A minor set-up revision ahead of moto two at Loretta Lynn’s opening round of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross was enough for Eli Tomac to turn his day around and secure an overall podium despite fading in the earlier moto.

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Tomac ran as high as fourth in moto one, but dropped down the order to seventh after struggling to find comfort in the ruts at the famed amateur facility in Hurricane Mills.

“In moto one, after halfway I just started going backwards,” Tomac reflected. “I just wasn’t comfortable with the lines – the ruts were crazy today, there were ruts everywhere. If something wasn’t quite right in that condition, it’s really easy to struggle and that’s what I was struggling with.

“Made just a front-end change for moto two, got back to what I’ve been on in the past and it worked. Obviously, was just a little bit behind and Zach was riding really well, but glad to be somewhat normal for moto two there.”

That setting adjustment enabled defending 450MX champion Tomac to put forward a much more convincing performance in the final race of the weekend, challenging eventual winner Zach Osborne (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) and riding to second position. That placed him third on the round podium.

“I got close, but then I was pushing hard to get to him,” he continued. “It was so easy to lose big time. I jacked up a corner or two and then he would slide away two or three seconds, then after that, I kind of ran out of time for making those small charges.

“We definitely had our favorite parts of the track because, I felt like after the Ten Commandments I was catching him, and then on the other side of the track it was the other way around. He would pull me where that old amateur finish-line area is. It was back and forth that way and that was it – I was just giving too much away on one half of the track.”