Slaw Dog
The pinnacle of offroad four-stroke performance wrapped in iconic Yamaha Racing livery. Get the look and feel of a Yamaha factory ride with your own Monster Energy®‑inspired YZ450F.
I saw something on Twitter the other day and it really made me think: where does Eli Tomac stand all-time? Is he alongside RC, MC and Stew? Does he surpass RV, RD and Reed? I thought long and hard and well, I don’t have an answer. We will have plenty of time to debate said topic, but for now, let’s just appreciate the greatness that is Eli Tomac.
A year after coming off what should have been a career ending Achilles injury, Tomac seems stronger than ever in what will be his last year. On Saturday, Tomac, who is 32, pushed the pace to the absolute limit and beat the defending champion Jett Lawrence, who is 21.
As I fellow yeller at the clouds, I don’t want to put a limit on what people can do in their 30s. But consider this: Eli is the oldest 450SX champion in history. At 29, in 2022, he won his second title to claim that honor. No rider ever has won a title past the age of 30. Yes, times have changed, and riders are taking better care of themselves, and training has evolved and yada, yada, yada, but it’s a young man’s game, no matter how you spin it.
For some reason, this feels different. Eli seems rejuvenated. Happier. More content on letting things come to him.
In San Diego, Eli not only took home his 53rd career win, he broke a tie with James Stewart in becoming the only rider in history to capture a win in 11 straight seasons and oh, he took over the points lead.
“This is a huge win to just prove I’m in a better place than last year, and in better shape, and to bounce back from last week,” he said. “Tonight, it was nice to get it done all the way.”
“I think the days of getting a big lead and coasting to the win are not going to come often,” he added. “The whole 20 minutes we were wide open.”
Of course, the race was nearly turned on its head late when Vince Friese held up Eli.
“That was a frustrating part of the race,” he said. “I honestly though Jett [Lawrence] was going to get me by that point because I sat behind Vince [Friese] for, I don’t know, maybe a half a lap—somewhere in there, maybe less. And then, of course when you are behind the guy, you’re anticipating where you think they are going to go, and most of the you have a pretty good sense of where they are going to go and that just didn’t happen at all. After that Supercross triple and then we go 90 and then do the on-off there, you know, there was a ton of track there on the left side and that’s where I went and then he just drifted over going through that lane and I thought I was hosed. Landing there, it was super close… man, that’s all I can say. It was wild. Like, I thought I was going to give up the race because of that situation.”
I don’t know where Eli stands and honestly, I don’t care. I’m just going to enjoy the last ride.
All-Time Supercross Wins List After 2025 San Diego SX
| Rank | Rider | All-Time Wins | Championships |
| 1 | Jeremy McGrath | 72 | 7 |
| 2 | *Eli Tomac | 53 | 2 |
| 3 | James Stewart | 50 | 2 |
| 4 | Ricky Carmichael | 48 | 5 |
| 5 | Chad Reed | 44 | 2 |
| 6 | Ryan Villopoto | 41 | 4 |
| 7 | Ryan Dungey | 34 | 4 |
| 8 | Ricky Johnson | 28 | 2 |
| 9 | Bob Hannah | 27 | 3 |
| 10 | *Cooper Webb | 25 | 2 |
Images: @octopi.media
