Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac bounced back in Oakland to take a pivotal win and extend his lead in the 450SX championship, as Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence was once again victorious in the 250SX West category. Both riders were available to the media following the races for this Debrief feature.

450SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Eli, congratulations on the win. The whoops were tricky, you started the main event by skimming then went to more of a jump line before going back to skimming, were you settling in behind Chase [Sexton] or were you trying to save some energy by jumping so that you could make a late race charge?

I thought I was maintaining in the beginning, then obviously he started to pull away, then as I started to jump the whoops he started to pull away more. I did that for about five or six laps, then they told me on the pit board to go back to skimming, which I thought was the better line for me. With that being said, I felt like I had even more of an advantage in the heat race skimming, then after that they just got really chewed up. I don’t know, it was one of those tracks, I think jumping saved some energy for the late race push.

When you are in a battle like that, where whoever wins the race leaves with the red plate, do you think about that when you’re out there?

Yeah, obviously I know how close the points race is at this point in time, so knowing that whoever wins the race takes the red plate, it’s definitely crunch time.

Did you think that you’d get as much attention and as many questions about a top-five as you did this weekend, and was it distracting?

I kind of expect them if I have one of those races, so I was questioning myself just as much as everyone else was, all I can say is I was not feeling it on that track in Tampa.

The heat race was great, you were able to pass these guys in the whoops, did you need that to bounce back from last week, or did you already know as soon as you rode in practice that you were going to be fine?

I didn’t really have the speed in practice, I was good but I wasn’t that fast, I was really strong in the heat. Back to last week, I knew I’d be better this week with these conditions, this track, I just tried to forget about Tampa.

From press day, we heard about about the track being a little more technical and steep, did you find the build any different to usual and does that make a difference in how it deteriorates throughout the night?

Yeah it does, I thought it was really steep. Oakland notoriously has soft dirt so I was surprised to see it, the rhythm before the finish, there was a point where guys wouldn’t go three after the triple on because the transition was so soft, then they even laid down a bunch water before the heats and that just made the track softer again. So, I don’t know, it was pretty interesting to see them go with a steep build on dirt that’s going to be soft.

What went through your mind when you saw Chase go down and you were able to take the lead?

I just thought it could happen to any of us, with the way this dirt is and how steep and technical the build was, I assumed someone, at some point in the main would make a mistake and you just don’t know who it’s going to be.

Is there any added satisfaction for you to be able to leave Oakland with the victory considering the difficulty of the track?

Well, it’s just one of those races where you don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s tough when there’s whoops, dragon back whoops, but at the same time we don’t see that often, so it’s cool to see something different.

250SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Jett, a really clean race for you on a technical track. What parts were the most challenging for you out there?

I think the most challenging part was the second set of whoops, cause they weren’t quite jumpers, they were still skimmers. Then I think the long rhythm, I was kind of struggling with the distances, I wanted to push a little more but the ruts would kind of send you a little sideways if you pushed. The transitions were soft too, so mainly that and the whoops.

Is it weird with this race being postponed, to now just have a single race in the middle of no where and now a break after this again.

It was going to be a sucky weekend if we came here with the rain , so it’s good that we had it now. Plus, we would’ve had like an eighth week break, that’s like a vacation or off season, so it was good to kind of break that up and still have some racing instead of such a big gap.

RJ [Hampshire] was on it early in the main event, what was the game plan there?

The first few laps I was really just seeing where the lines were at and what the main lines were going to be, just with how chewed out the track got. I was just trying to find those lines fast and get to them before the other guys. Like with the whoops, I felt like jumping at the start was what we would do most of the race, so kind of just feeling those guys out. Then, once I got Cam [McAdoo] I was kind of just seeing what the pace of RJ was like, what he was doing. There was a few times I made little mistakes and he pulled away a bit, then he ended up going down so that made my life a little easier.

Even on this track, you had really nice lead, but are there still sketchy moments even if you’re not riding 110 percent?

I had my lines pretty down, you obviously have the feelings in the air where you feel kind off awkward, but nothing too wild where it could’ve been bad, I think the worst was the second set of the whoops on the last lap, I tried to play it safe and jump through and ended up half rolling half skimming out. But yeah, I was just in that comfortable zone, like trail riding and just clicking off my laps.

You said you felt sick before the main… where they just nerves or donuts or what?

I have no clue, I chucked up my dinner and that obviously wasn’t good, but there last few days I’ve been eating a lot, like a fat boy [laughs], so it could be a build up of th last few days, just eating, but I don’t know, I left the truck fine, I was good, then at the gate my stomach felt watery and full. I picked my gate then told my mechanic to hold up a second cause I felt sick and I went over in the corner and like half threw up, then full threw up after that. The main thing I was mad about was I heard a fan start laughing, I looked up and thought ‘this aint funny, this sucks man.’ But yeah, I don’t know what it was to be honest.

The track layout was different from anything we’ve seen this year, did you find that fun seeing as it’s probably a little different than what you ride at the test track?

I think if it had good dirt and you could still get all the rhythms and quads, I think it would’ve been a lot of fun, and where the whoops broke down, if they weren’t as bad it would’ve been a blast. The layout was fun because it was different, I don’t think ive seen whoops, then a dragons back, the into more whoops. So I think it was fun because it was a little more difficult.

There’s a few weeks off now, will we see you jump on a 450 for some out door testing?

I get on the 450 next week for some supercross testing, getting ready for the Supermotocross at the end of the year, just to get a rough setting. We don’t really know what the Supermotocross layouts will be like exactly, like if it’s more supercreoss or stadium cross. So, were going to test for about a week on the 450 then I’ll get back on the 250 before we get back to racing.

So 100 percent we won’t see you race any east coast rounds on a 450?

No, it’s the smarter decision. I know you guys would love it, but it’s just the risk factor, like if we have run in’s with anyone, you know if someone doesn’t like me and tries to t-bone me or just something silly like tweaking a knee. Even just jumping rhythms, going long or short thinking I could maybe jump something with more power, but once we get to 450, we’ll stay in the class.

Did you ever think before coming the the US that you would be so successful here?

I think if you’d told me back in Europe that we would’ve done this, I would’ve said that’d was a dream. But the hole we were in over there, just trying to make it and get a ride to survive, just any pay cheque, it was tough. It’s been an unreal time so far over here in America, it’s been great to me, the fans welcome me with open arms and the team has been terrific.