Sign of the (Lap) Times: Atlanta SX

Mitchell Oldenburg continues to do with most with the least. The second year privateer finished tenth for the second straight race in Atlanta. Oldenburg was down at Windham’s place training with Wil Hahn before Atlanta. Check out Racer X Online later this week to hear more about Oldenburg’s season.

What a turn around for privateer Jesse Wentland, who made one main a season ago in his rookie year. The former AMA National Champion at Loretta Lynn’s ran inside the top five in Atlanta before finishing a career high eleventh.

GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac continues to have his problems since returning from a shoulder injury at Anaheim 3. Mechanical issues, according to a team release, led to a DNF in Atlanta. Tomac now has results of 22-7-11-21 since his return.

Chris Blose grabbed his best finish of the season with 15th in 450SX.

On to the lap charts!

450SX Class

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	2	52.344	4	53.505	Ryan Villopoto
2	1	52.404	8	53.436	Ken Roczen
3	3	52.515	8	53.751	Ryan Dungey
4	6	52.824	1	54.829	Mike Alessi
5	4	53.315	4	54.400	Wil Hahn
6	8	53.337	6	55.074	Weston Peick
7	5	53.464	3	54.566	Justin Brayton
8	7	53.546	9	54.676	Broc Tickle
9	11	53.609	8	55.146	James Stewart
10	9	53.747	7	55.067	Josh Grant
11	17	54.083	4	57.016	Kyle Chisholm
12	10	54.263	5	55.337	Andrew Short
13	13	54.315	7	56.185	Josh Hill
14	14	54.327	5	56.617	Ivan Tedesco
15	21	54.463	4	57.280	Eli Tomac
16	12	54.464	4	56.159	Matt Goerke
17	16	54.534	11	56.659	Nick Wey
18	15	54.885	4	56.803	Chris Blose
19	19	55.199	4	59.699	Justin Sipes
20	20	55.909	4	59.587	Nick Schmidt
21	18	55.936	6	58.502	Jimmy Albertson
22	22	57.549	1	57.805	Phil Nicoletti

250SX Class

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	1	53.502	2	54.790	Martin Davalos
2	2	53.957	2	54.941	Adam Cianciarulo
3	4	54.164	4	55.957	Blake Wharton
4	3	54.368	6	55.641	Justin Bogle
5	5	54.442	13	55.971	Blake Baggett
6	6	54.600	3	56.844	Vince Friese
7	21	55.117	3	56.566	Matt Bisceglia
8	20	55.138	1	55.194	Anthony Rodriguez
9	7	55.467	11	56.864	Jimmy Decotis
10	12	55.592	8	57.971	Kyle Cunningham
11	10	55.673	10	57.246	Mitchell Oldenburg
12	16	55.749	3	57.599	Alex Martin
13	11	55.854	4	58.026	Jesse Wentland
14	8	55.956	6	57.021	Cole Thompson
15	9	56.028	3	57.199	Matt Lemoine
16	17	56.067	7	58.192	Gavin Faith
17	18	56.170	4	1:00.245	Jace Owen
18	13	56.411	7	58.607	AJ Catanzaro
19	14	56.788	4	58.808	Justin Starling
20	15	57.283	4	59.487	Gannon Audette
21	19	58.924	2	1:03.851	Ryan Zimmer
22	22	DNF	DNF	DNF	Kyle Peters

For the first five laps of the 450SX main in Atlanta, SmarTop MotoConcepts Mike Alessi was managing an onslaught from Ryan Villopoto and Ken Roczen. Although RV and Roczen were dipping in the 52s, Alessi was not far off with laps consistently in the 53s. Following lap 8, Alessi dropped anchor. Presumably, he had used much of his energy trying to sprint and hold the lead. This is no slight on Alessi. Not many can run the speed of the three-time defending champion lap after lap after lap. This is also not a fitness factor. Alessi is one of the most finely tuned riders on the circuit, and a tireless worker. It’s a matter of pace. Essentially, Alessi was running while RV and Roczen were jogging, yet still going the same speed. For more, take a look at the side-by-side comparison and notice the drop from Alessi after lap 8 and how Roczen and RV remained steadfast. They rode a pace they could maintain for 20 laps, Alessi just rode as fast as he could for as long as he could.

