Eli out at Yamaha?

KTM, taking Sexton's place when Sexton moves to Kawasaki.

Yeeesh if true that’s pretty shitty, I almost wonder if he would sail off into the sunset instead of starting anew at a different team

He needs a cable clutch 

Eli to ClubMX, stamp it

Club or Suzuki! 

Him and Roczen ending their careers together as teammates with Suzuki would be cool but I don’t see him switching platforms.

It's very unlikely,  but how fast are the wheels in Brandon Haas's head spinning right now.  

Eli finishing his career with Suzuki would be unreal. Fulll circle .01% chance it happens, but one can hope. 

What no mention of going to ducati? Or triumph? 

Lots of discussion in the silly season thread but the only thing confirmed by multiple people in the industry that would know is Eli is searching for a multiple year (possibly SX/SMX only) deal and wants more money than what Star is offering him. Maybe he settles and stays with what’s familiar or maybe he finds a new home, we’ll have to wait and see. 

Love Eli but it’s prob a sign from the man  upstairs to start Chapter 2

I believe Ducati has stated that they can’t afford a name like Eli Tomac quite yet, and that they potentially wouldn’t be ready for him regardless.  Triumph may feel similar about their 450 but I’m not sure

Brayton won a SX at 36. Chiz is still racing at 60 years old. Fuck outta here, dude is still an elite racer. 

I will take $500 on “Takes that will age poorly in 6 months” Alex. 

Big Lou, Matthes, etc… have said Triumph have told them directly, “we’re not ready for an Eli Tomac caliber rider” but if he comes knocking, there’s no way you can’t make that work. 

He could do whatever he wanted with that bike.  Kenny proved it is enough bike to compete.....

Wow

Can’t see him on anything other than a Yamaha. I believe he chose star  based on Yamaha feel not financial matters. That means star or club, doesn’t seem to want a longer term deal so why switch to anything that he’s not already comfortable on.  I suppose he could do his own program on a Yamaha with personal sponsors, but why wouldn’t you want club as a foundation?

Could he go back to Kawi? No one has verified anything re Sexton.

To be fair to Star, it seemed like Tomac was going to retire back in 2023, then in 2024, and then for sure in 2025. It don't think it's fair to expect Star to keep a spot open year after year in case Tomac decides to extend it again.

I think it has to do with Webb wanting star to keep jcoop

KTM would be the nail in the coffin for his career imo. I just don’t see the ktm suiting the bull dog riding style 

Call me crazy but Eli has far more ROI than either  Deegan or Cooper. He’s faster and far more proven than either of them, he has more titles than both them combined. Don’t get me wrong, Cooper is damn good close in sx but I’d still give the nod to Eli and he’s not even in the same league outdoors. No doubt deegs will shred the 450 but imo Eli beats him next 2 years easy. He also far more popular than Cooper and although he has less social media that Deegan, he’s universally liked. I doubt there’s a single person that says they hate Eli or would choose to not buy a product he endorses but that cannot be said for Deegan. IMO star is making an extremely stupid move if they choose those two over Eli.

Not a chance in hell he finishes his career on any of the ktm group bikes. I will give $1 to the legal defense go fund me for Karmelo “Blade” Anthony if I’m proven wrong. 

I’d like to see him at Triumph. 

I agree. Remember back at the end of the '22 season there was talk that he was uncertain about plans for '23 but he needed to ride the new bike first and then decide. And every year it's been sort of up in the air if he's retiring, SX only or full year etc. I think that puts the team in a really tough spot. So from that perspective,  I can understand.  That being said, the Yamaha just seems like the bike for Eli. I would love for him to stay, as I think he is still a threat for wins and the title. And just to be clear, I don't fault Eli for taking his future year by year, at his age. He's earned that, at this point. But I also am not surprised that at some point the team may need to move on.

Reiju, beta, fantic.

Isn’t the 2026 YZ450F going to be an all new bike?  Probably makes Eli’s  decision (if) to go elsewhere a little easier.

Reed did a fantastic job at Two-Two racing in what many, myself included, thought was a fools errand. He was in the hunt in supercross and MX (red-plate I think?) until that famous crash at Spring Creek. 

Not sure if Tomac has the desire to setup a similar program for a single year (at a time?), but I don't see him as not being competitive on his own program. He could get the right people around him like Reed did and not be limited by his team support.