to dig him out of any bad start. He doesn't have that ability anymore, and as a massive Tomac fan it pains me to say that. It's unlikely that he's going to learn to be a phenomenal starter this late in his career.

Wonder why he got rid of Gilly (sp?). Was he really that jealous that he was helping Webb that he sabotaged his own bike set up and can’t admit that he’s going the wrong direction? Maybe he’s over the Yamaha thing and doesn’t feel like doing any more work on it 🤷‍♂️

he doesn't look anything like he did a couple years ago or in his Kawi years.  He makes so many mistakes.  While he's always had an aggressive riding style, it seems like in the past couple years, especially after coming back from the achilles injury the aggressive riding style has become really extreme more so than ever and it has become a hindrance.  His style has changed even just from '22.  The Yamaha's engine characteristics probably played a hand and exacerbated his aggressiveness, it'll be interesting to see how he rides the KTM, idk if that's the best way to ride that engine and especially with the chassis being softer.

weird thing is that in '22 on the Yamaha his starts were pretty dialed.

I remember when he switched from Kawasaki to Yamaha and all of a sudden his starts improved.  Starts are all about confidence.  The last thing Eli wants to do is start in front of Jett then watch him motor by on the outside like he did to JCoop yesterday.  He’s out of his mind if he thinks he’s going to bring anything for Jett next year while trying to develop the first steel chassis he’s ever ridden in his 30s.

i think after Sexton already.... Tomac broke today too like his Yamaha in moto 1

And the KTM is going to help?  How?

Who said the KTM is going to help? 

Right. He turned pro in 2010. He not going to magically turn into a great starter at almost 33yrs old. You can usually tell pretty quickly if a rider is a good starter or not. They might make small improvements but they arent going to ever be great. Shimoda is never going to be a great starter. I do love the advice that "he just needs to practice starts more." Oh man, I bet Eli never thought of that. 

It is an interesting convo about what changed for '22. Was he one of the first guys to get on the scoop tire bandwagon and everyone else has caught on now? 

Tomac has long been a headtrip... how many races did he ride around in 6th on his kawi cause he was scared it was gonna blow again?? But wait, there's more... he's now older and has had one foot in the retirement door for coming up on a half decade... this isnt peak tomac, this is one more race before replacing the rings tomac... 

Eli's issue with starts isn't necessarily just due to bad jumps off the gate... he always seems to back out coming into the first turn, as if he's scared of getting caught up with somebody. This strategy worked several years ago when he was by far the fastest and fittest guy in the field and could run down the leaders in a 35 min timeframe. But with the Lawrence brothers starting out front every race and the rest of the top 10 generally being closer to elite speed than it was in the 2010s, he needs to stay on the gas and make the most out of his first turn positioning if he wants any shot of getting another moto win this year.

Dear Big Lew,

Please ask Tomac at the presser for Millville;

 “How do we fix these starts?”