Shane McElrath and Justin Hill will be there to fight for wins and the title on their Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull KTMs, and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki will finally have Arnaud Tonus back (the former MX2 Grand Prix winner having struggled with an illness ever since he got here a year ago) as well as the veteran Tyler Bowers, who has been dealing with a back issue. Adam Cianciarulo is hurt again, and pro-am-in-waiting Austin Forkner is making good on his plan to not race pro until the Hangtown National opener, though he will be participating in the Ricky Carmichael Amateur Supercross at Daytona, which gets started next Sunday morning after the Daytona SX. Other riders to keep an eye out for include Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s veteran Martin Davalos, Motorcycle Superstore Suzuki’s Jimmy Albertson, “East Coast is Toast” Fasthouse privateers Darryn Durham and Tyler Bereman (though Durham was not actually signed up as of 2 p.m. this afternoon), and Traders Racing Kawasaki’s Anthony Rodriguez. I also want to see how #619 Mark Weishaar does, as he lists his sponsors as 2 Dudes In A Tundra Racing, Big St. Charles Motorsports, and Contegra Construction….

The action kicks off with Andy Bowyer, Jim Holley, and Mayra Tinajero hosting qualifying live from the Georgia Dome beginning at 12:50 p.m. ET/ 9:50 p.m. PT on Supercrosslive.com or here at Racer X Online. And stay tuned to our social media all day long for breaking news, updates, photos, and more.

FS1 (FOX Sports 1) will carry live coverage of Round 8 beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 p.m. PT.

Before we get into the rest of the week, we should all take a moment to remember Gene Ritchie, the patriarch of RedBud MX, who passed away last Saturday morning. His funeral was this afternoon, and a wake will no doubt ensue in honor of this great motocross man. He was a founding father of pro motocross, not only in the Midwest but across America. He was a racer, a bike-shop owner, and, beginning in 1973, a track owner. By any measure, RedBud sets the standard for what a motocross facility can and should be. Over the years he and his family have transformed a grass track on a farm into a motocross mecca, and if you’ve ever gone there on a July Fourth weekend for the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross National, you know what an amazing event they have—and you won’t be able to get the catchall shouts of “Reeeeddddddd Buuuuuudddd!” out of your mind for days.

“Mean Gene” was his nickname, and while he was as tough a motocross man as you’ll ever meet, he was a truly kind, gentle, and enthusiastic fan of our sport. Many folks have been posting their fond remembrances of Gene since last Saturday, and the Fox Sports 1 TV crew and Feld Motor Sports even paused their program last Saturday to honor him. For me, as a magazine publisher, we never would have made it out of West Virginia had Gene not allowed us to come out and pitch a tent in the early nineties at RedBud and hand out newspapers. He was also an excellent promoter, and his work speaks for itself every time you drive into RedBud and see the place and the event. We all owe him a big thanks, whether riders, spectators, industry workers, fellow promoters, or just random people he helped along the way, because Gene Ritchie would help anyone. He had a strong arm, a big handshake, and an even bigger heart. Gene Ritchie will be missed by all.

THE EYE AND MIND TEST (Jason Weigandt)

I usually pull all-nighters on Saturday night after these races, with late nights at the track interviewing riders, then posting text and Simon Cudby photos for our Race Day Feed and Saturday Night Live features. I was especially ambitious last weekend and penned my usual Redux column at the airport at 5 a.m.—even saw Fox Sports' Ralph Sheheen at the airport and told him I couldn't talk because the words were rolling! 

What I wanted to convey was the attitude change I saw in Ken Roczen after the race. Yeah, he won, so he was happy, but he also won in Glendale, and his reaction wasn't the same. There, he was quick to give credit to Ryan Dungey for closing in on him, and you could tell Kenny didn't feel like he was 100 percent where he wanted to be. The next weekend he struggled at San Diego and admitted he wasn't comfortable. So I have no idea what happened between then and Arlington—Kenny says it was just a small bike change—but all of a sudden he was a whole new guy. This was the confident K-Roc we used to know. He said he didn't bother practicing starts because he just knew he would pull a good one. Up until now, Kenny's starts have been subpar. All of a sudden now he sounded so much more positive.

