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453
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5/29/2017
Location
Justin, TX
US
Edited Date/Time
1/7/2018 1:40pm
Ok, this isn’t an over reaction to the obvious situation tonight. But this has become a common thread. People try to nail down Eli as a choker, saying he can’t handle the pressure. I think there’s a valid argument, but he’s also performed well and does have some championships.
I can’t fault a guy if his pants came undone, but what on earth is going through his head and why is it always him with these problems that defy logic. He goes from the fiercest competitor in history, and LITERALLY 10 seconds later looks like a kid in a peewee race on bike cause his dad made him ride. Like last year while finally having the points lead in grasp, he has a mild tip over and literally could have drank a cup of warm espresso in the time it took him to get started and going again. I believe by the time he got going again he was dead last. No sense of urgency what so ever! He’s has the most random issues, just like Dallas....where a rock hit his master cylinder pinning piston? I have a shop and build bikes, I have never in all my years seen this. Then has a second brake issue weeks later. It’s like the guy just looks for the quickest chance to quick.
Each one of these can be argued case by case. But Eli Tomacs collective body of work at this point in time has got to nominate him as one of if not the strangest racer in history.....and that goes for all racing sports. His situations and then demeanor when facing them just have left me scratching my head for years. WTF Eli Tomac....
I can’t fault a guy if his pants came undone, but what on earth is going through his head and why is it always him with these problems that defy logic. He goes from the fiercest competitor in history, and LITERALLY 10 seconds later looks like a kid in a peewee race on bike cause his dad made him ride. Like last year while finally having the points lead in grasp, he has a mild tip over and literally could have drank a cup of warm espresso in the time it took him to get started and going again. I believe by the time he got going again he was dead last. No sense of urgency what so ever! He’s has the most random issues, just like Dallas....where a rock hit his master cylinder pinning piston? I have a shop and build bikes, I have never in all my years seen this. Then has a second brake issue weeks later. It’s like the guy just looks for the quickest chance to quick.
Each one of these can be argued case by case. But Eli Tomacs collective body of work at this point in time has got to nominate him as one of if not the strangest racer in history.....and that goes for all racing sports. His situations and then demeanor when facing them just have left me scratching my head for years. WTF Eli Tomac....
Pretty crazy swing when you think about it. If he won A1, it's probably lights-out all season. That dude with confidence is basically forget about it.
Instead Kenny is probably rubbing his gammy wing against his other one and Marvin is feeling in the clear.
All I know is, if this year repeats like last, he'll dig himself out of the trench and make it a fun finale. Fingers crossed anyway. Always a bummer to see someone toss away the title hopes like that.
The Shop
But I tend to agree with the Stewart analogy.....although I thought you were going another direction. It seemed to me towards the end of Stewart’s career he was not happy playing second fiddle to anyone, once he wasn’t winning he would either crash or quit. He was not a mentally guy like an RV, guys that would grind, get passed and be able to find another gear laps later. Tomac almost seems like that. He either wants to be the star of the show by dropping everyone by 30 seconds, or he’s just not interested in being out there. I remember more than one time I saw StewRt just unannounced ride off the track with no real reason. I’m not saying Eli wasn’t hurt......but you would never see the majority of racers leave the track unless dragged off. Shit, Roczen about had his arm amputated less than a year ago!!!
It doesn't help when Ralph and Jeff mention his mental issues whenever something happens to him, the demons will just grow, he needs to learn how to block everything out and start believing in himself.
A prime example is Kennys tactics last year how saying he's unbeatable, Tomac entered the championship as if he was already beat by Kenny, as soon as Kenny goes down he gains speed faster than anyone that year, he was never worried about Dungey in speed it was all about Kenny for him since his opinion of Dungey's speed was low he killed Dungey until he questioned if he can actually win the championship and the rest is history.
The boy is smart but he needs to stop questioning himself and start believing.
Kenny on the other hand you can bet that he visualizes success all the time and believes it, We don't even know how that arm feels for him he hasn't even mentioned it but the difference is he doesn't let that arm get in the way of his vision
Is it a stretch to think that Tomac has crashed more in the last two seasons than say Dungey did throughout his entire pro career?
I never saw any after race interviews or anything, but it was a strange way for him to finish the night for sure. I hope he's OK. He was hauling before the crash.
His MX championship was interesting it's as if he did his best to lose the lead he had.
Pit Row
He absolutely could have salvaged a couple points tonight. You win championships on your bad days and Tomac is bad at having bad days. If he loses by 3 points hes gonna kick himself for this. In the McGrath interview he said his 1 regret is pulling off like a diva vs finishing the race at the back of the pack and losing by a couple points to emig in an mx championship because his ego got to him and he didnt wanna ride around at the back of the pack. That interview immediately came to mind tonight same thing. You have to try to finish until you physically or mechanically can not. That didnt happen tonight his ego got to him and he gave up.
Although based on the field day you seem to be having with this I would argue that your theories can't quite be considered logic.
And like you were saying about AC.....or there is a long list of riders who rode through pure hell just to finish. I’ve got a couple shattered collarbones myself, but seeing dudes finish races or come back next week with broken collarbones just makes my skin crawl. But I get it, and I respect the hell out of it. And I’ll note again like I have 10 times. Roczen facing amputation, and to come back inside of a year and nearly podium. Those are the guys I just love watching. I thought Eli would be the next RV, Dungey just based on speed alone, I can say 100% comfortably he never will be solely cause of this. The greats fight through anything, guys like JorgeChavez pull off when they lose their visor or break a nail.
Told me to "go home and smash my billy"... I went home and smashed a billy and felt great.
I never went back.
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