The legendary Daytona Supercross saw Red Bull KTM’s Eli Tomac secure his 57th-career 450SX win and eighth at the famed international speedway, while Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider Seth Hammaker took victory in 250SX East. Both riders spoke to media following the main events for these Debrief interviews.

450SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Eli, just another huge congratulations here at Daytona from you. From the performance that we saw, is this a testimony to just how good you were feeling throughout the day today, or just in the main event?

Yeah, I felt like I really came around in the night show. I mean, I was good in practice, but I wasn’t feeling my best. It was okay, but then the heat race, I just felt like I was on, and I knew I was going to be right in the mix of this thing. So I put myself in a decent position. The gates were really, really bad – probably the worst I’ve actually ever seen – so that was really technical in that main. And then, yeah, I had to make some passes there. But the good thing about Daytona is there’s no lack of passing opportunities, places to make up time and try different lines and slingshot. The sand was wild, and of course, the split lane offered some opportunity for some good moves there, and somehow I’m at eight of these wins here.

Eight wins in – I believe – 12 starts, but on three different manufacturers. You’ve been so complimentary of the Red Bull KTM team, and they have been of you as well. Walk me through racing that bike tonight.

It was super planted in the sand. I felt like I was really good in the sand this evening and was able to leverage the bike really well. And then I was also running the scoop tire, but the bike itself was very planted in the sand, and it had a different feel than, I guess, the stuff I’ve raced in the past.

The fans were electric for you tonight, as they always are here. They were cheering for, ‘One more year, one more year.’ How are we feeling about potentially keeping this going?

Yeah, no comment on that yet. The clock’s ticking, but still racing good. I just, I don’t know. Not sure yet. We’re still a little early for that.

After the finish line, after the little wall, there was a small kicker that you had to seat-bounce to triple over, and then afterward you were jumping almost into the corner. That seemed like a scenario where you were leaving Hunter [Lawrence]. And then also the whoops looked like you were double clutching, and you were pretty much unstoppable in the whoops. Can you explain how difficult that section was to hit every lap?

That was actually a line that I changed from practice. I wasn’t doing the triple-double there in practice, and then I saw the 250s do it in the heat race, and I was like, wow, that made up some good time. Then I went to that line – some of the guys weren’t doing that – and it was just good momentum. Then I also improved my whoops, because I really wasn’t, I was pretty off in the whoops from watching film in practice, so I was happy to get a better skim going in that main. But anyway, getting that triple-double, launching the turn there, going the outside, was good momentum into those whoops.

Can we talk a little bit about dominance? You’ve got the second-greatest winning record at a track. The others that have eight were all at Anaheim, where they have multiple events each year.

Yeah, just count my blessings. To get eight here is hard to believe. So count my blessings on that. And this – it happens to be – it just fits me, fits my riding style. It must be something with the soil and maybe what I grew up on, with the sand and whatnot, and being able to just kind of open the throttle up and spray those sandy berms. So eight is great. It’s good.

250SX

Image: Octopi Media.

Seth, we know that you’ve told the media you love this place. Has it sunk in, winning in Daytona tonight? Is it as you had pictured it?

Yes, so far it is. I feel like it’s just a dream come true to win here at Daytona. Obviously, any win is cool, but to do it here is super special. And yeah, on a tough track like this, it feels good to get it done early in the season as well.

You made it a little bit harder on yourself with the qualifying crash. Did that set you back at all?

Maybe for the heat race a little bit, because actually when I crashed in qualifying, I wanted to get back up and do a few laps just to kind of shake that one off, but my bike was just too bent up to do so. And then, yeah, that wait in between qualifying and the night show felt extra long tonight. I just wanted to get out there and put that behind me, but it’s always tough to bounce back from that. And I think that’s what makes this one so much more special – to overcome that, put it behind you and just focus on what you need to and execute when it matters the most. And I was able to do that tonight in the main event. So yeah, this one feels just really good.

You came into the season as one of the favorites to dominate this. How important was this race to reestablish?

Yeah, it was definitely important to kind of get the ball rolling. Fourth last weekend wasn’t the end of the world, but it’s not ideal. But it’s always nice to get through the first race. So then this week I just kind of went back to work and worked on things that I was needing to be better at. I didn’t really ride the best last weekend in the main, but I feel like I showed up here kind of more fired up and ready to get this season going and got it off to the right start here at Daytona. It feels good.

We know that some racers, when they have so many family and friends at an event where it almost feels like a home race – which you did this weekend – some guys will say it really fuels them. Others will say that it can be kind of a distraction. So how was it for you?

Yeah, it’s always nice to have the support from the fans and family and friends that you don’t get to see very often. And it’s tough because you want to spend time with them. But at the same time, you’re here to focus and do your job. So sometimes throughout the day I kind of like to find time to sit down and talk with them. But come the night show, and kind of leading into that, it’s time to get your game face on and block out the distractions, I guess. But yeah, I always enjoy having them here for sure.

How important was the start? Because picking a line, there were huge holes right after, and then those ruts were about 30 feet long. How important was that for you to try to get out front early?

Yeah, it was super important. That was one of the main things I was thinking about heading up to that main event. I knew a good gate pick was going to be crucial. But honestly, there was not really one good gate out there. So everybody had to kind of overcome that big hole right in front of the gate. So I just tried giving it a little bit extra off the gate to kind of make sure I boosted over that hole a little bit more so I didn’t get as caught up in that. And yeah, I executed that perfectly and got the shift and charged into that first corner. So I tried to stay out of the chaos. But I mean, this race – I don’t know – any race, it’s nice to get a holeshot, right? But this one, to get clear track and to kind of ride your lines, is super, super nice.

You had a great start tonight. And obviously that was an advantage right from the beginning. You didn’t have to battle with anybody and were able to build an interval pretty quickly. Can you do that three times in a row next week?

Yeah, I think so. Just need to put yourself in a good position from qualifying to get good gate picks. And Triple Crown is even that much more important to get holeshots. You have three races that count. And I think with execution when it counts, I can pull a holeshot. So hopefully I can get three of them next weekend.

Can you walk us through the back part of the track where there was the big double, then you triple, and that inside rut basically got to your handlebars? Were you trying to cover your line going to the inside, or did that just end up being the fastest line?

Yeah, I think we talked about taking that outside before the main event, but I think that was really only if I was going to be behind somebody, just to switch up a line, because they were pretty even speed- and time-wise. I was going in to start in the deep part, then I would hop out of it to go to the outside to miss the rut coming out through that single just to stay out of the deep stuff. But yeah, that 3-5-3 after the double was really hard to see that face too. The shadow was really, really bad there for some reason. Some ruts would send you flat, some ruts would send you high, so you’d overjump it or case it. So it’s a tricky track.