By Chase Stallo and Jason Weigandt
Rockstar Energy Racing Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson’s consecutive top-ten streak almost came to an end in Atlanta. Around the mid-way point Anderson made a huge mistake, came together with Weston Peick, and went down himself ten feet later. Pushed back to around thirteenth, Anderson made up enough ground late in the race to push his streak to nine. “I feel like my bike setup is better, but I’ve made some big improvements with myself the last couple weeks and it allowed me to ride more like myself,” he said in a team statement. “I was feeling really good in the main, but I think I rushed things too much. I ended up on my head, but I came back and ended up ninth. I would rather ride aggressive and like myself and get ninth than ride conservative and get ninth. I just need to fix a few things, but I feel like overall it was a good day. I have a lot of positive things to take away from this weekend.”
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett hasn’t been outside the top ten since a thirteenth at Round 2 in Phoenix. Baggett continues to surpass expectations in his rookie season, capturing his second career top five at Atlanta 2. It might have looked like he lucked into it, since Anderson knocked Peick down, and then Peick’s downed bike collected Ken Roczen, while Baggett passed all three. Baggett’s speed was there, however, as he was actually closing on all three riders while running in eighth. “The track was super technical tonight and it got really slippery,” he said in a statement. ”The rocks started to come up, so it made it really tricky to get in and out of the turns without washing out the front wheel. I just stayed out of trouble.” Baggett’s riding coach, seven-time AMA National Champion Ricky Johnson, was on hand in Atlanta, and no doubt the Baggett/Johnson combination is doing great things.
Brandon Anderson, Baggett’s mechanic, says staying off the ground and being consistent has played a large part of the success in his season. “I think what some people don’t realize is that half the battle this year is being consistent and staying on two wheels,” Anderson said. “That’s what Blake’s been doing. He’s only had one crash where it took him out of contention. I’m pretty pumped and happy with how he’s been riding. You don’t expect a lot from someone in their rookie year, but I think Blake’s being doing really good.”
We spotted James Stewart over at the Yoshimura Suzuki semi, chatting with Baggett and team manager Mike Webb between practices. Currently serving a sixteen-month suspension, Stewart said in a team statement that he’s “been missing racing,” but will help the team with outdoor testing. “I’m looking forward to doing a little outdoor testing, helping the team in any way I can, and waiting for the go ahead to return,” he said. “Besides being able to hang out with some of the fans, it sucks not being able to ride, but I’ll be back. In the meantime I’m wishing Blake and the whole Yoshimura Suzuki team good luck.”
Honda HRC’s Cole Seely, who has averaged a 5.5 finish over the six rounds prior to Atlanta, finished outside the top ten for the first time since Phoenix Saturday night. “In the main, I had to go way too far to the inside and got pinched off pretty bad off the start,” he said in a team statement. “From there it was basically just damage control and trying to work my way forward. At about the halfway mark something happened and I stalled, and basically had to start from scratch again [after the race, Seely theorized to us that he might have gotten a rock caught in the bike for a moment]. I was able to make it to twelfth. I know it’s my rookie year, and things aren’t going to be perfect every weekend, but this isn’t how I wanted the night to go.”
Team manager Dan Betley added: “To me, Cole just seemed a little flat all day. He struggled a little bit tonight for whatever reason, so we’ll regroup and come back swinging at Daytona.”
Davi Millsaps, who is currently dealing with a back injury, struggled at his hometown race, finishing eleventh. “This wasn't the finish I was looking for,” said the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider in a team statement. “We were able to make some adjustments on the bike this week and I feel like we are getting closer each race.” Millsaps crashed early in practice, too. It’s been a rough year for him. However, he did get some good news, telling us the illness he had been dealing with from the pre-season through the early races is now completely, finally, gone from his body.
Ken Roczen’s championship hopes took another shot to the chest this weekend in Atlanta. After tweaking his already sore ankle, Roczen pulled out of the final Atlanta practice a few laps early, but gutted out what he could for points in the night show. Following an eighth, Roczen, who is dealing with an ankle injury, is now 43 points back of Ryan Dungey. He will undergo an MRI this week on his ankle. “Obviously, our night didn’t go as planned,” commented Roczen in a team statement. “There are some things that I have to figure out. I have to get an MRI on my ankle this week so we know what we have to do pushing forward. We need to figure out if I can keep riding and keep training or if it’s better to take some time off and let it heal. It wasn’t that great of a night. We’ll figure it out and be back as strong as ever.”