Lap	Mike Alessi	Ken Roczen	Ryan Villopoto
1	52.824	54.008	54.02
2	53.147	52.846	53.63
3	53.572	52.662	52.736
4	53.869	52.569	52.344
5	53.587	54.859	53.002
6	55.839	52.959	52.378
7	54.943	52.976	52.811
8	53.823	52.404	52.459
9	57.072	52.671	52.675
10	55.348	53.231	52.784
11	56.233	53.315	53.349
12	55.539	53.432	53.213
13	54.963	53.387	54.271
14	55.103	53.778	54.208
15	55.259	53.719	55.378
16	54.73	54.141	54.106
17	54.684	53.566	53.509
18	54.76	53.83	53.839
19	55.45	54.542	54.882
20	55.844	53.83	54.51

More News and Notes:

Is the magic back? Privateer Nick Schmidt was back in the main for the first time since Oakland, finishing 20th. Schmidt also made the mains at Anaheim 1 and Phoenix, and sits 25th in 450SX points.

JGR/Toyota Yamaha’s Josh Grant returned from a shoulder injury that keep him on the sidelines the past two weekends and secured just his second top ten of the season. His ninth was pretty impressive, as he held tough down the stretch with pressure from Andrew Short.

Short’s tenth, by the way, keeps his streak of top-ten finishes at every round alive. Just four riders have accomplished that through nine races—Short, Justin Brayton, Ryan Villopoto and Ken Roczen.

With Pirelli’s U.S. headquarters and factory sitting not far outside of Atlanta, the brand held a special tour of the factory for motocross folks on Friday afternoon. Members of the JGR team and some industry insiders and press received a bus ride straight from the pits to the Pirelli facility, and most remarked on how impressive the facility is. Making tires is not a simple process.

It was a big weekend for the tire brands, as Dunlop also held a press event on Saturday morning. Look for more insight into their supercross tire development later this week.

Each week we take a slice out of the superb Soaring Eagle Casino RCH press releases, and with Broc Tickle embroiled in controversy with Mike Alessi, you know you’re in for something good. This week our favorite part came right from the top:

It was the best of times… and potentially some of the worst of times for the RCH Soaring Eagle Supercross Team in Atlanta. In a twisted version of literary classic "A Tale Of Two Cities" both Josh Hill #75 and Broc Tickle #20 went from their best times of the SX season in Dallas last weekend only to have what could have been the worst of times in Atlanta this weekend. However in a demonstration of maturity and professionalism, the entire RCH Soaring Eagle Supercross Team showed their true colors and turned in a performance that books are written about.

No doubt when Tickle got Alessi in his sights late in the main event, many were expecting him to catch Alessi and extract some revenge. He couldn’t get there, though. "My ribs and breathing were bothering me," said Broc in the team PR. "Dr. G did what he could before the main, but I wasn't feeling it like I had earlier in the day."

For the second straight season, a wrist injury will sideline privateer Vann Martin.

Rookie Jace Owen made his first career main event in Atlanta. The Factory Metal Works/Club MX member finished 18th.

Following his first podium of the season last weekend in Dallas, Justin Barcia was hoping to turn some home cooking into another strong run in Atlanta (yeah, Barcia’s native to New York but has been living in the motocross mecca on the Florida/Georgia stateline since he was a kid). Unfortunately, a huge crash in the whoops during the final practice ended his night early. "This was not how I wanted today to go,” said Barcia in a team PR. “Atlanta is like my home race and I have a lot of friends and family here, so I am definitely disappointed. I crashed pretty hard in the whoops and tweaked my knee in the last practice. I decided to take the night off to make sure I can race  next weekend in Indianapolis."