Eli Tomac (born November 14, 1992) is an American professional Motocross and Supercross racer who competes in the AMA Supercross and Motocross championships; a two-time AMA 450cc Supercross champion, four-time AMA 450cc Motocross champion, one-time AMA 250cc Supercross West & 250cc AMA Motocross champion. He is second all-time in 450cc AMA Supercross wins with 53, and third all-time in 450cc AMA Motocross wins with 32.
Tomac began his professional career in 2010, winning his first race in his rookie debut. He made his 450cc debut midway through the 2013 Supercross schedule, returning to the class full-time in 2014.
Tomac was part of the Kawasaki factory racing team from 2016 to 2021. He joined Monster EnergyYamaha Star Racing for the 2022 season.
In 2022, Tomac won a record-setting sixth Daytona Supercross, surpassing previous record holder Ricky Carmichael with five. In 2023, Eli won his seventh Daytona Supercross.
Career
Amateur career
As an amateur Tomac won eight Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Championship titles.[9] He didn't win titles right away or through his first five years (from 1999 through 2003). His first title came in 2004. Tomac's amateur titles are as follows:
2004 65cc(10–11) Stock,
2006 85cc(12–13) Modified,
2007 85cc(14–15) Modified,
2008 Supermini 1(12–15),
2008 Supermini 2(14–16),
2009 250B Modified,
2009 Schoolboy 2(14–16).
In 2009 Tomac won the 125cc FIM Junior World Championship, held in Taupō, New Zealand.
Tomac in 2013 at the Muddy Creek National.
250cc career
Eli Tomac became the first rider to win their professional debut in 2010, securing victory at the 250cc AMA Motocross season opener at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California, while riding for Team Geico Honda. In 2011, Tomac recorded two wins and six podium finishes in the 250cc AMA Supercross series, finishing 2nd in the 250SX West Championship, six points behind Broc Tickle. The 2012 season saw Tomac claim the 250cc Supercross championship with five main event wins and seven podium finishes. In the AMA Motocross outdoor series, he placed 3rd overall, with four overall victories. During the 2013 Supercross season, Tomac narrowly missed defending his title, finishing two points behind Ken Roczen despite securing five wins. He won the AMA Motocross 250cc title with seven overall wins and 12 consecutive podium finishes.
450cc career
Despite injuries in 2014 & 2015, Eli finished second to Ryan Dungey in the 2015 450cc Supercross championship with eleven podium finishes. He started the outdoor motocross season with two overall wins, two overall podiums with five straight moto wins before being sidelined by an injury.[10]
After six rounds of the 2017 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season, Eli was in fourth place in the 450 class overall point standings. His mixed results (5th, 6th, 8th, 1st, 1st, 15th) put him 29 points behind supercross points leader Ryan Dungey.[11] Following round 6, Tomac won 6 of the next 8 races and was tied for 1st place in the point standings with Dungey. At round 15 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Tomac put forth a dominating effort to win his 9th supercross main event in 2017.[12] Going into the penultimate round of Supercross in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Tomac held a 3-point lead over Dungey. However, in the main event, a series of mistakes led him to finish in 8th place. Ryan Dungey would go on to win the race and take an eight-point advantage over Tomac with one round remaining. At the final round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross in Las Vegas, Nevada, Tomac finished 2nd and Dungey placed 4th. Eli was unable to close the points gap, coming up 5 points short of the championship.[13][11]
Tomac in 2017 at Muddy Creek.
Tomac began the 2017 AMA Motocross Championship season by winning the opening round. Throughout the series, Tomac would win 4 overalls and finish on the podium at 7 of the 12 rounds. He would go on to win the 2017 motocross title scoring a total of 470 points. Marvin Musquin finished second with 453 points and Blake Baggett finished third overall with 451 points.[3]
Coming into the 2020 supercross season, Tomac was once again picked as a favorite for the 450cc championship. He showcased a newfound consistency this year in which he finished on the podium twelve times as well as a worst finish of 7th, which came at the opening round.
