All American Firepolicemx KTM Race Report
Erv Braun Entertainment, Risk911.com, Team BCB, Trijicon, Miller Motorsports Park and Kingdom Apparel presented round 8 of the All American Firepolicemx KTM Race Team Tour in Atlanta, Georgia.
Friday
Greggo had a long drive from San Diego to Atlanta. He made it in great time and got us ready for the indoor pits early Friday. Atlanta is a great race venue. They pit all the semis inside and it makes for a great atmosphere for the fans. There are 4 new riders for the east coast. They are Eric Nye, Kevin Rookstool, Carlos Gonzalez and Tyler Kalisiak. They all have new mechanics and so it was a good time to get things ready to go for race day. Joe Oehlhof and his Mechanic Gerald would be the steady force for the team as they are competing in the full series.
Saturday
The fans started coming in the pits early. We had people in front of the rig all day long. The Georgia Dome sold out with over 70,000 fans there to check out the action. It was a nice venue for the new riders to start the season. Several thousand fans stopped by for autographs and to check out the sponsors.
PRACTICE
Practice times were fast on the red Georgia clay and our guys were right on pace. Joe Oehlhof, Eric Nye and Tyler Kalisiak all put in top 5 lap times in their practice to get on the board. Kevin Rookstool was riding great on the new KTM and he improved from the first to second practice. Carlos Gonzales was only able to practice the 2nd practice and looked good but really could have used the 2 practices. The bikes were running great and all the riders that got in both practices had lap times in the top 40 and qualified for the night show. That makes 8 for 8 where the guys have qualified for the show.
RACE
Joe Oehlhof got out of the gate near the back of the pack. He rode a great race finishing a few spots out of qualifying. Kevin Rookstool got a good start and was passing people to secure a qualifying position. Kevin rode awesome in his heat and proved he will be a force for the team. Tyler Kalisiak got a mid pack start but rode great to finish close to qualifying. Eric Nye definitely showed speed to make it to the main but had a little bad luck. The LCQ’s were all about the start. Eric held a qualifying spot for nearly the whole race but made a small mistake and went down. Tyler rode hard and made some passes to finish in 6th. Joe rode as fast as anyone in the LCQ but could not work his way up through the pack in the short few laps. The great thing about the week is that we saw the speed from all of our riders and know they are all capable of the main event. Kevin rode tough to start the main and rode as high as 14th before a crash put him back in 20th. The nice thing is he scored points and will be in seeded practice for ST. Louis this week.
Next week we head to St. Louis for round 9. It is the second race for the East Coast lites and we look for big things from our riders. We look forward to new photos and a new report next week. Once again thanks to all the awesome sponsors below for making the All American Firepolicemx KTM Supercross tour possible.
The All American Firepolicemx KTM team uses and recommends the following products: KTM motorcycles, Oneal gear, Leo Vince Pipes, FMF pipes, Motorex oils, Renthal bars and chains, RXRprotect.com, Dunlop tires, K&N air filters, Universal, Crower Cams, Precision concepts suspensions, BCB Equipment Rentals, Wantta 1 tailgate products, Weapon MX products, Kingdomcrown.com, Risk racing stands, Lock Jaw, XS energy drinks, Zing graphics and Jake Kidd.
