GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac returned to the podium for the second consecutive race on his CRF450R, taking a 3rd at Round 3 of the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series. Tomac leaves the second Anaheim race of the year in 4th place in the standings, behind Ken Roczen, Ryan Dungey, and Jason Anderson.
Q: How did that race go for you?
GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac: It was a weird night. I was like 4th in practice, and my Heat race was not good. I got 8th place in that and went to the Semi, which resulted in a bad gate pick for the Main. I wasn’t quite there on the start in the Main. From there, I made a couple of passes and had to dodge a few bullets early on. I got into 3rd and basically just stayed there. I tried to make a little bit of a push here and there. It was a slick track and it was a little bit funky too. There were crashes all night and I think it was a track that could come up and bite you. I am satisfied with a 3rd.
Q: What was the difference between last week and this week for you?
ET: It’s the starts. It’s annoying when everyone says that, but there are too many fast guys to start in 6th or 7th place. If a guy like Ken Roczen gets out there and holeshots, or if I get out front and he is in 7th, it’s going to be the same story unless you are able to do something really special.
Q: You had a few interesting lines out there. Were those helping you out?
ET3: Yeah, there was a double into a quad in there after the start straight. They mellowed out the landing for the night show. I think myself and Justin Barcia were doing it. I don’t know if anyone else was doing it, but that was fun. It was pretty big, so hopefully the fans liked it. There was also a split lane that I caught onto during the night show. The inside was better for me and I made a few passes there.
UMC: It didn’t seem like very many guys were using the inside line of the split lane during practice. What was the difference during the night show?
Eli Tomac: I think something changed. It turned into a double into a triple, which made it faster.
The next round of the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series is at Oakland on January 24.
Photography by Don Williams