His first win came at round 3 in Anaheim, California. From then until round nine in Atlanta, Georgia. Tomac would finish 2nd, 1st, 4th, 1st, 1st, 4th. Coming into the tenth round at Daytona, Eli found himself tied on points alongside Ken Roczen with 200. Tomac would win his fifth race of the season as well as his fourth Daytona Supercross. Following his win on March 7, the season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly after, Feld Motorsports announced the season would finish in four weeks with seven rounds in Salt Lake City, with Sunday and Wednesday rounds only and the first race being contested on May 31.
In the last seven rounds, Tomac finished 1st, 2nd, 1st, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd & 5th, securing his first 450cc class AMA Supercross Championship. He ended the season with 384 points, 25 ahead of Cooper Webb on 359, and 30 clear of Ken Roczen with 354.
2021 was Eli’s contract year at Monster Energy Kawasaki. Tomac struggled to find consistency in his results for the supercross season. Coming in as the defending champion, he managed to win three races as well as 8 podiums on his way to a 3rd-place finish in the championship. Tomac began Motocross nationals by placing 9th, 10th and 3rd in the opening rounds. He ended the season with two overall wins and a distant 2nd-place finish in the point standings.
Tomac in 2021 at the Washougal National.
In 2022, Eli clinched the 450cc supercross title at the 16th round in Denver, Colorado, over runner-up Jason Anderson.[14] Although he got 5th, he only needed to secure a 14th or better to secure the championship, his 2nd 450cc title in Supercross, and his first ever year on the Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha. He was subsequently awarded the Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award at the 2022 ESPY Awards.
Tomac won his first AMA Motocross race of 2022 at round 4, held at High Point Raceway in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania. He would then place 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd & 2nd in the subsequent rounds. He battled Chase Sexton until the final round where he held a 1-point lead going into the first moto at Fox Raceway II in Pala, California. Eli went 1–1 and secured his 4th 450cc Motocross title as well as being the first person since Ryan Dungey to win both the AMA Supercross and Motocross Championships in the same year.
Fresh off from winning both the 2022 Supercross and Motocross championships as well as the MXON with Team USA, Eli was a strong favorite for a repeat of the previous year. 2023 would also be the inaugural year for the new SuperMotocross World Championship, in which the AMA Supercross and Motocross Championships would be combined along with three hybrid "SuperMotocross" playoff rounds. Eli initially signed on only to compete in the supercross portion of the championship, but later signed on with Star Yamaha to compete for the entire championship.
For a majority of the 2023 AMA Supercross season, the championship would be a tight three-way battle between Eli, Cooper Webb, and Chase Sexton. After Webb dropped out of the supercross season due to injury at round 15, the championship would once again come down to Eli and Sexton. The title came down to the penultimate round in Denver. Eli entered Denver holding an 18-point lead over Sexton. However, while leading the main event Eli overshot a jump that led to a hard landing in which he managed to stay on his bike. The force of the landing ruptured his Achilles tendon, dropping Eli out of the race and ultimately ceding the championship to Sexton. Eli would later sit out the 2023 motocross season and the SuperMotocross playoff rounds to recover from his injury.
Eli re-upped with Star Yamaha for the 2024 SuperMotocross Championship, signing to compete for the entire season. He would train with 250cc rider and teammate Haiden Deegan at the Tomac Ranch and began training in the fall of 2023. At the beginning of the 2024 AMA Supercross season, Tomac struggled for consistency early in the season as he both continued with his recovery from injury and adapting to an all new MXGP-inspired Yamaha bike. In the second half of the supercross season, Eli began to show pace and consistency, with several podium finishes and a win at round 12 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Eli missed the first 9 rounds of the 2024 AMA Pro Motocross season due to a thumb injury. His return to racing at Budds Creek in Mechanicsville, Maryland would see him finish 7th overall, and then podium the following weekend at Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana, in his second race back to Pro Motocross in nearly two years.
On August 21, Tomac announced that he had resigned with Star Racing Yamaha for the entirety of the 2025 SuperMotocross season.
Motocross of Nations participation
Eli has participated as part of Team U.S.A at the Motocross des Nations on four occasions.
