by Davey Coombs
250 Words: Tomac on the Hunt
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 | 9:40 AM
GYTR (Genuine Yamaha Technology Racing) is Yamaha’s performance and racing accessory brand. GYTR products are developed and tested to the highest standards by Yamaha’s in-house factory engineers. Used extensively by the Yamaha Race Teams, these factory parts are readily available to every Yamaha rider.
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PrintOn Saturday night GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac made a mistake that might just cost him the West Region 250 Supercross title. After winning three straight races and seemingly in complete control of the championship, Tomac got off to a rough start in Oakland and then cartwheeled hard through the whoops, knocking himself out of not only the race but the points lead as well. His 20th place finish shook up the standings in ways few might have expected, given his dominance. As he said in press-speak afterwards, "The only thing now is that I'm the hunter instead of the hunted. It's fine; there's a ways to go."
If this all seems strangely familiar, it should—this is the exactly what happened to Tomac last year. He was rolling with a three-race winning streak going into San Diego when a massive crash in the whoops dropped him completely out of that race too. It caused a 23-point swing in the standings, handing the lead over to Monster Energy/Kawasaki's Dean Wilson. This time it's Red Bull KTM's Ken Roczen who now leads the way, as the German import showed once again how comfortable and confident he is becoming inside these big stadiums.
Eli Tomac is now 15 points back of leader Ken Roczen after a DNF in Oakland.
Simon Cudby photo
Tomac now sits 15 points back of Roczen, with Lucas Oil/Troy Lee Designs Honda's Cole Seely in between them. The good news is that he has more time to make up from this mid-season catastrophe than he did last year—we're not even at the halfway point of the West Region. The bad news is he was only two points back of the wounded Wilson last year. He's much further back now, and Roczen is both healthy and obviously very determined to earn his first U.S. title.
So now Tomac is the hunter, as he himself said, and he once again gets a chance to prove his mettle. Fair enough—he's got the speed, the bike and the talent. But this superbly fit and well-rounded racer also has what appears to be an Achilles heel: the whoops. It will be worth watching this weekend at Anaheim and beyond to see if Eli changes up his approach to the washboards that have now jeopardized his title hopes two years in a row.
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Roczen could just as easily wad it up as much as they ride the edge.
I hope Tomac goes into bam bam mode, I want to see a war
To win out every remaining race is asking a lot from the kid....even a kid as good as Eli. I wouldn't mind seeing Roczen win it. Kenny has been trying hard and riding an inferior bike. Of course the last part is just my opinion but those geico 250Fs look bad ass.
I highly doubt he will have to win every race. This is SX.
Eli aint scared.
Gee that pipe looks great on the Yamaha in the GYTR add!
The scenario is similar to what seen before, but surely, only in a Hollywood movie would ET fly back to a happy ending. Even, against all odds, I am sure that Tomac will never give up, as he tries to write his version of Supercross the Movie...
Reminds me of when my older brother and I used screw with each other as kids till my Dad would intervene and throw us the boxing gloves, and tell us, "OK, Fight fair, no knives!"
Both Ken and Eli are two riders that are known for their predictability on the track, regarding the other guy. Deano pushed his luck last year with Eli, and payback was a mother trucker.
Remember you two, No Knives! Ha!
Difference is last year Tomac was a lot faster than Wilson. This year Roczen is right there, if not faster sometimes. If Roczen doesn't throw it away it's gonna be hard for Tomac to get the points. With that said, I find it hard to believe that Roczen won't have a bad race with how hard he pushes.He's just has to make sure he DNF... POINTS MANAGEMENT
Holy crap I butchered the gammer there^^^^... I can count to potato. dur dur dur
Roczen can let Tomac have the win(s) and settle for seconds and thirds. As Tomac exhibits, there are no guarantees in this sport regardless of your best efforts.
The championship is Roczen's to manage, and both Seely and Tomac's to take away.
@FoundWood: (The championship is Roczen's to manage, and both Seely and Tomac's to take away).
Are knives still excluded, I hope so...
On SPEEDtv... and live, no less! Boy Howdy...
And someone said there was some other event this weekend too. Nah!
Toe Toe vs. Roe Roe: Who Will Win?
I envision this as a headline.
