In SuperMotocross there are so many things that can go wrong to keep a rider from winning a championship, much less earning a perfect season. No one knows that better than Eli Tomac who ruptured his Achilles tendon in a freak accident at Denver in the penultimate Monster Energy Supercross race of the season.
In this week’s episode of Title 24, NBC Sports’ podcast about SuperMotocross hosted by Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Villopoto, Tomac joined the show to talk about his road to recovery, the playoffs and Jett Lawrence’s incredible season.
Tomac has raced with and beaten some of the best riders in the history of the sport. His unique perspective on racing generational riders begins at about the 41-minute mark in Episode 25 of Title 24.
“I’ll start with like (Ryan Dungey’s) generation,” Tomac said. “At that time, I was still green; I was still learning. I had more speed - better in qualifying most of the time. I wasn’t lacking in that area at all.
“Straight up, my problem was consistency and (the guy I was) just would never budge. Never throw away race. But racing them, there’s certain guys that you can basically trust on the track and other guys that you can’t and Dungey, I could totally trust. I felt like if I could get out front and sprint away, then I was all good. But at that time, I was making these little dorky mistakes that cost me championships.”
Lawrence did not go through the same growing pains. His rapid rise to the top of the podium was aided slightly by the loss of Chase Sexton for three rounds at the beginning of the Pro Motocross season and the loss of Ken Roczen to a rival series, but he beat both of those riders head-to-head in the early rounds.
MORE: ‘It was just a freak deal’, James Stewart on Eli Tomac’s injury
Making no predictions about how the series might have been different with him in it, Tomac missed being able to race Lawrence.
“I’m looking forward to (racing Jett),” Tomac said. “It’s not going to be an easy task. It was a pleasure watching him this Motocross season. Just the way he rides a motorcycle; It’s pleasant to watch.”
Like many experts, Tomac was surprised by Lawrence’s perfect season.
“Racing Chase last year, I was like there’s no way that Jett beats him every moto,” Tomac said. “No way.
“And then when I saw he was close to being beat by Kenny too - at High Point - he had a tip over, made a mistake and that was still pretty early in the season, but (I thought) hey, he can make a mistake. But he still came back and beat him. To do that in your rookie year is just mind blowing.”