In 2013 fresh off of his AMA Motocross 250cc title, he was chosen for the MX2 position. The race was held in Teutschenthal, Germany. A crash in the first Moto relegated him to 16th. In Moto 2, Eli finished 2nd after a race long battle with Ken Roczen. Team U.S.A. placed 2nd overall.
In 2014 Eli was chosen to fill the Open Class position. The race was held in Kegums, Latvia. He struggled to a 6th-place finish in his first Moto. After crashing with other riders at the start of the 2nd Moto, Eli put on a charge racing all the way up to a 3rd-place finish. Team U.S.A placed 3rd overall.
In 2018, after winning the 450cc AMA Motocross title, Eli accepted the team captain position in the MXGP class. The race was held at Red Bud MX in Buchanan, Michigan. Eli raced to a 4th place in Moto 1 on a rain soaked, muddy track. In Moto 2 Eli crashed but was able to race from the back of the pack to a 7th-place finish. Team U.S.A placed 5th overall.
In 2022, after winning both the 450cc AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross titles, Eli accepted the team captain position in the MXGP class once again. The race as in 2018 was also held at Red Bud MX and started out with a déjà vu feel as it had rained heavily the night before leaving the track soaked and muddy. Eli (racing with number 101) set the tone for Team USA by racing to an overall Win in Moto 1 with his MX2 teammate Justin Cooper, taking 9th. Chase Sexton finished 2nd in Moto 2, with Cooper scoring a 4th place leaving Team USA in the driver's seat for the overall win. In Moto 3 Eli started 10th, but advised through his pit boards that Chase was in 3rd and it wasn't needed for him to race with urgency as they had enough points to win. He finished in 6th place and Team U.S.A took the overall win for the first time in 11 years.
In 2024 he was selected to fill in for an injured Chase Sexton in the MXGP class less than 2 weeks before the event. The race was held at Matterley Basin racetrack, Winchester, England. In Saturday's qualifying race, Tomac, running the number 22, had a bad start but worked his way up to 7th place. Team USA qualified 10th going into Sunday's races. The next day, Eli started in the top 5, getting past Germany's Ken Roczen to get into fourth. The Netherlands Jeffrey Herlings fell from third, allowing Eli past. He then found his way around Spain's Jorge Prado for second, where he would finish. Tomac holeshotted the second moto closely followed by Switzerland's Jeremy Seewer, Slovenia's Tim Gajser, and Jorge Prado. Prado found his way around Tomac briefly, but Eli re-passed him a lap or two later. Tim Gajser found his way into second and started putting pressure on Eli, before finding a way past on lap 8. Australia's Jett Lawrence, after a bad start, found a way past Eli into 2nd. Tomac finished 3rd, & Team USA 2nd overall, just losing out to Australia. Team Netherlands rounded out the podium.
1) As of 2023, the AMA Motocross Season (MX) is 11 rounds, The AMA Supercross Season (SX) is 17 Rounds.
* Missed Rounds 1,2,3,4,10,11,12 & 17 of 2014 450 SX Due to injuries.
† Missed the first 4 Nationals of 2014 due to injury.
‡ Missed the remaining Nationals after Round 3 of the 2015 MX Series due to injury.
§ The 2020 MX season was shortened to 9 Rounds.
¶ The 2nd round of the 2023 SX (SMX) series (Oakland, CA) was rescheduled to take place after the 6th round due to flooding; but is still classified as the 2nd round. DNF Round 16 (Denver) due to injury, ruptured left achilles while leading the main event. Missed final round with injury.
~ Missed all 11 rounds of 2023 450 MX due to injury.
Personal life
Eli was born and raised outside of Cortez, Colorado to parents John and Kathy. John is a former mountain bike racing champion and is Eli's manager. Eli has one brother, Greg. Eli grew up on his family's ranch and rode a dirt bike from a young age. He rose up through the amateur ranks and turned pro in 2010.
Eli married in 2021; together they have a girl and two boys.
Eli continues to live and train in Cortez.
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