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One Industries Thursday Rev Up: The Battle of Atlanta

Thursday, February 24, 2011 | 11:50 AM
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Rev Up. Those of you who have followed The Rev for a few years might remember that I went with the same title in 2010. I always sit and listen to music and go through my iTunes library and ponder title ideas. Sometimes I read a book that sparks a theme, or see a flick that gets it rolling to words...but with the Atlanta Supercross, the title, theme, and vibe can only be “The Battle of Atlanta.”

I’m not going to insult your intelligence. Every single one of you reading this knows that it’s just about to get nasty this weekend. This is the Atlanta Supercross, Jackson. Anaheim is Anaheim, and she is an awesome venue, but year after year, when the tour takes the charge to the dirty south, man it’s special. Besides the fact that there will be 70,000 foaming fans paying for the whole seat, but (insert the voice of God) only needing the edge, this race marks the first true visit to the East Coast.

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This rivalry is just getting started.
Photo: Simon Cudby

We got a little taste of how it goes down on the Eastside two weeks ago at Houston, and lest you forget, that little diddy was quite the immaculate little dust up. Ice Trey pulled out the first victory of his career, and Bar-Crusher Barcia and Dean “The Steam” Wilson threw down like it was for the championship. The two even had some words, post checkers. Ah, yes. Now it’s time to really see the stuff. Barcia is O.G. MTF and he'll be ready to carry the flag with a fist.

And what’s that noise? That would be the 450 freight-train blowing smoke on its way to one of the tightest points battles ever. We’ve already had four winners with the big boys, and I’m telling you we’re going to see another one yet.

Just typing right now I have the biggest stoke going as I ponder this one. Let’s break it down.

AMA Supercross Lites
There are already a couple hefty beefs going on with these animals. First and foremost, Blake Wharton owes Ryan Sipes nothing short of a t-bone sandwich, for the forearm shiver he received in the waning moment of Houston’s main event. When both guys go down, and lose podium spots, the gloves are off. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and if I was Sipes, I’d be watching out for “Slash” on the inside lines.

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Wharton and Sipes had a get together in Houston... will it carry over to Atlanta?
Photo: Simon Cudby

Oh man, how about the brewing rivalry we have between the aforementioned #17 and #15? Before things get better, they are going to get a lot worse between those two. It looked like Barcia had everyone, including Mr. Wilson, on the speed factor. But, what’s so great about the parity level with this new crop of freshman chicks, oh wait...sorry, that was from...I digress.

Anyways, what’s so grand is that every weekend shows a different scene. Sometimes you just pull your boots on and things are right, sometimes you are hitting your lines as perfect as you can and the bastard is still pulling you. Such will be the case between the two title favorites as their title fight marches on.

They’re going to battle, and there will be trading of paint.

AMA Supercross
This one has all the makings of the Battles of Atlanta’s of years gone by. And, without trying to be too over the top, I believe this one could be the banger. I realize this is quite the bold statement, but take a step backwards and look at what is shaping up. It’s been a few weeks since Stewart has won, Canard is riding with the juice of getting his first, and RV Park has shown that he will bring the noise every week. Oh yeah, I’ll go ahead and take a big STFU from you Reed fans for asking where “The Thunder” has been in last week’s column. How about that? Chad went out and got one.

Now throw in defending heavy weight title belt holder Ryan Dungey’s big goose egg on the scoreboard, Davi Millsaps beginning to throw on the charge, and the ever-present element of surprise and we have quite a pickle on our hands.

Davi Millsaps
Can Millsaps continue his hometown sucess this weekend in Atlanta?
Photo: Simon Cudby

Come on, Saps! What do you say you take it around for the hometown? Get you some, hoss.

The Atlanta Supercross is here, ladies and gentlemen. It’s the biggest, and has been the baddest race of all-time. Thus far, the madness has been strong. We don’t know who is going to win, and we’re heading into the 2011 version of the Battle of Atlanta with all cannons blasting.

I’ll be making the trek South to take it all in. (follow me: @hattica77) Rest assured, the shoulders have been and will be back on this cat. I can’t wait to feel the energy of 70,000 die-hards all shadow boxing. This is the big one.

Here we go, my friends. Get ready.

Thanks for reading, see you next week.

