Eli Tomac Drop-Off

This reminds me of the end of kawi outdoors. Dude was just mentally checked out. With his upcoming team change and next big push I bet he’s already living for 2026. I would not be surprised if he’s developing his new bike or something one day a week at this point. JS7 was spot on today. 

He was past his prime at Hangtown and he's past it now. No amount of  downvotes will change that. 

Few comments in other threads speculating about injury before or at Southwick. I remember asking myself the same question during the race, but I’m pretty sure the star guys aren’t allowed to disclose injuries per contract if my memory serves correct. Someone jump in and correct me if I’m off base. 

If star guys weren’t allowed to talk about injuries, why did webb say he had to get his knee cleaned up? 

It looked like they detuned the Star Yamaha’s so they wouldn’t blow up.  Even Cody Shock’s 450 looked faster. 

I was surprised to see the #18 Honda pull ET3’s Yamaha easily up the massive Martin Hill with authority..

I think he's just over it, whether it be the team, bike, this season, injury, who knows.  It seems reminiscent of his last year at Kawi.  If he's got it that weekend he'll go for it, if not he'll just take what the weekend give him, not gonna push it.

The Lawrence boys are definitely firing on all cylinders in all aspects of the game. Starts, bike setup, fitness. No way is Eli close to as good as ever though. RJ Hampshire, Malcolm, Barcia shouldn't be anywhere close to him

His bike is beating the ever living shit out of him

I caught that too. Jett landed off that triple and just yarded him. I keep saying it, Honda is on another level with bike setup. The riders on them are elite but there is more going on than that.

When your bike breaks and you lose 25pts.  Wheres the motivation?   Title and bonus gone.  Save yourself for next year

But I thought the Star Yami was the best bike in the field and Eli was crazy for leaving, and Star was stupid for letting him go? Now it’s the bikes fault???

Yeah your he right, he’s a mid pack guy with Ap smashing him 

The new crop passing him, yeah but not AP or CAIROLI on new stock bike 

Eli has been pro 15yrs. If he cant get his bike setup right thats on him

LoL right! Star was an absolute clown show for not re-signing him. Eli HAD to stay on a Yamaha and riding on anything else would be completely unacceptable. Now his bike is a pile

Tomac has been at the sharp end for going on a decade now. If he started the season healthy it was championship or bust. That’s a lot of years and a lot of pressure. 

I think we’re just witnessing a guy that’s accomplished everything in the sport and had immense expectations year after year lose a little bit of will power. If he can’t win he doesn’t care about going balls out for 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. 

More like, the Lawrence family is on another level with setting up their bikes and communicating effectively with their team. How much does Tomac collaborate with his teammates? I bet the culture between the teams, staff, etc. is a night and day difference.

Also, make no mistake, if there is a lonely bump on the track, Tomac will be sure to angrily smash into it. So, he always looks a bit more "ragged". I say this as a massive Tomac fan who dreamt of crazy battles all Summer after what we all witnessed at the first round. I wanted to see the battle of 2 completely different styles, a generation apart, down to the final round, but alas it never materialized.

On the note of getting yarded up a hill, I have a quick story... Some buddies of mine were surprised at how much I was pulling them (or at minimum staying even) on my 250 2-stroke vs their 450s going up Mt St Helens at a race a month ago. I explained it along the lines of: "I'm standing, you guys were sitting. I also use my legs all the way through my ankles to soak up everything, keep the rear wheel down, and get maximum traction." They seemed a bit surprised and I took some pride in that haha. Look, I'm slow AF, but finding speed on a dirtbike isn't just horsepower, it's technique. I am not implying Tomac has "bad" technique... I just don't think hes putting his all into it right now. It takes a lot more energy/effort to do some of those little things and he's over it.

Maybe his advantage is running the scoop when it really shouldn’t be used. He uses it exclusively and maybe when the conditions actually favor the scoop he suffers. I guess we will see at Washougal next when he is one of the few using it. 

I think that’s largely what happened to his starts.   Everyone else started using it and his advantage disappeared 

AP has beaten  Eli  already in a couple of motos but the man immune system whooping his ass right now & even when Eli has given us lil flashes of vintage Eli , AP was damn near equal , literally the only guy this outdoor season to hawk Jett down & pass him , once AP start taking some NyQuil , he’ll be back hovering around tht top 3 & 4 

Nothing odd at all about Honda factory performance vs stock, think of Suzuki and Kenny... slow stock bike (engine and weight wise) but can be a weapon when fettled, tuned and suspended better.

Also the stock Honda isn't exactly terrible just not as good as a stock yammy, KTM etc there actually is not that much ... setup right the Honda is a bloody rocket just takes a bit more effort lol

Never been the same since he got passed at southwick

I think he’s either sick or injured. If he continues to ride like this, KTM is going to want a refund. 

When Eli checked out on the kawi after the dnf, I remember reading the same exact stuff, he’s getting old every one is getting faster.

He’s not beating Jett but there is no way he has dropped off that much from the first three races with out any reason 

I think he is mentally beat now.

Going in to this season he really believed in him self that he could battle Jett. And I think he got some false sense of self esteem at Pala in the second moto racing with Jett and not realizing how far from 100% Jett actually was.

The next races (apart from Hangtown moto 1) he continued to get beat and told him self and the fans that if he could just get a start then he would be able to race/beat him.

Fast forward, he got massively beat at southwick and probably right there started to realize that a start won’t be enough, he don’t got the speed to win no matter what now.

And seeing Jett come from 18 to first at RedBud was probably the last nail in the coffin regarding his beliefs that he can battle a healthy Jett for a championship.

We have seen it before in his off races during his prime that sometimes when he got passed he gets a mental block and start going backwards. 

I would guess that he was happy with his riding at home during this spring and had good fitness so he expected a lot out of him self for this season, and now it’s just a downwards spiral realizing that it’s not enough.

Yes, he was closer to the front in the first races, but Sexton was not there and the Lawrence brothers were not 100% yet. Even when he won at Hangtown he battled with AP for that win, and nothing against AP but I think we can all agree that we normally hold Tomac on a higher level than that.

So Father Time has knocked on the door for another rider…

AP is definitely rundown. He needs to take time off or he will extend the time he’s under the weather.

Was a huge fan of John Tomac and Ned Overend back in the heyday of mt bike racing. (Back in the day when you raced, XC, DH, and up hill, all on the same bike)

So naturally I've been an Eli fan since day 1

All I want is for him not to hang around too long, like we've seen far too many sports greats do. We've already seen enough of our guys fall down the charts to LCQ hopefuls. 

That being said, I don't think for a damn minute that he's getting the best possible bike from his team at this point.

No chance at the title. Motivation is gone. Happens every time he’s not in the title fight. 

I think Cooksey said Bobby took all his good parts.

How do you explain how fast he was at Pala at Hangtown?  That was a few weeks ago so I guess he got old in a month?