Eli Tomac is retiring at the end of 2026; this is his final season

By James Burfield · First reported 13 September 2026 · last updated 11 October 2026

Who said it

Tomac was such a non-factor this weekend. You can go back to oh yeah he won't be here next year.

Source: Reaction: Haiden Deegan's first 450SMX win, Columbus' SMX debut | Post-Race Show (2kpUSWwn3w8), 00:04:19 · insider tier

I spoke to someone at KTM again over the weekend and just got it triple confirmed that they're not going to fill Eli's seat with an American and they were stamping that fully stamping it.

Source: Reaction: Haiden Deegan's first 450SMX win, Columbus' SMX debut | Post-Race Show (2kpUSWwn3w8), 00:36:45 · insider tier

Our reading

Resolved by confirmation matcher against official: Eli Tomac's retirement could affect Justin Barcia's and Factory KTM's plans and silly season negotiations for the KTM brand Audit 2026-10-11: was confirmed, matcher had no real announcement to match; regraded A.

The Eli Tomac 2027 story so far

5 claims tracked on this move from 6 sources. Newest first.