There’s a little heat brewing between Team Chizz privateer Kyle Chisholm and Smartop/MotoConcets’ Mike Alessi, with some scrapping at both Atlanta races. In the main event, Chisholm tried to get a move in on Mike and ended up crashing in the sand, right by the over under bridge. Keep an eye on these two going forward.
BTOSports.com KTM’s Andrew Short wasn’t as solid as usual in Atlanta, suffering from a bout of food poisoning. Expect Shorty to be back into the top ten shortly.
Shall we do some lap times?
450SX Class
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 3 | 54.505 | 8 | 56.469 | Trey Canard |
| 2 | 1 | 54.914 | 8 | 55.929 | Ryan Dungey |
| 3 | 2 | 55.032 | 10 | 56.210 | Eli Tomac |
| 4 | 9 | 55.577 | 7 | 57.297 | Jason Anderson |
| 5 | 10 | 55.853 | 4 | 57.718 | Weston Peick |
| 6 | 4 | 55.894 | 4 | 57.059 | Broc Tickle |
| 7 | 5 | 55.942 | 7 | 56.973 | Blake Baggett |
| 8 | 12 | 56.058 | 4 | 57.378 | Cole Seely |
| 9 | 8 | 56.117 | 7 | 58.027 | Ken Roczen |
| 10 | 7 | 56.122 | 17 | 57.551 | Chad Reed |
| 11 | 6 | 56.200 | 18 | 57.213 | Josh Grant |
| 12 | 11 | 56.366 | 4 | 58.119 | Davi Millsaps |
| 13 | 13 | 56.792 | 3 | 59.024 | Josh Hill |
| 14 | 17 | 57.176 | 7 | 59.004 | Phil Nicoletti |
| 15 | 20 | 57.374 | 7 | 59.343 | Jake Weimer |
| 16 | 14 | 57.902 | 6 | 59.324 | Mike Alessi |
| 17 | 15 | 58.023 | 13 | 58.902 | Andrew Short |
| 18 | 18 | 58.192 | 10 | 1:00.156 | Kyle Chisholm |
| 19 | 19 | 58.435 | 4 | 1:01.139 | Jimmy Albertson |
| 20 | 16 | 58.618 | 18 | 59.595 | Nick Wey |
| 21 | 22 | 59.187 | 4 | 1:04.356 | Kyle Partridge |
| 22 | 21 | 59.310 | 4 | 1:01.511 | Nick Schmidt |
Trey Canard lands the fastest lap again; he did it both weekends at the Georgia Dome. Check out the battle between he and Dungey—lap eight is when they really knew they had to get after it. Trey has had plenty of speed this year, but nailing that kind of perfect lap on every lap has proven hard to do.
250SX Class
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 1 | 56.194 | 5 | 57.036 | Marvin Musquin |
| 2 | 2 | 56.319 | 7 | 57.029 | Jeremy Martin |
| 3 | 3 | 56.323 | 5 | 57.319 | Justin Bogle |
| 4 | 8 | 56.598 | 4 | 58.964 | Anthony Rodriguez |
| 5 | 7 | 56.850 | 4 | 59.212 | Arnaud Tonus |
| 6 | 5 | 56.858 | 2 | 58.889 | Jimmy Decotis |
| 7 | 4 | 56.926 | 3 | 58.564 | Joey Savatgy |
| 8 | 6 | 57.036 | 6 | 58.738 | Martin Davalos |
| 9 | 9 | 57.560 | 7 | 58.736 | RJ Hampshire |
| 10 | 12 | 57.582 | 7 | 58.691 | Matt Lemoine |
| 11 | 10 | 57.616 | 5 | 59.084 | Luke Renzland |
| 12 | 15 | 57.987 | 7 | 1:00.757 | Kyle Cunningham |
| 13 | 11 | 58.042 | 4 | 59.285 | Kyle Peters |
| 14 | 13 | 58.225 | 5 | 59.691 | Vince Friese |
| 15 | 14 | 58.317 | 7 | 59.951 | Gannon Audette |
| 16 | 20 | 59.262 | 6 | 1:02.392 | Daniel Herrlein |
| 17 | 17 | 59.267 | 7 | 1:01.699 | Colt Nichols |
| 18 | 22 | 59.483 | 6 | 1:02.507 | Dakota Alix |
| 19 | 18 | 59.837 | 7 | 1:02.122 | Josh Cartwright |
| 20 | 16 | 59.921 | 6 | 1:01.384 | Justin Starling |
| 21 | 19 | 1:00.971 | 5 | 1:03.873 | Jace Owen |
| 22 | 21 | 1:01.219 | 3 | 1:06.205 | Bryce Stewart |
Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha's Anthony Rodriguez still has speed, and he delivered a decent finish. Still fell down, though. If he can put it all together, he'll be a contender in a year or so.
