Most depressing championship awards ceremony of all time.

I really don't think that Tomac and his crew are concerned about the lack of atmosphere. After all these years of coming up short the relief must be huge.

With that said, the monkey is off Tomac's back and I reckon he will be more confident next time we see him.

The force is with him now and he will be unstoppable until he decides to retire.

Totally get the post. And I agree.
But selfishly I can’t help but be a little happy about it.
Because as a ET1 fan I suspect this might be a little motivation to go out and defend the hell out of the title.

That $1,000,000 check from Kawi is gonna cash either way,
I'm sure Tomac doesn't mind.

Not sure what else you might have expected? Fake crowd noises over the speakers?
Tomac seemed pretty stoked coming over the finish line, and yelled and yahood with his mechanic directly after. I think that moment would have been pretty sweet for him.

No one cares, those #1 plates will look the same in the garage, check will cash the shame, pride will be the same.

That 250 race was one of the better races this year for sure.

I get what you're saying, but the alternative was to finish the season 7 rounds short. Whether anyone here wants to acknowledge it or not, the c'ship would have been tainted, or at the very least, a little hollow. Now ET3 gets to finish what he started, and finish it convincingly. No "what ifs". Depressing? Yea, I guess, but not as depressing as celebrating with a press release several weeks after Daytona declaring him/them the champion.

Those guys knew thousands of people were watching at home.... But damn does an empty stadium take a lot out of things....

I posted about it in the bench racing thread. It had to be such a strange feeling, mixed emotions. Yes, the championship is real, checks still cash, etc... but it just felt surreal when Eli pulled his helmet off, and a mic was picking up his conversation with his mechanic, his voice echoing in a quiet, empty stadium, middle of the day, hearing nothing but quiet chatter and side by sides rolling around the outside of the track, as they just casually walk up to him and hand him his #1 plate.

I'm in agreement that no crowd was definitely the right and only move to pull this off, but that moment there is when I really felt the loss of a roaring crowd, fireworks, and confetti. It also made Reed riding off the track with Ellie in silence an entirely different but still moving experience. This was without a doubt a very unique season that will be remembered for a while.

wearing a mask and announcing on TV with nobody within 10 feet of you is insanely stupid.

I imagine the phone call that the last round of MX was cancelled and your the champ was a little more lame. Either way the feeling of accomplishment is still there.

I agree with RC that, if anything, this was a harder championship to win than typical years. Sure, he didn't get the crowed while he got his trophy, and he missed out on that moment, but I don't think that's a big concern for Tomac.

instead of focusing on that. I prefer to chose to focus on the fact the championship even happened at all after Daytona.

“....Wooo!”

To the OP: yeah it was different but it sure beats the alternative. Better days are ahead.

I know the TV crew was pressed with a hard out at 5PM (EST). But that was the most poorly executed season finale/awards ceremony ever. It was all over the place, they had clearly no plan and came off as such.

I'm sure the red flag cut into the time, so they had to rush everything. But do they not have a contingency plan for if that were to happen? Could they not have cut over to NBCsports for final interviews? 3 riders wrapped up titles in the final round, and it could not have felt any more underwhelming.

Some people do it to prove other people wrong. Some people do it to prove themselves right.

I think the 3 is the latter. The fans are a part of the job he has to put up with in order to go racing.

Im curious if we will see a different Tomac in Supercross next year.... You have to think that being 2nd in the championship multiple times always weighed on his mind while racing. Now, obviously he will want to defend the title and go for another, but without the weight or self doubt that he couldn't ever get it done, he can let it hang out a little bit more and just haul ass like we have all seen him do....