Images by James Lissimore
Eli Tomac took the overall win in the first FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) race of the four-round 2024 season over the weekend up in Vancouver, Canada. After the race, Steve Matthes caught up with the Colorado native to get his take on the night.
Racer X: All right, Eli Tomac, what a, what a night for you. First of all, you got a flat on the last lap. I blame [Team Manager Jeremy] Coker [Laughs] and you don't have a paddle [tire] on. So, I blame that.
Eli Tomac: [Laughs] That could have been the problem! I don’t know. Either way, it was sketchy. I went over the wall and then it went flat. So, got to the last half lap with it and that was that. I mean, it's crazy because every race pays the points, so yeah that wouldn't have been good.
I was looking at the landing of the triple. That thing looks like Unadilla, second moto, the bumps, the ruts like this track was beat.
It was very beat, that one [landing] after the triple. And then it was either last lap or second to last lap over the finish line, like I landed in a hole, I almost blew my hand off the bars! I just landed straight into a big pothole! So it was rough. And then plus you had some rocks in there.
Nice wheelie into the whoops in third main. You figured that thing out.
So, in the beginning it was unintentional! Like the second lap that happened, it just hooked up and I just carried, it just, kept eating and then I was like, well, that actually made it really easy and I did whatever, like four or five times. That was pretty funny.
Starts were on point tonight. Really good. Kenny [Roczen] got you the first one, I think, and then after that, man, you were on fire.
Yeah, it was good. I had a really good rut. Yeah, I botched one of my entries into the turns in the second to last one, I had a huge holeshot and then somehow didn't come around the first turn and first, but then last moto was good.
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James Lissimore ![]()
James Lissimore
When you're coming up with Vince [Friese], I mean, we all know Vince, you and Kenny, were you both like, “Oh shit?” Because he's not jumping everything and he's casing things and going sideways. Are you just waiting? You're just like, I'll let Kenny deal with this. Or is there sort of like, “I’ve got to get this dude right now?”
Well, when I got Vince it was, I'm like, “Oh, I got him” and then Kenny just came flying up the whoops in that first moto! Like, oh my gosh. That first moto was chaos in that way. It was tough to deal with, but it's to be expected and you just gotta just try to set it up the right way.
It’s like trying to deal with a porcupine or something. You're like, I don't know what to do.
[Laughs] It's tough racing him, man.
Obviously the goal is Anaheim and all of that. How much is that in the back of your mind when you're at this kind of event or going forward? Like, hey, you'd love to win. But you're getting gate drops, you're making money. But how much of that even comes to mind when you're racing, or does it at all?
It's going to help me. It's going to help me and this track tonight was a condition I feel like I've been struggling on the past couple of years and tonight thought I rode it pretty well. So straight up, I've been struggling when it gets super sticky and really rutted and I felt like I was riding good tonight through it. So that was a big deal for me and we've done a little bit of testing. So, it's nice that the stuff worked in a race environment.
I was just talking to Kenny [Roczen]. He's like, hey, I think we have to talk to these guys, the organizers, about the amount of time between the races, the amount of time we have prepping on the line. Just to tweak a little bit. Like, do you agree? I mean, they'll listen to you guys.
They need to get a little more dialed in with our loading procedure.
Was it too much racing?
I had a lot of fun. I don't know what's right, but it's different. It's a good mix up that way. The only thing I don't like about the procedure here as well as the des Nations and in MXGP is we don't get any mechanic assistance on the gate. I'm sure my opinion doesn't matter. But, it's just tough and chaos because, whatever [could happen] you’ve got something wrong with you goggles, you're trying to set your blocks, you have no assistance up there.
Well Kenny’s talking about how he's got to start his bike too!
Yeah, it's tough. It's just different dealing with that. It’s tough.
So, no paddle. We know this is a whole thing that we talk about in the media. This off road tire [Dunlop AT82] you’ve got going on. Is this gonna be something that you think [you’ll use] going forward?
[Laughs] Yeah, it is!
Now everyone's gonna get this thing.
Yeah, I mean, everyone might see it and get it. But it's what's working for me currently.
What do you think of Canada and the fans and all of that?
It was a pleasant environment and city and I had a good time with it and, yeah, it was good.
