John Tomac Said...

Rewatching the main, it was clear that his rear suspension was messed up.

Especially when he was being passed in the long right hand sweeper, in comparison to the guys passing him.

You have to push it to the limit and then some to kiss the trophy girl! Those were the days (see Hannah at Unadilla pic)

You're not allowed to kiss the trophy girl, unless you are Austin Forkner.

Being married to her hopefully will also be good for him. They seem look a good couple.

That's crazy! Can't imagine how firm that would feel

Team politics and the Tomac camp is arguably the most secretive group in the paddock. Wouldn’t be the first time he had a shock issue/didn’t feel comfortable and backed it down. ET3 eventually came out about a previous shock issue on the Kawi two years after everyone was scratching their heads wondering why he was having off nights. We should know what really happened on Saturday sometime in 2026 🥴

You’re right, he has been a little more open but I also don’t recall him ever blaming the bike, team or any of the equipment even when he legitimately could have . He is rare in the world of motocross because he almost goes out of his way to blame himself above anything. Most guys want to find blame in anything other than themselves while Eli shock was probably blown and we’ll hear, “yeah, I wasn’t comfy on my bike tonight and struggled. We’ll work on it and be back stronger.” 

I can't imagine he is paid to say there was an issue with the bike. If anything, he's probably paid not to disclose bike issues.

From RacerX this morning. So is it Eli being uncomfortable or suspension failure? 

“Eli was not comfortable on the bike coughbecauseitwasbreakingcoughsnort excuse me but yeah we’re looking forward to next weekend”

Sounds like (and looked like) arm pump...got too tight for some reason. It is crazy to me that these guys who are in top shape get arm pump but they do and Eli has a history of it. When you can't hang on to the bars that is exactly how you ride.

Man when Jett Chase and Eli started 1-2-3 I got so damn excited. Been waiting for that for a year. It was hard to watch Eli fade like that. Glad it was mechanical if that’s really the case. Makes way more sense than him just letting dudes blow past him with no fight. 

I would say that the shock issue caused the lack of comfort.  I don't think that You'll hear Tomac or Yamaha say that there was an issue with the bike until they figure out the fix. Then maybe they will say something like " We found some new settings"  or " We got some new parts that we had been testing"  .

Very rarely will they come out and directly say they had an issue with a part. They worry that people will associate that parts failure with a production bikes parts.  And to a degree some people may think that if the info is put out into the world were the more causal fan may come across it.

I think that a bike issue makes the most sense , Eli has said that bike issues were responsible for his hot and cold rides in the past. Unfortunately speculation and hearing something from a 3rd party and indirect confirmation is the way of the sport. It makes me wonder about other racers ups and downs. A team allowing the rider to use whatever makes them comfortable can come back and bite them if that part is not a proven part. As long as the team is letting Eli have freedom with his setup and parts, I doubt he will throw anybody under the bus. If he is deciding to use a part , it is the right thing to do. At Kawasaki he was having issues and not given the freedom he has at Star. 

He laid it out in the Instagram post when he said "We'll do our best to REBOUND next week". 

If that's the case, make the shims out of diamonds...

Yeah, their flex characteristics should be top notch.

Its joke that moto journalism cant come clean when something like this happens. Shim problem shouldnt be bad pr to Yamaha nor Kyb in my eays, just making empty excuses does. 

Eli seems to have had an inordinate amount of mechanicals throughout the years. Early in his Kawabunga days, I recall a front brake issue at Glen Helen. Young man must be hard on equipment... 

Screech will get to the bottom of this dilemma… with some investigative journalism…then hand it off to RC for a classic word salad to confuse us all even more👍

You increase the risk of bike parts failure when you ride your 450 like a 250 2 strokes.

Yeah after watching the replay, the ending laps, Tomac's rear shock looks like its all spring. No valving. Must have pissed out fluid or something broke in the shock.

Given this, he did one hell of a job getting tenth. 

Is this because Matthes had that shock for a year?

Good one Johnny Ringo…

Matthes will be your Huckleberry…

🤠

Tomac's Lap Times:

1.      00.000

2.      45.040

3.      45.429

4.      44.479

5.      45.233

6.      44.500

7.      44.902

8.      45.769

9.      46.183

10.   46.493

11.   46.605

12.   46.883

13.   48.135

14.   46.665

15.   46.893

16.   50.934

17.   48.789

18.   48.435

19.   49.637

20.   49.076

21.   48.722

22.   49.879

23.   47.886

24.   51.001

25.   48.301

26.   48.741

27.   50.977

The above is so inconsistent, I have a hard time believing that this was merely an issue of the shock going bad.  If that were the case, the lap times would theoretically get longer after the failure and remain that way.

So lap 16 the shim hit the fan! In SX/MX 1 or 2 seconds slower is alot

I'm not a suspension expert, but I did see Eli overjumping things all the way to the upface of the berm while sitting down, even hurt my back just watching that. Maybe he was stressing the shock too much?

this?

Nope, that was when his shifter was bent. I want to say the shock blew on the start straight in the main.