We all knew starts were Eli's Achilles heel...See what happens when you ride from the back...last year this happened to him at round four as well...thinh is he had a way bigger lead over Wilson...asking five in a row is a lot...but as someone said...the ball is now in KRoc's court. Let us see how he deals with the pressure now...
Yes I would like to see Roczen win this thing! Never was to fond of Honda's since the first time I rode one! It was a 73 elsinore 125 when it was still a piston port (some of you may have to ask what that means) Anyhooooo There I was flat out WFO topped in 6th gear and time to shut down for the 180 turn at the end of this rough straight, well I got my first lesson about the fabbled Honda head shake! At least I only destoyed the pipe bars and front and back wheels when it it the shed about 30ft past the corner! If you are wondering about me I was fine! WOW that thing could crash fast!!!!
PS: Did I mention I like that pipe in the Yamaha add it sure is pretty!
@caseypons: I don't really know how I would classify these weapons. If you are riding a KTM, then David Pingree would argue for the grenade analogy. Suzuki could be classified as a Katana sword base on their successful street bike lineage. Kawasaki is and always will be a catapult or a broadsword wielded by a highlander based on the Irish and Scots who have had won titles on the brand. Honda is perhaps the Kamikaze of the bunch with riders Tomac and Barcia "zeroing" in on targets in the dirt. And last but not least, Yamaha, oh well, all metaphors fail the blue backwards facing vacuum cleaner. Wait! Yamaha is the Blue Bull of the bunch running wildly through the streets on it's eventual end in a slaughterhouse to serve as meals for the poor lining the fences.
welker;
Agreed! - about the pipe in the GYTR ad. man, i really, REALLY miss the sound of two-strokes at the MX track. a large pack of angry bees is way better than a giant farting sound.
the most-wicked two-stroke i ever heard was Red Bud 2003; Carmichael's factory CR250. the combination of the super-fine-tuned factory bike, plus Carmichael trying to pull the slide out the top of the carb with his merciless right wrist made for an awe-inspiring sound all around the track. plus, it was a good contrast between that and K-Dub, who was chasing him around on a farting 450F.
I too would like to see Roczen win the title, but he is going to have to manage each and every race. Instead of focusing on wins, focus on points. Also don't mess with Eli or championship season will be over. Maybe young Kenny should watch last seasons races.
@FoundWood; "Let them eat Tapas," said the Queen. So long as the meat comes from the Red Bull, and not the Blue Bull. Ha, Ha...
Those two "Kamikaze Zero's" flying in formation could be intimidating to a lonely German trying to fly below the radar on a bright Orange Bull, named Red.
Fight fair, my brothers!
Eli can call himself a hunter all he wants, but he also knows he cant afford ANY slip up. If he gets stuck behind someone or slides out in a corner it could mean a championship. One bad start will have his heart rate jacked up. He can easily do it, but theres no way he wont be feeling extra pressure to put up fast laps right off the truck.
I still think Eli is the better rider for sure, and that he will move Roczen out of the way if need be. I just don't see Roczen outperforming Tomac at this point head to head.
I believe we will see a slightly different #94 from this weekend on. He now has the points lead, is hungry and confident, i think thats all he needed to step it up to tomacs level.
Even if he cant quite make it up to the bar as high as tomac rised it 15 points in 5 races is a huge amount to take away from an almost equal opponent (if Roczen doesnt make a mistake, Tomac can just try to win everything and hope for seely to put his honda between him and roczen).
I think and hope Roczen manages it but it will most probably go down to the last race in LV ;)
Welker, about your crashes and headshake on the 73 125 Elsinore... it came out in 74 and the "fabled" headshake wasn't a Honda trait until years later. Like maybe 1980 for the 125.
Technically, there were a handful of 73 125 Elsinores, but you had to be connected to get one. They came out very late in the year and all needed 2nd (and I think 3rd) gears replaced. Almost nobody had or raced a 73 125 Elsinore.
The "fabel" about the early Elsinore's handling was this: The 250 mimicked the Husky frame except the wheelbase was longer mostly due to the front being raked out (opposite of a headshake candidate). The fix was to cut and insert a wedge in the frame just behind the steering stem.