"Me and Oscar [mechanic Wirdeman], the entire day we said that we were going to turn things around and we start tonight,” he said. “We put that in our head and we believed it in. So we started in the heat race and got a win there. That’s where it starts. We knew we needed a good position for the main event. So we won that. I went into the main event with strong thoughts. I think that’s what got me the holeshot too. I just really wanted it and in my eyes made the perfect start."

In the column, I talked about momentum and how quickly it can flip in this game. But I also realize this was just one win and that Dungey was all over Kenny the whole way and can easily get him right back this weekend. There is nothing to make you think Dungey is about to go into some weird slump or funk and hand over chunks of points. I might not have been clear enough about my point at 5 a.m. on Sunday. Something has changed, not because Kenny beat Ryan one time but because suddenly Kenny's outlook is totally different. That's bigger than just one race win. But will it be enough to wrestle more wins away from Dungey? That's a tough task, because no matter how well anyone rides, Dungey has the total package going right now and has formed into a winning machine. But there's definitely a difference in the way Roczen is approaching the races—and it will be interesting to see if it creates a difference in the results going forward. Even if it just creates more great battles like we saw last weekend, we're in for something special.

THE CHASE (Steve Matthes)

Something I've been hearing for a while is that the folks at Feld Motor Sports could be bringing a Chase-style points format as soon as 2017. For those not familiar with this, it's something that arose from NASCAR a few years back (they've since changed it up to a knockout format). Basically, after a certain amount of races, the top ten to twelve are reseeded, with the leader given a bit of advantage, a bit less to second, third, and so on. Only those riders are eligible to win the title. The exact specifics haven't been determined yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it go ten races to get into the Chase and then seven for the title. (Feld has this format already in AMSOIL Arenacross, in case you didn't know.) 

I can hear all of the uproar now. Embrace the change, broseph. And hey, it if doesn't work or whatever, they can always change it back. I am 100 percent convinced that we need more excitement in supercross, and in AX the rider who has led the points when the chase started has gone on to win the championship since it was introduced.

We were discussing this on the PulpMX Show last week, so our producer Travis Marx (@imtravismarx on Twitter) went back and broke down the last six years of SX with a 10/7 race format to see what would have changed, and may I introduce you to the 2012 450SX champion, Justin Brayton on the factory Honda! Remember that year Ryan Villopoto blew out his knee in Seattle? Yup, we'd be talking about JB10 having a title (which would make Weege very happy). And Ryan Dungey would've won in 2011 as well, instead of RV.

So basically, it doesn't change much, but it does make it more exciting. I hope it happens!

[Ed. note: Since 1986, the AMA Supercross Champion has been decided BEFORE the last round 21 out of 30 times. Food for thought.]

NASCAR HOLESHOT (Weigandt)

Pretty big promotion this weekend as NASCAR stars Danica Patrick, Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Ty Dillon, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. get ready to actually participate in the supercross show on Saturday night. Bowyer, Biffle, Dillon, and Stenhouse will all be on 250Fs and will battle each other out of the starting gates to see who can snag a holeshot (Patrick will serve as 30-second-card girl for that start while Johnson will drop the gate). NASCAR drivers do all manner of promotions throughout the year, but getting four of them on dirt bikes in a competition the weekend of a NASCAR race is a big deal. There's even a little bit of risk involved, even though it's just a start, but the fact that they're all doing this shows something big: for years, supercross and motocross talked about trying to "be more like NASCAR." But times and demographics are changing, and these days NASCAR wants to be more like supercross.

