Sign of the Lap Times: Atlanta

450SX Class

450SX

- In his 450SX debut, GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac would set the latest fastest lap of the night with a 54.002 on lap 12. Although he admitted to riding tight in his maiden 450 voyage, Tomac’s 54.002 would rank seventh best in 450SX. That’s the position he finished in, as well.

- Stewart and Ryan Villopoto were the only two riders to set all their laps under 55-seconds.

- Davi Millsaps and Ryan Dungey would come close to matching the feats of Stewart and RV with each setting just one lap over 55-seconds.

- The pack was tight in Atlanta. Every rider in 450SX set a fast lap under 56-seconds. Far and away the closest the times have been all season.

- Stewart stormed out of the gate with twelve consecutive laps under 54-seconds to begin the race. Yet, it was only good enough for second best as RV set his first thirteen laps under 54-seconds.

- Jake Weimer was back in action after missing the last two rounds with broken ribs, but Weimer’s fitness didn’t seem to miss a beat. He’s last five laps were under 56-seconds, which bested his first five laps where he had two laps over 57-seconds.

Comparison

James Stewart vs. Ryan Villopoto – Segments

A hot topic from Atlanta was James Stewart’s ability to stretch his lead over Ryan Villopoto in the dragon back rhythm section. We decided to dig a little deeper and take a look at the segmented times from Atlanta. The AMA actually breaks the track into three sections, and riders and teams can follow their times in each section. In Atlanta, segment one included the rhythm section and was the longest of the night. The other two segments began at the whoops section and ran until after the finish line.

As you can clearly see Stewart was making up a ton of time in the first segment, but Villopoto was able to reel Stewart back in in the next two segments. The segment times indicate that Stewart gained nearly two seconds there on the second lap, then about a half second through there in other laps. We looked at the later laps to see if RV had adjusted, but as you can see he wasn’t able to figure out the section, allowing Stewart to continue to open the gap en route to the win.

Meanwhile, Villopoto was a little bit quicker around the rest of the track, which put their lap times at nearly a standstill.

James Stewart set the fastest lap of the night in Dallas.
Simon Cudby photo

250SX Class

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	2	53.920	7	54.675	Dean Wilson
2	1	454.018	4	54.682	Wil Hahn
3	3	54.200	6	55.112	Marvin Musquin
4	4	54.392	6	55.702	Blake Wharton
5	5	54.577	7	55.588	Jeremy Martin
6	6	54.826	2	56.719	Justin Hill
7	8	55.551	6	56.883	Kyle Peters
8	7	55.785	6	56.837	Gavin Faith
9	13	56.039	4	57.552	Cole Thompson
10	10	56.197	4	57.536	Zach Bell
11	9	56.308	7	57.346	Vince Friese
12	11	56.385	5	57.701	Mitch Oldenburg
13	12	56.429	6	57.878	Lance Vincent
14	16	56.466	6	58.366	Gareth Swanepoel
15	14	56.502	5	58.357	Jimmy DeCotis
16	15	57.112	7	58.487	Steven Clarke
17	18	57.432	5	59.043	AJ Catanzaro
18	20	58.335	3	59.662	Jackson Richardson
19	19	58.603	3	1:03.002	Kurtis McCabe
20	17	58.611	3	1:01.174	Adam Gulley

250SX

- For the second consecutive week Dean Wilson would set the fastest lap in 250SX. He logged a 53.920 on lap 7.

- Wil Hahn and Wilson were the only two 250 riders to set all their laps under 56-seconds.

- Hahn set an intense early pace with his first thirteen laps under 55-seconds-the best in 250SX.

- If Blake Wharton seemed off the leaders pace in Atlanta, it's because he was. Wharton's seven laps in the 56-second range were the most among the top-five finishers.

- Jeremy Martin made a statement in Atlanta with a fifth in his first SX race (missed the main in Dallas). J-Mart's first nine laps were all under 56-seconds.

- The latest fastest lap of the night belonged to four riders: Dean Wilson, Vince Friese, Jeremy Martin and Steven Clarke all set their fastest lap of the night on lap 7. Wilson topped the group, followed by Martin, Friese and Clarke.

- Marvin Musquin set a fast pace early, as his first thirteen laps were under 56-seconds.

Comparison:

Wil Hahn vs. Dean Wilson

Two title contenders went head-to-head in Atlanta, with Wil Hahn withstanding the pressure of capturing his first win, and points leader Dean Wilson breathing down his neck. Let's dig a little deeper and see where Hahn made, and lost ground.

Lap	Wil Hahn	Dean Wilson
2	54.919	55.270
3	54.306	55.152
4	54.018	54.538
5	54.367	54.042
6	54.772	54.813
7	54.146	53.920
8	54.254	54.113
Avg	54.397	54.549
9	54.46	54.307
10	54.374	54.439
11	54.649	55.393
12	54.829	54.814
13	55.235	55.286
14	55.835	54.583
15	55.394	54.783
Avg	54.968	54.800

Hahn was firing on all cylinders early, which helped him open a small gap over Wilson with his first two laps in the 54-second range compared to Wilson's 55s. Wilson struck back on lap 7 with a scorcher (53.92) to reel Hahn back in. But the bridge Hahn built early was able to withstand the pressure. Wilson continued to close the gap over the next two laps, but Hahn once again held strong and widened the gap with two strong laps on 10 and 13. Wilson was actually faster than Hahn in the second half of the race, but Hahn's early start proved too much for Wilson to overcome.    

Wilson set the fastest lap of the night in 250SX.
Simon Cudby photo