Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Rev Up. Boy, oh boy, do we have a heavy one coming our way! The Atlanta Supercross has been the hottest event of the series for the past 20 years. In fact, it was 20 years ago that we saw one of the heaviest dust-ups in supercross history. Rewind back to that cold night back in 1989 inside Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. Guy Cooper was flying until he got whisky throttle and almost flew out of the roof. Then, Ricky Johnson looked like he had it before he went down block-passing Jeff Stanton. In the end, it was the one-handed dead sailor by Stanton over the finish line. Fate has a funny way of coming back around to shake the ground. There are some pretty cool variables building the hype for round eight. Take a look at round two of the east coast Lites class. Those kids are ready to throw down. The Atlanta Supercross doesn't require much marinating. There will be sixty or seventy thousand fans ready for action. We've got history on this one. We've got a dead heat in the points with the big boys, and damn it, son - this is Atlanta.
I'm still scratching my chin about that Stroupe kid. Is he a wolf in sheep's clothing, or just misunderstood? Who cares, he's fast. So is his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit teammate, Christophe Pourcel. C-pour's story is one of the gnarliest I've ever heard of. It will be interesting to see if he can back up his Houston surprise with another podium, or win. Speaking of winning, when the hell is Bretcalfe going to win a race? He's almost reached a "Cooper" like level of missing the top spot. His teammate, Blake Wharton, should be watched, especially if he gets the holeshot. And going down the list, man, this class has a half-dozen more guys that can podium or win. The MDK/KTM crew of Wil Hahn and Martin Davalos are salty, and with Davalos riding in front of his home-state fans, he may be ready to throw on the charge. Davalos can pin it. So can Nico Izzi. I still think Nico is one of the heavy championship favorites. My dark horse for these cats is Matt "Beef" Goerke. Matt can get the job done and just needs a little kick.
Supercross
I'm not too surprised to see Chad and James tied in points coming into Atlanta. I knew Chad would fly on the Suzuki and I feared James would struggle with the massive change in his program. Chad placing on the podium at each round with James winning a bunch with one boo-boo sounds about right. But, the other guys have baffled me. They aren't even in the same solar system, and it sucks. Ah, but if you remember it was about this time last season when we started seeing guys like Davi Millsaps, Josh Hill, and Kevin Windham come to life. Those guys can do it! But not if James pulls the holeshot. Somebody has to do something about that, and not Mike Alessi.
I say it's pretty much a whole new series. The east coast swing will see different scenarios with the softer, more rutted tracks.
Everyone always makes a big deal about Anaheim being our Super Bowl. I don't see it, personally. The Georgia Dome seats 20,000 more people and when you look at the battles that have taken place there during the past 20 years, Hotlanta wins by a landslide. The aforementioned year 1989 will always be my favorite year of racing, and I think we may see something special this time around. I'm saying it's going to be full-blown “Beyond Thunderdome” chaos!
Can Reed get a win? Will #7 make is seven in a row? Can Millsaps repeat? Tune into Supercross Live for the call!
Thanks for reading, see you next week.