More News and Notes:
GEICO Honda’s Justin Bogle has three consecutive podiums to begin the season, but he wasn’t able to latch onto the leaders’ pace this past weekend. He and Jeremy Martin were ultra aggressive early trying to fight for second and keep Marvin Musquin in sight, but they made some contact. “I dropped four or five spots and it was tough back there battling with those guys,” Bogle said in a team statement. “It was a little more hectic mid-pack, but I worked my back up to third. By then we were pretty spaced out and stayed the same the rest of the race. We're getting close. I know I'm fully capable of winning."
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy salvaged a mistake-filled day in Atlanta with a fourth in the main event—his third straight top-five to begin the year. We saw Joe-Dog down hard twice in the whoops. “It wasn't the best start for me today, with a couple of crashes in practice.” said Savatgy in a team statement. “Getting fourth isn't what I want to do, but it has been a bit of a rough stretch. Everyone has some nagging injuries and for me I wasn't able to ride during the week. I was able to get a better start tonight and that is something I want to build off of.”
Congrats to rookie Josh Cartwright, who qualified for his first career main event in Atlanta, and just in the nick of time, as Yamaha is moving him over to the Thermotec squad to race Amsoil Arenacross for the rest of the season. The full-time college student at Florida State University finished eighteenth in his first main.
A tight track and a bad start don’t quite mix. Martin Davalos found that out Saturday night as he rounded the first lap in tenth and was only able to work up to sixth. “I didn’t get a great start,” said Davalos in a statement. “I got pushed around. I was in the back of the pack, and on this tight track, it was hard to get around people. The bike was good, but I rode tight and just have to work on some things. It’s definitely a struggle knowing that last year I was running up front. I look forward to improving on this weekend.”
GEICO Honda’s Jordon Smith made his long anticipated supercross debut after missing the first two rounds with a broken hand. It didn’t go well for Smith, who found himself deep in the pack in both his heat race and the LCQ. He tried to make a last-ditch attempt in the LCQ—a move similar to what Jimmy Decotis did to Arnaud Tonus on the last lap of the main event—but he came up short and crashed. "It was a really rough night," Smith said in a team statement. "I made some mistakes but I learned a lot. I'll take the things I learned here and take them into Daytona."
Fellow rookie, and teammate, RJ Hampshire had his troubles as well, which forced him to qualify from the LCQ. But, as he said in a team statement, he felt like he rode better despite his ninth-place finish. “I wouldn't say the result was what I would like, but I feel like I rode way better. I felt like I was definitely better on the bike tonight. You can't do much when you start last from the LCQ.” Hampshire is already pretty beat up after his big crash in practice at Dallas, but he’s going to keep soldiering on.
It was strange to see Arnaud Tonus fade as badly as he did in the late stages of the 250SX East Region main Saturday night. Well, there was a pretty good reason. Tonus found out after the race that he had low blood sugar and was suffering from hypoglycemia. He said the following on Instagram: “Thats how i ended up my night, was struggling with a lot of fatigue and we find out my sugar was really low and i made an Hypoglycemia. Glad i could finish the race.”
Tough break for JAB’s Matt Lemoine, who has shown podium speed at the first two races, but found himself down on the ground and last on the first lap of this one. He clawed back to twelfth.
