Image: Octopi Media.

The return of Eli Tomac at Budds Creek resulted in a mixed haul of results for the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider, finishing fourth in the opening moto before circulating outside of the top 10 in the final outing. He said post-race that P7 was ‘something to build on’ in the late stages of the series.

Tomac had missed the end of the Monster Energy Supercross season with a thumb injury sustained in Denver and was ruled out of the opening nine Pro Motocross rounds while recovering from the injury.

After qualifying fourth, the opening moto at Budds Creek saw Tomac complete the opening lap in sixth, before being shuffled back to eighth, and then quickly climbing back to an encouraging fourth position. Sitting 17th on the first lap of moto two impacted his chances of another strong result, eventually taking the checkered flag in 11th and claiming seventh overall.

“Moto one was good,” Tomac reflected. “I had a pretty good start, and although I got passed early, I was able to make those passes back. I got into fourth place and had some good lines and a good flow going, so I went into moto two with a good mindset, but I was really buried off the start. I only made it up to 11th and just kind of struggled overall in that second moto. It is something to build on. Yeah, I wanted it to be better, but we’ll try to build on it and improve next weekend in Indiana.”

Tomac had been targeting a podium on return to competition despite missing the outdoor season altogether last year, also being evaluated as a potential candidate for Team USA’s Motocross of Nations (MXoN) effort in the final two rounds. He is also preparing for his first appearance in the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) post-season throughout September.