“It’s Mental for Eli.” - Bubba’s World Glendale SX/Rewind

Love Stu but I ain’t buying it. I’m not saying he’s wrong but there is no way to know if he’s correct.

Eli is a closed book. He’s coming off a pretty major injury. He could be just warmed up or Stu could be right. One thing is for sure, Eli ain’t going to say shit.  

I'm not sure for tomac right now, but on the kawi he was a bit of a head case.

I think there is something to it but that is not to say that Eli couldn't ignite beast mode sometime in the near future either. He's not a spring chicken anymore, he's got a family and a helluva bank account, he's coming off a pretty serious injury and he knows that besides the guys he's had to beat in the recent past he has to face the new kid who appropriately is named Jett. 

I stand by what i said before the season. Eli has passed 30, has 3 kids and his mind has probably switched.

He is not willing to take the risks that Jett and Chase is, it's nothing wrong with that,  but it don't think that people shuld expect to see the old Eli show up.

All things comes to and end. And remember, he have said multiple years that it is his last season, and that has been said for a reason.

I think he’s fine. It just takes time. He’ll be back soon.

As an Eli superfan, I haven’t seen anything this year that is uncharacteristic for Eli..

he was GONE at that last triple crown..

a week later he is 10th, yeah we have seen this before.. he will come alive, he is almost better when his back is against the wall..

I'd agree other than its uncharacteristic that he hasn't won at least once. Winning a 10min triple crown main doesn't count. 

None of this should be a shock. He was already the oldest ever to win a championship and that was 2 years ago. Only 4 or 5 guys have even won a main event after the age of 30.

Hard to argue with a multi-time champion. This sport is highly mental, especially when approaching a set of whoops! Seems like they've really tamed them down this year. Nobody liked Deathcross and our stars crashin' & burnin'

51 wins. I think Eli knows if he has it or not.

Time for what? I tore my achilles at a similar age and by 4 months was back to normal with a few decent supplements and no proper physical training. He has access to the best in the world so his injury should be a non issue at this point. 

Back to normal for doing what ? Are you a professional athlete ? 

You were back to winning supercross races at an elite level against the best in the world? That’s great, man. You should give Eli a ring and give him some pointers.

I agree with above. I don't think Bubba is right on this. He also said he thought 10th is where we'll see him all year, which is beyond dumb right after he just won Moto 3 @ A2.

Cool to see click bait youtube videos happening in moto too!

Well, I will say, I appreciate Bubba taking a stand with his opinions 

At Glendale, Eli was one of only 6 riders to make a 1:04 lap. Period. (Btw, so was Hunter!)

I see one of the 6 or 7 racers that’s capable of running up front in the 2024 AMA SX/MX/SMX 450 classes. And…he’s being smart, smooth and predictable. 

If…and that’s “if” I were going to imply ANYTHING out of the ordinary when compared to the previous coupl’a years on the Yamaha, I’d say he’s playing it safe & letting the other guys sort themselves out WITHOUT getting too wrapped up in the ultra-fast-insanity that’s going on all around him. 

The dude is smart and knows what he’s doing. 

So many people seem to doubt or put Eli down, it's super weird and I can't really get my head around it.

He's a Tomac... he's smart, he's fast and he's not gonna do anything crazy and get himself in trouble.

It could go either way, but he's already gone classic Tomac speed and dropped the field, even if it was only one race of a triple crown. That kinda says it's calculated, not some mental block, doesn't it?

Major Stew fan and he's normally on the money, maybe he is here too, but I just don't buy it.

You say that like I'm the only one with this view. How long was Aaron Rodgers on the couch?

Mr. Rodgers got hurt after 4 plays in game one and missed the remainder of the season. He did take the field for practice and teased he was coming back but he never did.

Eli is out here racing...

^^ THIS ^^
After going back and watching the first dry rounds. I don't think his speed is off as much as his fitness. I think he's being very smart. He's still capable of winning this thing. But he looks like he's watching how his competition is settling into the season. If he's not comfortable and up front, he might back it down a little to make it up another day. But those days are closing. He needs wins and consistent podiums now. If any of these guys were 3rd every race so far, they'd be leading the title by 3 points. But it's gonna take that consistency of podiums. No more finishing outside the top 5. It just can't happen. The second half of the season is coming up fast and Jett has never done a full 17 Round Supercross season on a 450 yet. So time will tell if that's even relevant.

True, but he's 31 now and looks to be struggling a bit. And just like him, others are going to get more comfortable on their new bikes, or heal up and also get faster so he might be playing catch-up all year.

But maybe its a Yamaha thing cause I've only seen him and Webb race backwards this year, for 1 race each.

I work with a former NFL player that follows and races MX. Before Anaheim and or Eli announced he was racing, my co worker said no way he'll be back in time for Anaheim based on that injury and his experience in the NFL as an athlete etc. 

When I sent him the vid of Eli claiming to be ahead of schedule a couple weeks and starting to ride again (November I think) he said, I'll be damned. 

It looks to me like he is having trouble putting together flawless laps without fatigue for 20+2....Is it Mental? Probably... Is it Physical? Probably.... Is it from the Achilles injury and coming back less than a year later to compete amongst the best and arguably some of the fastest racers in the world...MOST DEFINITELY! 

Will he be able to progress to a Toby Keith kind of place? .....time will tell-

my 2 cents 

https://youtu.be/ldQrapQ4d0Y?si=dSRThxGuchjfrP-m

You know Toby Keith died right?

I think his biggest issue is his base fitness. There is no substitute for staying healthy and continually staying in shape. He seems to have the speed early and then get arm pump/tired. He can still go as fast as the best guys but he’s just running out of gas at the moment. I think he’ll continue to get stronger throughout the year. 

Would we even be having this conversation if it wasn't for Jett's presence? We've seen this Eli before in the past, but I think the underlying worry is that Jett is going to start inching away from the pack and it will be hard ground to ever make up.

But will it be too late by the time he can go as hard as he needs to for a whole main

I hope Eli has his eye on doing MX and the playoff at the end. I'd love to see if Beast Mode Eli is enough to spar with Jett assuming Jett is as potent outdoors this year as he was last. Also let's not forget that Daytona is on the horizon, and we know what happens at that race

I’m just glad he’s out there