| December 31, 2022
Everyone thought it was a huge gamble to make a team/bike change so late in his racing career, but to Eli Tomac it was simply a calculated gamble that ended up paying big dividends for the veteran racer. Tomac went on to win two of this country’s most prestigious motorcycle-racing championships: the Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the outdoor 450cc Pro Motocross Championships. And, of course, he was also a member of this year’s winning U.S. Motocross of Nations Championship team.
Eli Tomac. The 2022 Cycle News Rider of the Year? No doubt.
By Eric Johnson | Photography by BrownDogWilson
“It truly was the best year of my career from start to end. It’s hard to do things with a new team in year one and to accomplish what we accomplished, but we did do it. We made a great team and a great motorcycle for supercross and motocross in 2022.” — Eli Tomac
Yes, 2022 was a fantastic year for the multifold champion Eli Tomac. Now viewed as an absolute veteran of the sport, fans the nation over rooted the Colorado native on in both the football and baseball stadiums across the country as well as at the sweeping natural-terrain circuits of the U.S. in what was indeed the single greatest year of his storied racing career. Going into the 2022 racing season, he had two goals in mind: winning the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship and the outdoor AMA 450cc Pro Motocross Championships—mission accomplished. He was also the recipient of the fan-voted 2022 ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) award as Best Men’s Action Sports Athlete. But that wasn’t all. The cherry on top was helping guide the U.S. Team to victory at the Motocross of Nations. Yes, it was a spectacular year for Tomac. It really could not have gone any better. As a result, the Cycle News staff unanimously named Eli Tomac our 2022 CN Rider of the Year. It’s been a while since we had it so easy.
We caught up with Mr. Tomac—who was back home in Colorado with wife Jessica and children Lev and Noah—just days before his 30th birthday and talked a bit about the 2022 season and then some.
Eli Tomac captured his fourth career 450cc Motocross title. He did it two years after his last 450cc Championship, only two other riders, Jeff Ward and Ryan Dungey, have ever done that in the premier class.
Hey, before we really get rolling here, just how is Team Tomac? With two kids now, do you guys have your hands full?!
Yep. The hands are full. Especially when the second one starts walking. The hands have been real full [laughs].
How do you like being a dad? I’ve never have asked you that.
Well, I love it. I love it. Now if I’m sitting around and I happen to be away from them, I’m like, “What was I doing beforehand?” It’s so cool to have them. Yep.
Despite the pressure-filled year, Tomac always looked calm and cool. And he was.
You and your father, John, have worked together throughout your entire professional career. That’s pretty extraordinary.
Well, we did. I’m sure in his head he thought I would end up here in this position. For all of those things to happen is a whole different deal. What is so cool about our story is that we made it all the way. Yes, what we did is a little bit unique in that way, but we were able to do it. I guess everyone can kind of go down their own path, but we stuck together and made it work. My family has been involved the entire way and I think a lot of what we did came from him racing. My mom also raced a little bit. They were around the racing environment and kind of knew what was going on. Just being around two-wheel racing and racing in general, I think they got a feel for everything from how that world works. It all definitely helped to guide us along the way.
And how cool was it for you to win the ESPY for Best Men’s Action Sports Athlete this year? The ESPY meant a lot to you, didn’t it?
It did. And what’s cool is that our sport came together. There was a ton of support from everyone in our industry. And then to just get the recognition that I feel our sport deserves was awesome. I was just more excited for the sport of supercross and motocross, you know? I think we are on an upward trajectory and that showed. It showed that we have a lot of great fans and a great audience.
Tomac (3) had to deal with several heavy hitters in both the Supercross and Motocross Championships, such as Ken Roczen (94) and Jason Anderson (21).
You’re now undoubtedly the best supercross and motocross racer on Earth. A pretty damn cool concept when you think about it.
It’s pretty cool. If you look at 2022, yeah, I was the best all-around racer, so that was really neat to be a part of, and I’ve said this a bunch this year, but it truly was a dream season for us. Yeah, it was a great year in general.
Along the way in 2022, you quietly told me that going to Yamaha for the 2022 season was a gamble, but a calculated gamble. Can you talk about that?
Yeah, in my opinion, 2022 was a gamble, but it was an educated gamble. Especially this late in my career. We tried to surround ourselves with the people we thought would help me put myself in the most successful position. From the outside looking in, it probably looked a little bit crazier than what it actually was, but I knew what I was capable of doing with the right things in place. I just looked at where I was at. There were a lot of questions aimed at me along the lines of, “Why would you take this risk?” For me, I felt like it was worth the risk of making a switch and that, for sure, put me on to the trajectory of this successful 2022 season.
The Motocross of Nations was another pressure-cooker for Tomac, and he rose to the occasion, as did his teammates Justin Cooper and Chase Sexton.
You mentioned over the summer that the camaraderie and team spirit present in the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team was a huge plus all throughout the 2022 racing season. True?
Yeah, team camaraderie and working together and who you’re working with is such a massive factor. That’s added into the equation to the motorcycle and to the training, to all of your technicians in the shop. You have to have all of that going and that’s what leads to success.
Everyone thought Tomac switching to Yamaha for the 2022 season was a risky move so late in his career. Tomac, however, didn’t seem to think so and look what happened.
The 2022 Monster Energy Supercross series: new team, new bike and all, how did you feel going into the opening round at Angel Stadium?
Going into 2022 Supercross, of course, I felt like I was on my A game. I actually thought I was going to be better at Anaheim One, and all I did at Anaheim One was learn a lot about where I needed to be better. I was a little bit off on my setting. Physically, I came in really healthy. I had one preseason crash that was early on in December, but that didn’t really affect me much at all. I was 100-percent going into round one.
