You Heard it Here Second | Eli Tomac and Dylan Ferrandis Quotes
By Billy Rainford
I sat in on the Zoom virtual press conference at the end of the night at the final round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sunday.
We ran out of time before I wasn’t able to get my question asked (it was probably going to be something to do with the Metric System…) but I listened to all the other media questions and the answers given by Eli Tomac and Dylan Ferrandis.
They were both very candid and seemed to give open and honest answers to all the questions.
Here are a few of the highlights, as I saw them:
On seeing #52 Austin Forkner out for the Main: “It was a big relief.”
When asked if he was nervous heading into the final round with a small points lead, he said he was “scared of what he (Forkner) could do” to “make me crash or get hurt.”
He added that it was “one of the hardest days of my life!”
It was interesting when he mentioned he was almost happy not to have fans there because that way he couldn’t get booed again.
When asked about moving up to the 450 class in 2021 he said he “really want(s) to move to 450 and be ready to battle with those guys.” He seemed to draw confidence seeing the success #9 Adam Cianciarulo had in his first season in the big class.
Eli was in a great mood (not surprisingly) and was very genuine with his answers.
There was a moment when #27 Malcolm Stewart was in the air and coming in close to Eli. Eli knew it and said that Malcolm gave him the “I’m right here!” engine rev.
When asked how he was feeling heading into round 17 he said that Wednesday to Sunday “was the worst!“
He said you just go in and do your thing but admitted that “the weight is heavy” adding that “19 points is a lot of wiggle room.”
When asked what the biggest difference was between previous seasons and this one, he he said their 2020 success was due to being “ready to go at round 1.”
He looked at past champions to see that their worst days weren’t bad like his had been in previous years and really worked on fixing that problem.
To help with the nerves, he said he “had to put ice in my veins” and “block all the negative comments out…you’ve got to be cold.”
When asked how he became such a solid racer this season he said his “emotions have changed to racing” and that he’s “in a different state of mind for racing.”
It was funny when he said, “I’ve got 34 wins. I’d better get one of these things before I’m done!” and added that it’s “been driving me up the wall!“
He ended by letting everyone know that he’s “not burned out of racing yet,” but that he is pretty much over all the travel.
It was one of the better press conferences I’ve “attended.” You could feel the relief in their voices that the season was finally over and they’d won their titles.
#1E Chase Sexton never made it to the conference.
Now on to the Great Outdoors!