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The Conversation

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tony leal wrote: 12:09pm February 24, 2011

Barcia is a pud, i cant wait for lil Stewert to put his butt in the cheap seats...

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wrote: 12:18pm February 24, 2011

Insert the "voice of god" ,,,,, you mean that lameass monster truck announcer? man is that annoying. that "you can buy the hole seat but youll only need the egde" saying has been around since Larry Huffman, like a Krishna on an aiport travler....playing the whoops like a violinist.....c'mon who remembers some of those old 80's Motovideo races with Stanfield and Huffman....CLASSIC!!!

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mark madden wrote: 12:21pm February 24, 2011

"The dirty south"... ***** you Andy you stupid *****in yankee

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bd200 wrote: 12:30pm February 24, 2011

Little Stew has to stay up first. And if he is going to try and park anyone, he better gain some experience first. I cant wait for the East to get going. It seems to be faster.

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BillC wrote: 12:42pm February 24, 2011

>It looked like Barcia had everyone, including Mr. Wilson, on the speed factor.< I thought JB was 5th fastest??

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tc88 wrote: 12:46pm February 24, 2011

@mark madden... do you even know where Andy is from??? He is strait off the farm in Kansas. his brother is nascar driver clint bowyer. so i guess yankees have been relocated to the farmlands of america?! makes sense(sarcasm)!

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BillC wrote: 12:46pm February 24, 2011

Next 3 races LIVE!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!! Man I would love to see the start of lap 2 look like this, RD, CR, DM, RV, TC, JS.... man I think I would pass out!!! LOL

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BillC wrote: 12:54pm February 24, 2011

Do you think JB is asking Wilson if he wants to have dinner later in that Pic??

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atc110 wrote: 12:56pm February 24, 2011

the answer to your millsap question is no.but he might win the"B class" though..

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The Bizness wrote: 12:56pm February 24, 2011

I'm making the trek to Atlanta from the left coast. Anyone wanna meet for a cold one at 645? :)

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Dak446 wrote: 1:35pm February 24, 2011

Endo you are a tool. Millsaps has won here before. Not to mention he has thrown down some fast laps this year. If he can put it all together her may make a podium. Lets see a b class rider do that

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The What? wrote: 1:59pm February 24, 2011

BillC I agree anyone of those guys except JS or RV (they might check out if they holeshot, otherwise) and the race is gonna be sick! Same with the lites I feel. PJ Larson has got to be hungry after the speed he showed in Houston before his run in with Malcolm...How about this PJ Larson to holeshot..followed by Sipes and Wharton (watch out Sipes!)...then Stewart (to mix things up), followed by the next three fastest Wilson, Barcia and Baggett (and I don't mean fastest by the order I listed them...just saying.) The East this year is IMO way deeper than the West. I can't wait to see them all get together in Vegas...just praying that there is not a PC 123 on the podium there as I feel it sucks for the sport.

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JayTee749 wrote: 2:01pm February 24, 2011

I love that everyone is shitting on all these riders. For the first time we have an excellent 250 and 450 race. Different winners, great teams, cool personalities, and epic fast battles. I've been waiting for bar banging, rivalry, leaving it all on the track season for ever. I like JB, DW, CR, JS, RD, TC, RV, and everyone that can race at this level. I hope as a fan, I get to see them do whatever it takes for the W! I wish only exciting racing to the checkers and no one injured. I love my sport and the racers that make it great! JB and DW...Go for the W! For the 450 guys, Keep jamming and wish all of you the best of luck. Wharton, keep racing smooth and if you have a chance, say hello to our buddy Sipes. I'm sure he's expecting a Visit! CAN'T WAIT FOR SATURDAY NIGHT!!!

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nv802 wrote: 2:16pm February 24, 2011

BILLC, In practice, I believe JB17 was like 8th fastest. Race mode baby, Race mode

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Can you smell that? wrote: 2:26pm February 24, 2011

Someone in here just shat on the riders! Identify yourself!

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dc99 wrote: 3:11pm February 24, 2011

Hey Redbeard! how bout..."weaving like a drunken sailor", or "tougher than a 2$ steak".....i have more.. let me think.

