Sign Of The (Lap) Times: Atlanta

February 27, 2007, 10:21am

Supercross Lites

It was the first race of the season for a lot of riders this past weekend as the Eastern Regional Lites opened their season in Atlanta. But judging by their lap times and performance, it appeared as if they’ve been racing the entire series so far.

Finish	Best Lap Time	Rider	Bike
22	47.473	Ben Townley	Kawasaki
1	47.767	Ryan Dungey	Suzuki
2	47.868	Darcy Lange	Kawasaki
3	48.134	Matt Goerke	Yamaha
5	48.148	Branden Jesseman	Yamaha
9	48.155	Ryan Sipes	Honda
4	48.334	Ryan Morais	Yamaha
6	48.406	Justin Brayton	Yamaha
21	48.430	Mike Alessi	KTM
18	48.552	Tommy Hahn	Honda
14	48.561	Robert Kiniry	Kawasaki
7	48.862	Zach Osborne	KTM
11	49.018	Sean Collier	Yamaha
12	49.043	Billy Laninovich	Honda
8	49.130	Matt Boni	Kawasaki
13	49.188	Jeff Alesi	KTM
19	49.244	Tucker Hibbert	Yamaha
15	49.528	Ricky Renner	Honda
17	50.796	Greg Schnell	Honda
16	50.854	Zach Ames	Honda

The fastest of the Lites was again a Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider as Ben Townley—a supercross rookie—set the quickest time in the main event. Unfortunately for “BT101,” an engine failure cost him a finish and some valuable points. But the eventual winner, Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey, was not that far off of Townley’s best time, and Townley’s teammate Darcy Lange was third fastest. In fact, Lange surprised many earlier on Saturday after he set the fastest practice time, showing what he could do on a Mitch Payton-tuned machine….

BT101 was the fastest in the SX Lites class

At least that’s what everyone thought until they took a closer look at the clock. Turns out the fastest rider in practice was Jeff Alessi, who flew under the radar because he was in the non-seeded riders’ first practice group. Jeff’s time? 48.198 to Darcy’s 48.216. But then #801 got pinched off on the start and struggled to make up time.

So what happened to some of the other pre-race favorites? Red Bull KTM’s Mike Alessi’s fastest lap time in the main was only ninth best before popping his shoulder out of joint and crashing, and Team Honda’s hopeful, Tommy Hahn, was tenth fastest. SoBe No Fear/Samsung Mobile Honda’s Billy Laninovich, after a first-lap crash, could only muster the 15th fastest lap in the main event.

Supercross class

James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael finally got what they wanted—a supercross race back east on some terra-firma that they’re familiar with. And both riders seemed very comfortable on the soft Georgia clay, as both of their best lap times were over a second faster than Chad Reed’s. Stewart was again the fastest on his KX450F, but you got to give credit to RC, who after taking several weeks off, he still had the second-fastest time of the night!

Finish	Best Lap Time	Rider	Bike
1	45.687	James Stewart	Kawasaki
2	45.814	Ricky Carmichael	Suzuki
3	46.885	Chad Reed	Yamaha
6	47.291	Tim Ferry	Kawasaki
4	47.477	Ivan Tedesco	Suzuki
5	47.646	Kevin Windham	Honda
12	47.901	Travis Preston	Honda
8	48.471	David Vuillemin	Honda
16	48.489	Nathan Ramsey	Yamaha
18	48.493	Davi Millsaps	Honda
9	48.745	Heath Voss	Honda
11	48.860	Tyler Evans	Suzuki
7	49.075	Bryan Johnson	Honda
14	49.183	Michael Byrne	Suzuki
10	49.265	Jeff Gibson	Kawasaki
17	49.362	Kevin Johnson	Yamaha
13	49.890	Jason Thomas	Honda
15	50.368	Brock Sellards	Honda
20	50.601	Paul Carpenter	Kawasaki
19	51.943	Eric Sorby	Kawasaki

And in his first race back since breaking his femur, Team Honda’s Davi Millsaps had the tenth-fastest time in the 450 main. Give Davi some time, he’ll be up there soon enough (and that new No Fear retro gear looked awesome!)

Millsaps is back!

One strange blip we found: Butler Brothers MX/Honda rider Bryan Johnson posted just the 13th fastest lap of the main (49.075) but he rode smart and consistent throughout. Bryan started seventh, rose to sixth, then settled back into seventh for the best result of his career.