Image: Octopi Media.

A ‘tough’ day in Indianapolis saw reigning Monster Energy Supercross champion Eli Tomac relinquish the red plate, admitting that the comfort was not there on his way to eighth place.

On a severely deteriorating track, Tomac was 11th after the first lap of round nine’s main event, working his way up to as high as seventh before being shuffled back to P8 in the closing stages.

“It was a tough one today,” Tomac recalled. “The track was pretty gnarly, and we just struggled to find our comfort zone all day. We did our best to salvage some points. We’ll put this one behind us and come back next weekend in Detroit.”

The result marks Tomac’s worst round finish of the year, and subsequently, it’s the first time he has lost the red plate all season. That said, the YZ450F rider has shown he has been able to rebound when his back has been against the throughout the opening nine races, notably recovering from fifth at Tampa in what ‘was a bit of an off day for his riding’ to win the following week at Oakland.

With what could be arguably one of the most important races in Tomac’s 2023 title defence next Saturday, AMA Supercross resumes at Ford Field, Detriot for round 10 of the series, as the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider trails new red plate-holder Cooper Webb by a single point.