The 125 Elsinore chassis was a mimic of the Maico. Not the only indication, but the front forks were a clue: offset axle location was rare in that day; a Maico trademark. The original 125 Elsinore was considered by most to be the best handling 125 to that date, and probably because of it's weight (178lbs) probably the best, period. Nobody, ever, claimed it had headshake. It had flaws (2nd-3rd gear remained an issue, the forks bent with use if you were fast, shocks overheated, bike heat-faded in 2 laps, etc) but headshake was not on the radar.
Roxen needs to pull it down a notch. Tomac made the big mistake and there is no way Tomac 'wins out'. Roxen keeps it rubber side down and he's the champ PERIOD.
Why the hell would you want them to keep it clean? I am SICK AND TIRED of this boring 4 stroke racing, follow the leader and don't run it in hard on anyone.
What ever happened to the Damon Bradshaws and Ricky Johnsons? Good God!!
Let these two go at it, last man standing
Ricky-- why are you always wanting to see people smash into each other? Are you a Hanny fan or what ? By your own admission in you oh so smart posts you started following the sport mid 90s, after Damon and RJ. And sorry to say but Welker- you just got schooled!!!! Maybe your lack of riding skills not the Honda.
Elsinoreracer, I vividly remember those days. You could easily buy a six pack of them for under $4000. Put on a radial fin head, FMF pipe, move the shocks up on the swing arm (because all you had was 6" of travel) and go racing. I bought mine in 74. They were light as a feather and it was all RPM with no real HP. If you went into the corner a gear too high and loaded it up you were doing some serious clutch work trying to get it to clean out. Reeds valves were a blessing. Aluminum gas tank took a beating and with that tiny filler hole, you didn't know how much gas you put in till it overflowed.
Back to the topic, I think Eli will rally and take it. Who knows, anything could happen and totally reverse the standings again. I'm pulling for him but I'm enjoying the show more.
in the 70s almost everyone had a dirt bike . you have to have a product people buy to put money back into the sport . i doubt honda sells enough crfs to pay canard ,barcia and get them to all the races etc .
Roczens KTM is working as good as anything out there ...that thing has some muscle.....its down to the guys pullin the wire. Should be great racing....and Seely is just a click off...
@ elsinorerider--- Yes it was a 73 piston port 125 and the people I rode with did have connections, All I remember is shutting down to flick it into the berm and the thing went into a violent twitch, that is the hitch, it was not even my bike! I felt bad cause he had just got it the day before.
Dean Wilson couldn't pull the trigger with a two point deficeit, (and tough-guy racing tactics) so give new guy Roczen 15 points???
I think Roczen is a better SX'er than Wilson.
The CRF250 is basically the same as last year and Eli is comfortable with that (arguably being the best race bike of 2012).
Roczen's 250F has a new, shorter stroke motor. I speculate that it may be good enough for SX, but will probably come into it's own outdoors.
This campaign is making me excited for the Musquin / Wilson match-up.
I also think Tomac is a cool customer and clear-headedness and renewed focus will be used to his advantage.
UPSMAN-
In my "oh so smart" ability to use a computer, I was actually savvy enough to find this website called YouTube. I quickly found out, like a caveman starting fire, that if I typed Supercross into the search that all these old races came up!! After staring at the screen for hours making strange grunting noises, I figured it out. I clicked on the race and started to watch it! After awhile, like a monkey, I kept watching more and more OLD races. As my learning curve increased rapidly by watching judge Judy combined with old races.. I started to learn how to compare the old races to current races and guess what?! I became sadly disappointed. It's much more enjoyable to watch riders scrap for a win than play follow the leader thru obnoxious rhythm sections. The old tracks were rough, and sketchy..
I am entitled to my opinion of what good racing is just as much as you, does that bother you?
I am a fan of the sport, just like you.. And I was under the assumption that we are here to voice opinions. Well YES, I want to see riders banging. Not in the last corner of a lcq in last place, don't be an idiot.
Perhaps we should start the riders single file, then dock them points if they get within 6 inches of each other. Heaven forbid someone falls down in a corner! I'm sure they would rather break their face by casing a triple
These boards are getting annoyingly old, same old stuff.. Never changing. Excuse me while I go stare at a tree, it's about as fun last Saturday nights race.
Roczen is almost a sure bet for the title now, especially the way he is riding, but if anyone can take it away from him, it's Tomac. Seely has seriously upped his game too and could run with the title as well.
23.1 lap time at Pole Position Las Vegas, anyone ever beat that?