We did learn some things and the bike did change from round one to about round three. By around four, I was on my setting that I basically used for the rest of the season. By round four, I really was off to the races. So, after that point, we were just rolling. In the middle of the season, I had five race wins in a row and, at that point, I had an excellent race setting and didn’t have to change much. We basically ran what we had through the rest of the year. All of that was so crucial.
We had a great, great motorcycle and we were able to make changes and be willing to take that risk right away. You have to figure it all out early, or else whoever is running strong at that point will just run away with the points lead. Everything has to go right, you know? In our sport, there are so many things that can get you. As everyone watches and sees, this is such a physical sport that if you are off two-percent it can totally affect you, right? There is not really much hiding you can do in our sport, injury-wise, so being healthy is by far the number-one thing to do. The second thing would be if you can adapt and make changes during the season to stay on top.
Tomac isn’t really the type to get a big head after winning three titles in one year. But his fans wouldn’t mind it even if he did.
You defeated Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson by nine points to win the Supercross title. He was quite formidable this year, as were Malcolm Stewart, Marvin Musquin, Justin Barcia and Chase Sexton. What was your take on the competition you faced in the stadiums over the 2022 season?
Yeah, Jason was my biggest competitor. I mean he was strong. He was there and he definitely came on strong in the middle of the season and then all the way to the end. Yeah, I would say Jason was my number-one competitor from Supercross last year.
How did you feel heading into the opening rounds of the 2022 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship?
I was confident going into the outdoor season, especially after our success in Supercross. Round one was a little bit slow, once again, but I knew that if I didn’t let the leaders get too far away during the opening rounds, I could still be in the game. We basically just clawed ourselves out of the hole all the way through the season and I ended up in an epic battle with Chase Sexton all the way through. It was basically every race where me and Chase were just yoked on to each other. It would be first-second or second-first, and it was a battle for the ages, that’s for sure.
To get both the titles in 2022, that literally is the dream, and we made it happen. I must say that the motocross title was really special; it literally was down to the last moto. Everything was on the line. Even in the first moto where we went one and two. For moto two, I was a little bit behind on the start, and he was in front of me, and then he made a mistake, and I was in the lead. I was trying to focus, and I realized everything was on the line. I’ll tell you what, it was probably the longest moto of my career. It was all down to the wire and that just sealed the deal.
This year’s 450cc MX title was especially sweet for Tomac because the title fight came down to the very last moto at Fox Raceway in Pala, California.
Chase Sexton was super-competitive and super-respectful with you all summer long. How did you like lining up and battling with him?
Those outdoor battles with Chase this summer were next level. I think we elevated the pace. It was unbelievable. We were at 100-percent all the way through all of those motos. I would call him the next-generation 450 guy. I felt like Chase and I were just raising the game. I mean we were pushing ourselves every weekend and neither of us were making mistakes.
I was impressed by his speed, and I think that was why we were elevating ourselves. The most impressive thing with Chase was his speed and his consistency all the way down to the last moto. I don’t know how we even made it to that point because of how hard we were both pushing each other to that last race. It was really cool to be racing with him. He’s a trustworthy racer to be around. It was all down to that moto at Pala. If I was going to go against anyone, it was great to battle with him.
Do you foresee Chase being quite formidable in 2023 Supercross?
Yeah, he’s going to be one of my top competitors, if not the guy. He’s going to be a strong guy in Supercross, that’s for sure. Everyone knows that he has the speed and now he is going to have a little more experience under his belt, so I’ve got to always keep digging for more myself. He’ll be on everyone’s radar at this point, and he’ll be there to stay for the time being.
Up to 2022, you had never won the 450cc classifications in either Supercross or motocross in same year.
Exactly. It’s very special because a lot of the time for everything to go the right way for that long is really tough in this sport. You’ve also got to be motivated for all of it, too. It’s really easy to have that Supercross high and then you’re like, “Alright, here comes the motocross.” For me, this year was easy. I loved everything about it, and I loved my environment. That was key for me—to surround myself with a really good working environment, and it led to success in both series. It was just neat to get this one in Supercross. My first title came in what was kind of a funky season in 2020, as we took a break in the middle of the season and then we had seven rounds all at one track.
Winning the Motocross of Nations as a member of Team USA at RedBud this year: What did that mean to you?
Well, for me personally, it was basically the last race on my list that I really wanted. This year we did it at RedBud and that was also cool because we were working as a team, you know? Every other race of the year, all of us are as selfish as can be. You’re racing for yourself, and you want to beat everyone else, but at the Motocross of Nations you are racing together as a team and you’re trying to help each other out. The whole pit environment feels different and you’re racing as a country. Yeah, Chase, Justin [Cooper] and myself. we got it done. It was very cool. We got it done this year and it was cool.
Okay, come the Monster Energy Supercross series come Angel Stadium in January, can you win it? Can you claim that championship yet again?
I think so. I’ll never underestimate the competition, whoever it is. I have a new motorcycle coming in, and I think it’s going to be a great step. The Yamaha YZ450F is going to be all-new, and I’m excited for that, and I’m excited to develop that bike. I’ll do everything I can to defend that number-one plate.
And the 2023 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship? Are you going to line up for it? Inquiring motocross fans want to know.
Yeah, yeah, I need to get on this new bike. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be pretty sweet. That could be a deciding factor.CN
Tomac, indeed, sealed his mark as a legend in this sport.
