Atlanta First Practice Report
Saturday, February 26, 2011 | 2:30 PM
Share
Comment
Email
Print
Lot’s going on here in Atlanta, the first of the real Monster Energy Supercross Eastern Region races for the season (Houston is not really in the east, people).
The ATL track returns to the classic football stadium layout after a few tight tracks over the last few weeks. There’s a long, long start straight running the fill length of the field, and the rest of the track is essentially made up of long rhythm lanes running the distance of the field. The whoops, which run along one of the outside lanes, aren’t that difficult, so handling the jump combinations best may be the dividing factor tonight.
And the start will be important, of course. When is it ever not?
Rumors were swirling coming into this race about San Manuel Red Bull Yamaha Team Manager Larry Brooks. The word from several sources said he was no longer working for the team. This morning we tracked down James Stewart, and James claimed that Larry “wanted to spend some family time” and would not be at the race this weekend. We then asked James how much time family time would take, and James repeated ,“He’s just taking some family time.”
We’ll see. In the first seeded Lites practice, Ryan Sipes logged the fastest time with a 48.095, followed by Dean Wilson with a 48.535, Blake Baggett with a 48.721, Nico Izzi with a 49.147, and Blake Wharton with a 49.416. Houston winner Justin Barcia had a crash but got up okay—he wasn’t that fast in Houston practice, either, so don’t worry. Malcolm Stewart, Matt Lemoine, Jason Anderson, Barcia and Gannon Audette rounded out in the top ten.
The 450 bikes and the SX Class saw a see-saw battle at the top of the board, with Stewart putting his number up front early, then Chad Reed went into the 46s, then Ryan Dungey ended up with the fastest time, a 46.880 to Reed’s 46.906. Then came Stewart with a 47. 359, Canard with a 47.540 and Ryan Villopoto’s 47.932. Villopoto looked like he couldn’t get a clean lap in though due to traffic.
Metcalfe, Brayton, Short, Windham and Millsaps rounded out the top ten.
We’ll be back with more after the second practice sessions, which begin at 4 p.m.
The ATL track returns to the classic football stadium layout after a few tight tracks over the last few weeks. There’s a long, long start straight running the fill length of the field, and the rest of the track is essentially made up of long rhythm lanes running the distance of the field. The whoops, which run along one of the outside lanes, aren’t that difficult, so handling the jump combinations best may be the dividing factor tonight.
And the start will be important, of course. When is it ever not?
Rumors were swirling coming into this race about San Manuel Red Bull Yamaha Team Manager Larry Brooks. The word from several sources said he was no longer working for the team. This morning we tracked down James Stewart, and James claimed that Larry “wanted to spend some family time” and would not be at the race this weekend. We then asked James how much time family time would take, and James repeated ,“He’s just taking some family time.”
We’ll see. In the first seeded Lites practice, Ryan Sipes logged the fastest time with a 48.095, followed by Dean Wilson with a 48.535, Blake Baggett with a 48.721, Nico Izzi with a 49.147, and Blake Wharton with a 49.416. Houston winner Justin Barcia had a crash but got up okay—he wasn’t that fast in Houston practice, either, so don’t worry. Malcolm Stewart, Matt Lemoine, Jason Anderson, Barcia and Gannon Audette rounded out in the top ten.
The 450 bikes and the SX Class saw a see-saw battle at the top of the board, with Stewart putting his number up front early, then Chad Reed went into the 46s, then Ryan Dungey ended up with the fastest time, a 46.880 to Reed’s 46.906. Then came Stewart with a 47. 359, Canard with a 47.540 and Ryan Villopoto’s 47.932. Villopoto looked like he couldn’t get a clean lap in though due to traffic.
Metcalfe, Brayton, Short, Windham and Millsaps rounded out the top ten.
We’ll be back with more after the second practice sessions, which begin at 4 p.m.
Did you like this article?
Check out CAUGHT OUTSIDE
in our Latest issue of Racer X available now.
One of the most successful—and controversial—team managers of all time, Larry Brooks is looking to return to the races. Page 146.
Look for the verified symbol 
Impulse Studios
Who the hell gave Reed confidence.
It would be sick if we could watch the practices live like we watched most of the first moto's for outdoors last season on allisports !!
It would be sick if we could watch the practices live like we watched most of the first moto's for outdoors last season on allisports !!
this is the night for Dungey....GO BUDDY
46 seconds woooooo
Chad is going to kill it for the rest of the season but win the title not this year started off to slow the new team and all........I've sayin the same thin g since before A1
R.V.2=2011 Supercross champ..........Period
hey [me]. the only way dungy will win is if js7,rv2,and cr22 dont race tonight. I like your wishfull thinking though.As far as the short lap times go,if a lap at a supercross is under 55 seconds the 450 should run 25 laps and 250 should run 20 laps. Start giving the fans at least 20 minutes or more of good racing to justify the money they spent on the high priced tickets they bought
46 Second lap times!...are you kidding?....when is anyone going to realize the on-off, rhythm sections are boring, and very fast to get through. Add in way too easy whoops, standardized triples, and you have a high speed track. Wake up AMA, or you will start losing fans.
Hey AMA......52 minutes of actual racing in a 3 hour program is not acceptable.
With 45 second lap times, the races should be more like 30 laps. At least then there would be 20 min of racing. 15 minute races is more like a local race than a professional race
Hey [local rider]. RD1 beat both RV2 and JS7 last week and they all finished the race. Idk where you get your justification there either as RD1 had the fastest lap time in practice so far...
I kind of get a kick out of all these people who still think RV2 is gonna win this thing? Have you not seen the last three races? The guy cannot put a race together! He came out swinging, true, but he has got to pick up the consistency to seal this Championship up. The way he is going now, Reed and Dungey will close fast. Reed now has a boatload of confidence, and he knows how to win. With only a 16 point gap bwtween 1st and 4th at not even the halfway point, its way too early to know.
I predict RV2 folds, just like he has in all his other 450 SX Championship attempts - the guy CANNOT put a solid season indoors on a big bike in.
Thats all.
Couldn't have said it better myself dirt napper. Consistency wins championships, not just going fast.
Reed's confidence came from himself. Once he got his bike working for him.
Rounding off the edges on some tabletops will usually up the lap times. But I don't see the point in long races. Just have two x 12 lap mains per event.