Supercross: Eli Tomac Set For Anaheim III Return
Paul Carruthers | January 30, 2014
An already scintillating Supercross series will gain back one of its rising stars this weekend as GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac readies to make his return to the series at the third Anaheim round on Saturday night in Angel Stadium.
Tomac suffered a shoulder injury in the opening lap of his heat race in the season opener at Angel Stadium on January 4 and has been out of action ever since.
“It’s been a long month, but I’m finally ready to go,” Tomac said. “Not exactly the way we wanted to start our 450 career, but I plan on being out here for a long time and winning a lot of races for GEICO Honda, so in the long run I think we did what was best.
“It was a weird deal because I went to a few different specialists and there was nothing structurally wrong with my arm or my shoulder, but at the same time it was really weak while it was healing. I just couldn’t hold onto the bike well enough to race at this level.”
Tomac tried to return to action at the Phoenix round but the shoulder proved to be more problematic that originally thought.
“We tried every kind of therapy and rest cycles we could,” Tomac said. “The thought was that if I could ride in Phoenix or A2 and get any kind of result, I’d at least earn enough points to stay in the championship picture, but I just couldn’t do it. After that we just decided to let it heal all the way, get in some really good training and riding, and come back when I was 100 percent. That’s where we’re at now.”
So now Tomac basically begins his season.
“No one is even thinking of us at this point, so maybe we can get out there and sneak up on some guys,” Tomac said. “It would be great to get in some good rides and try to put this GEICO Honda up on the podium. I’d love to win some races, for sure. I know we have everything we need to be successful, and if we can stay healthy I like our chances.”
Paul Carruthers | Editor
Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America’s Daily Motorcycle News Source.