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mark_swart wrote: 3:18pm February 24, 2011

I'm with JayTee - I just hope they all stay healthy so we can continue seeing this level of racing. It's still a little mind blowing for me that we go week to week without really knowing who is going to catch fire and win. Very cool.

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mark madden wrote: 3:45pm February 24, 2011

@ TC88 ......you should check your history before commenting. Kansas was part union during the civil war. so yankees have always been from Kansas How bout that smartass!! got anymore history lessons.(sarcasm)

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wrote: 4:01pm February 24, 2011

DC99 - hilarious " he is on him Like Russian Radiation in seconds"...I think thats how it goes...now all we here is " Stewart is down !!! "

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wrote: 4:11pm February 24, 2011

A 1990 version of Atlanta in 2011 would be Awesome! RV2 will play the roll of Ward, CR22 will play RJ, JS7 is Stanton, TC41 will play Bradshaw and Dungey will play Cooper .....sorry getting carried away here...

But I have a feeling we are going to see someone who played it rather safe last week smoke them this week...Its a pattern,,,,

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BillC wrote: 5:24pm February 24, 2011

Every week my Bro and I ask each other who ya takin this weeken.... Everyweek I say Ya gota go with RV or JS unless something happens... he say I know.

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dz958 wrote: 5:44pm February 24, 2011

Im glad were in the east coast for a while now, and have live races coming up. Earlier time, east coast riders, roofs on the stadiums and softer dirt. Game time!

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jpenn wrote: 6:14pm February 24, 2011

RV deserves to win and he will win! prop to chad though , hes gunna be a tough contender now since he pulled a nice lead on js7 last weekend

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barshuh wrote: 6:40pm February 24, 2011


Barcia: Sorry about the slamming, wan-me-2-ride-ur-pine?

Wilson: Nice hair, I'll take second over pine any day.

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ride2 wrote: 7:59pm February 24, 2011

Put Tomac in the 450 class..

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joshua mccollum wrote: 8:46pm February 24, 2011

Is this douche going to call Villo Rv park forever? If I was RV I would tell him to not write about me Unless he was going to call him by a normal nick name. Rv park does not sound cool, it has never sounded cool, and it will never sound cool. Stop insulting one of mx's baddest dudes, and please stop using that stupid dicky nick name.

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r wrote: 8:52pm February 24, 2011

success is spelled with 2 c's. you spelled it with 1 c.



ctrl + f is search the page, search for "sucess" to find the spelling error.



would love to hear more details about words exchanged between Barcia and Wilson in that little chit chat they had.

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mikeohalloran wrote: 9:48pm February 24, 2011

i love the way that barcia rides!!!!!,,,,everyone is *****en but back in the day thats how they rode,,,,

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Carlsbad wrote: 12:43am February 25, 2011

I agree Bill C, having the races live is more special for me. The coverage is better, it seems and the excitement of watching in "real time" is hard to beat. Something special about a live daytona as well. It kind of serves notice as to who's going to stand out, outdoors. It was a good read Andy, don't worry too much about some chicken-fried retard bagging on you (you Jayhawker bastard you, ha ha j/k).

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FroLives wrote: 3:06am February 25, 2011

Flying Squirrel #15 wins the lights...
The Wizard #1 wins the big bikes...

GAME ON!

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stacy kohut wrote: 3:26am February 25, 2011

would love to have this...........

lap 15....canard,dungey,reed, villo,stewart...in that order...and let the next 5 laps play out as they will.
would be so rad.

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Michael Smith wrote: 9:40am February 25, 2011

Why can't the tracks be like that nowadays but making an exception for the increased power/torque modern bikes have...that was dirt not the clay they bring in to the georgia dome nowadays...can't they till in sand with the clay to loosen the it up and so that multilpe lines form like what we saw in the 1990 race and many supercross races since? Now racing is like a follow the leader congo line and we have become so accustomed to it that some people cry dare a rider throw an elbow or rub!

Go Barcia!! Dare I say it go Stewart! Just don't land on squirelly riders who aren't rtunning your pace...wink wink.

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Michael Smith wrote: 9:41am February 25, 2011

BTW I was referencing the awesome 1990 Atlanta battle..

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millsaps wrote: 12:29pm February 25, 2011

Barcia doesn't ride at MTF anymore.

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