Image: Octopi Media.

After finishing eighth in moto one at Southwick, Eli Tomac rebounded to win moto two with incredible pace, leaving him puzzled by his opening moto slumps in Pro Motocross this season.

Tomac has now won the second 450MX moto in three consecutive races and was on another level compared to his competition in moto two at Southwick, lapping nearly two seconds faster than everyone else on track.

While it’s clear he’s still got the speed to run up front, the Monster Energy Kawasaki had no explanation for his first moto speed in 2021.

“The second moto has been great,” Tomac explained. “I look back at the last three weeks and I’m just like, what’s been going on in moto one?

I haven’t totally figured it out yet, other than maybe it’s a little bit of start position for the past two weeks, but this week there was no excuse. I started almost in the same spot [in moto one] as moto two and was able to come through [the pack].

“I don’t know, I made a little bike change between one and two today, but I was talking to some people earlier and I was like, I don’t really know if it did all that.

“Gotta figure something out, maybe a little bit of start position. At least I’m getting one of those wins in there but the way I’ve been riding the second moto, I want that overall but moto one’s not cutting it.”

With the series closing in on the halfway point this weekend, Tomac sits third overall, 57 points behind Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) in the standings.

While he’s hesitant to say he’s a contender for the title, he’s looking forward to this coming weekend’s round at Spring Creek, as he looks to bring his second moto pace into moto one.

“I like [Spring Creek], it’s a good track,” he continued. “All these tracks, Southwick, RedBud, Millville, it’s all tracks I’ve been looking forward to. Even Washougal, we only got half of those last year.

“Yeah, I’m excited to go back, it’s just one of those tracks that’s just different, you’ve got the sand on one half and the normal clay on the other side. So for the most part I like it.”