Image: Octopi Media.

It’s one step at a time for Eli Tomac as he inches towards a third 450SX crown, taking a ‘weekend by weekend’ approach to the remaining rounds as the conclusion of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season draws closer.

Tomac entered round 15 with an 11-point advantage ahead of his closest rival Cooper Webb, but the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider was forced out of Nashville following a heat race crash, with that incident ultimately spelling an end to his 2023 Monster Energy Supercross campaign.

“I saw it,” said Tomac” “He actually caught me off guard in the second turn, and kind of spooked me. Then I just went and tried to do the same move to him in the third turn after the whoops. I don’t think we even touched. It’s almost like I kind of spooked him too, and then he washed his front end out.

“I looked back to see if he actually fell, and then I saw Adam [Cianciarulo] hit his head. It was gnarly. Yeah, unfortunate when you see a guy get hit like that when he’s down.”

Later on, the reigning 450SX champion went on to finish second in the main event in Nashville behind Chase Sexton and now holds an 18-point lead in the title-race ahead of the Team Honda HRC rider as two rounds remain in this year’s series. With that in mind, Tomac is not getting too far ahead of himself and will take it race by race until the season concludes.

“Well, like a repeat of this weekend would be just fine, but I know like anything can happen,” Tomac added. “I know we have only got two left, you have just got to take it weekend by weekend and not think of the last round yet. Keep getting good starts and doing our thing.”