Eli Tomac climbed onto his new Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha this week and took his first ride as he sets his sight on the 2022 Supercross and Motocross seasons The Supercross seasons kicks off Saturday in just three months, January 8 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif.
After finishing third or better in points in both Supercross and Motocross every year since 2017 on a Kawasaki, the change could not have been easy to make, especially since he was still winning championships. His last SX title came in 2020. One year earlier, he was victorious in MX.
But then he saw what Dylan Ferrandis accomplished in the 2021 and the decision to join him as a teammate was not so hard.
“The new change definitely makes it easier to get up in the morning and to get to work,” Tomac said at MonsterEnergy.com. “It’s something that I’ve been looking forward to. I think they can give me, as a racer, a really competitive package in both supercross and motocross. Dylan Ferrandis had really good success in motocross this year, so I look at that and it gives me confidence for what we have coming in the future.”
Motocross and supercross are both grueling disciplines. It is not a matter of if a rider is going to land hard and break some bones, but rather when and how often. It’s that adrenaline that gets them back on the seat after crashing.
But after seven seasons, the perspective changes slightly.
“You get older and you kind of process things differently,” Tomac said. “When I am on the starting line it’s kind of more of a calm feeling now. You’re ready to go and you’re chasing the checkered flag, but it’s a different calm and I just think that’s age.
“As the years go by, you kind of figure out what works for you and what doesn’t work for you, so I think that is part of the calming too. I don’t know if there is a direct line that you can refer to in our sport, but yeah, I’m getting a little bit older and I feel like I can totally be competitive until I’m 30 in this sport. I turn 28 in November.”
Are there more Supercross and Motocross championships on a Yamaha in his future? Tomac certainly believes there is.
“(Winning the championship) is absolutely doable,” Tomac said. “I wouldn’t have signed a new contract if I didn’t think I could do it and we can do it as a team. That’s the only thing we’re shooting for and that’s winning.
