Image: Octopi Media.

Defending Monster Energy Supercross champion Eli Tomac shared his thoughts on track layouts this season and what makes for great racing from a rider’s perspective following the race on Saturday night.

The track for Arlington 3, the 12th round of the 2021 Supercross season, produced some of the best racing we’ve seen so far in the championship.

With multiple rhythm options in various sections of the track, it created plenty of opportunities for riders to gain time on one another. After finishing third on the night, Tomac commented on how important the track layouts have become when it comes to creating better racing in the series.

“There’s good and bad tracks,” Tomac commented. “We could talk about whoops sections, I think there need to be two sections of whoops brought back into the game again, whether it’s one short one, one long one.

“We don’t see dragon backs anymore, if we do they’re the mellowest thing ever, where there’s no consequence to missing or making that section. Long rhythm lanes always help. A lot of times, you get close to a guy and you can’t make a pass because there’s a shorter rhythm lane. So longer rhythm lanes, maybe another set of whoops.

“You have to have some 90-degree corners, but for the most part, they’re never good and you never see passing in them. Like we saw tonight, there were bigger rhythm lanes, more options. We need to have that second line be an option too, that’s important.”

With 12 rounds in the books, Tomac now sits 41 points behind championship leader Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM). Acknowledging that defending his championship is a long shot, he pointed out that with the schedule this year, there have been key components missing that tend to favor his riding style that usually lead to success.

“I think the tracks are somewhat easier,” he continued, “where you’re not able to separate yourself as much. Tonight was pretty good. We’ve been stuck in football stadiums the entire [season] so [the tracks] have been on the tighter side and some of them have been somewhat basic.

“We never got to go to a baseball stadium this year, and I feel like sometimes I excel even more in that style of track.”

The series now heads to Atlanta for a three race residency at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Track maps show that the layouts will resemble Daytona, a place where Tomac is tied for the win record, taking wins in five out of the last six years.

“Atlanta to me looks like we’re having three times Daytona,” he said, “if not bigger [track layouts], so I think that’s going to be cool for us. It’ll probably be different than anything we’ve ever seen because I think there’s going to be more jumps than Daytona, but we’ll still have that length of the track.

“I think my riding style, the way my bike is set up, I think it’s going to suit us very well and I think we’ll have [an] advantage there. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”