I really enjoyed reading this transcript of a PulpMX interview of John Tomac, on the evolution of Eli's teams, from his perspective. There is also an interview Racer X did with Jeremy Coker a bit ago that helps clarify some of the issues going on behind the scenes with Eli. Both are helping me to fit the puzzle pieces together regarding Eli leaving first Honda, and then Kawasaki. Many I've suspected, and have now confirmed. Other information I had not thought about. Corporate conservatism often interferes with successful motorcycle racers careers. https://racerxonline.com/2022/03/17/between-the-motos-john-tomac
As a MX and CC racer turned RR, I can't imagine his mental state, riding on bikes he knew could have been better. He lost a championship the year he was racing Dungy. His team cut his front brake line, after he bent a front brake rotor, in an early race incident in a TX race, instead of changing the font wheel. I thought Dan Fahie would have known better than this.
Some years ago at A1, right after Eli went to Kawasaki, we were sitting in the stands at the end of a rhythm section and the entry to a 180. Roczen just smoked in there and his Honda was very settled, and just before he entered the 180 the bike was so calm and he was so relaxed he was already looking across to the exit of the 180, rolling into the gas–the bike was so calm he entered looking far ahead of where he was. Eli came in there and the bike was so stiff and non-compliant it was bucking and kicking all over the place over little stuff and big stuff, and Eli had to focus on what the bike was doing right where he was—it looked treacherous to pick a word, pounding and no compliant, way too much high speed and low speed compression damping and too stiff a spring—a long ways from working, he was working very hard to stay on it and go fast, and that was very obvious even trackside. We aren’t talking a clicker or two off here, we are talking way, way off. I always think of that when I hear these stories about Kawasaki making him use settings that worked for someone else in the past. And really, indoors and out, that thing looked noticeably harsher than other bikes, the whole time he was on it. Obviously we all know about riders who (dirt track term) “tune themselves out of the main”, so I kind of get the Kawasaki resistance to making too many changes from what has been a winning setup for them over the years, but man, how hard would it have been to try something new?
Not a big fan so I don't really know who the favorites are, but it's a (somewhat) local event, so I am driving over to Indy today, picking up the grandson, and going to the race tonight. First impression is what a pain in the ass the tickets were. Had to load fucking Googol Pay app which made me add a swipe code to my phone (Get off my fucking lawn!). Still not exactly sure the tickets are in the phone. If some ticket taker is murdered at the event you'll know who did it. And there was a ton of fees so the $41 tickets cost about 60 bucks a piece. Looking forward to the races themselves. See you in the nosebleed section!
Tomac did what he had to do to win, thought he was going to bin it on the last lap. Poor Malcom, you could see he got it on the nuts. Barcia/Anderson under review
Barcia knew he made a mistake, put his hand up after but damage was done. anyone see Lawrence in the heat? Rear wheel clipped and went down hard in t1, what a charge to the front.
Eli's going to continue to break records and make history, I believe. He'll end up earning plenty of Yamaha's money, along the way. Feld / AMA finds itself with a dilemma, in my opinion. They've allowed so much 'heavy contact' racing to occur already this season. How do they change what's acceptable well over half-way through the season? Only racing is for second place in the championship now.
I think if they make a change it’ll have to be at the start of next season. Make it clear in preseason that the demo derby shenanigans will not be tolerated. I watched Barcia’s hit on Anderson. That was ridiculous. Coming from watching MotoGP, it’s lost interest to me when dudes can just clean out other guys for position with no finesse. I get that MX and SX have a lot more contact than road stuff, but it seems over the top.
Anyone see the brawl in 450 heat 2? Fucking guys were throwing punches and others were braking it up in the middle of the track with the race going on. Bam Bam living up to his nickname again. We wandered down into the front section seats in what turned out to be the teams/riders family section and they all seemed pissed when Barcia made that move.
I may have had a better time than he did, but I gotta continue working on exposing him to the cooler things in life. Once we worked our way through the lines for security, and the lines to get some food and a beer (for me) we got to our seats, and they actually weren't too bad. The best seat is of course at home in front of the big screen, but there is nothing quite like the buzz of being at a large live event. Saw some good racing, a crash or two, and even a fist fight! What more could you want?
Gotta say I'm impressed with Tomac this year. I've always liked him as a rider but sometimes he just didn't gel with his bike and it showed. When he was "on" he was usually unstoppable. But many nights he was "off" and was way off the game. Reading more about it this year, sounds like he is happy to be somewhere that he can make some big changes and have his setup dialed in to his liking without outside influence. I wonder how often that is the case with other riders? KTM seems pretty happy to modify things to suit their riders, for sure Yamaha. I would guess Honda and Kawi think the engineers know what they are doing and don't like big changes. The racing has been good so far. The 250 class seems to have 2 solid favorites, but enough carnage to keep it a race to the end. Waiting for Plessinger to get back on his feet and show what he's capable of doing. FYI IMHO if you want to think about how you would like to have riders act in public, just watch Plessinger and Jett Lawrence for a while. Both have very unique and cool personalities, interact extremely well with the fans, and are great ambassadors for the sport. Most riders I can skip their podium speeches, but I tend to listen to theirs every time.