Not only did Tomac feel his inner-pressure and desire to win the Supercross title, but he’d heard the criticism and comments by past champions, who sometimes publicly chastised Tomac for having all the talent in the world but not being able to fulfill that promise.
“It’s true, I did have that very public criticism there,” Tomac said. “It was tough to hear criticism by my peers and past greats, who pointed out how I was so often the fastest guy, but not able to seal the deal. So yeah, those comments kept me motivated and it’s nice to be able to put those questions to rest.”
It was arguably the biggest race of the Supercross season where Tomac felt there was a turning point.
“Coming into Daytona, I was in the running for the championship,” he said. “And then when I won Daytona, I took the lead in the championship. In the past in that part of the season, I always seemed to be chasing things and playing catch up. Finally, at Daytona this year, I was there in the lead and I felt like that was big for us to be the frontrunner in the middle of the season, instead of trying to dig myself out of a hole.
“When you get behind midseason, no matter how good you ride, there’s no margin for error and that was what really had me encouraged throughout this season.”
Going into the final round of the season, Tomac needed only to qualify and take a conservative finish in the main event to clinch the title.
“It was a long day, I’ll put it that way,” Tomac said of the season finale in late June. “But I was comfortable. I knew I just had to make it through those 20 minutes.”
He said he did keep his head on a swivel, especially trying to figure out where the lone rider who still had a mathematical shot at beating him was in the race.
“It’s funny, in the beginning of race I didn’t see Cooper (Webb) and I was like, ‘Where’s Cooper?’” Tomac said with a laugh. “Fortunately, nothing too dramatic happened in that race and I was able to bring it home and wrap up the title.”
Tomac was grateful for the efforts of the organizers and teams to finish the season despite the challenges brought on by COVID-19. He admits it was more than a little strange racing in an empty stadium, but knowing that fans across the world were watching on television.
“It was kind of like riding during a press day when no one is in the stands,” Tomac said. “It was an eerie feeling, but once we got racing it was OK, and it worked out. Everyone was happy with the AMA and Feld for making sure the series went on.”
Now that Tomac finally has the Supercross championship under his belt, does he think it might be easier to reel off more Supercross titles in the future?
“I hope that’s the case,” he said. “I feel like this year my mindset kind of changed. I felt more at ease and level-headed the whole time, whereas in the past I would have some weird races and maybe those were from emotion or who knows what? I feel like I can be competitive for the next couple of years, so we’ll try to keep things rolling.”
As Tomac took on the delayed season for the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, there was no question he was able to ride freer now that he’s claimed that elusive Supercross crown he’s been chasing for most of his professional career.
Tomac had won once and was in the hunt for a fourth motocross title three races into the abbreviated season.