Specifically, NASCAR is trying to capture a younger audience. Monster Energy Supercross already has it. From some people I've talked to behind the scenes, this NASCAR Holeshot is as big a deal to the four-wheeled side as it is to the supercross folks. This is a great big new audience that NASCAR wants to court, and it's a major side of respect for the growth of supercross.

Plus, these drivers love it! Three weeks ago in Glendale, I saw Patrick, Stenhouse, and fellow driver Kyle Larson all hanging out next to Ryan Dungey's bus. They bench-raced with Ryan all day and were still in the pits at nearly midnight talking to him about the race. I've dabbled in some NASCAR TV work myself, and any time I introduce myself as "the motocross guy," eyes light up. Some would rather talk about moto than pavement! For so long, this sport has been trying to let the world know how cool it is. This is another big step in realizing that many, many people have already figured that out. Should be fun to watch these guys ride this weekend, and big tip of the visor to our old friend Andy "Rev Up" Bowyer for helping make this deal happen. As a crossover, NASCAR has its own race at Atlanta Motorspeedway on Sunday, and I can guarantee you the track will be crawling with supercross racers. These two sides are starting to gain more and more respect for each other, and that's pretty cool. Hmm, maybe next year a couple of riders get in some cars and do a race of their own!

Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas and David Pingree)

JT: The East Region is coming! The East Region is coming! Paul Revere himself wouldn’t be as excited as I am about the East Region 250SX swing coming to Atlanta this weekend. After a wild and wooly West Coast run, the rest of the 250cc world has been impatiently waiting for their turn to combust some race fuel.

Sixty or seventy of the fastest 250 riders east of the Mississippi have been counting down the days until this very weekend. They have had to watch weeks and weeks of racing, and when racing is what you do, watching sucks. They will be antsy and jittery all day long, working out the kinks from a long layoff from supercross action. For many of these riders, they are eyeing a championship possibility. They feel they have a good chance at this East Coast crown and in reality, many of them do. This series is wide open and may be one of the most level playing fields in a long time.

The biggest key for this weekend will be to remain calm and turn in a good finish, even if it’s not the win that everyone dreams of. The contenders are all going to be turned up to a 15 on a scale of 1-10. There will be more than one rider tossing away valuable points in this main event; it’s simply how these opening rounds go. Nerves combined with pressure multiplied by youthful exuberance will equal a disappointing weekend for some. Scoring solid points and getting out of Georgia inside the top five or better should be the goal. This series will have many ups and downs with such parity in the class. Being there every weekend and racking up points will trump a win-or-crash mentality.

As riders are flying today and their stomachs toss and turn all night with pre-race jitters, remembering the big picture can help restore calm. This first round only counts as much as every other round. This championship won’t be decided until May. Keeping that outlook is a big ask for many of these riders whose talent surpasses their maturity but can be the difference in winning a championship.

PING: Why is the opener a big deal? Well, just like A1 for the West and for the 450 riders, the first round is worth a lot more than 25 points. Sure, Atlanta is worth the same number of points as the rest of the rounds, but there is something valuable on the table, and only one guy is going to take it. On paper there are probably seven or eight guys who could win tomorrow night. They all think they can win and are doing everything they can to convince themselves that they are right. But just like at any other race there will only be one winner: the guy who has put the work in, has a great bike setup/team/support staff, and gets the job done Saturday night. That guy will walk away from Atlanta as the alpha, and the tone is set for the rest of the series.

Of course the first round doesn’t set anything in stone, and oftentimes it takes a few rounds before one of these guys walks in and lifts his leg to the series, but it will happen. Ryan Dungey is the man in 450SX, and Webb is the guy in 250SX West—even with a couple rough rounds—and every series going back to the beginning of the sport had one guy who was “The Man.” Yes, this round counts for as many points as any other round. But what is always interesting to watch is who comes out of round one with the psychological points lead after the opener.

THE OTHER OPENER (DC)

Meanwhile, over in the Middle East, the FIM Motocross World Championships are getting underway at the Losail MotoGP circuit. It’s a nighttime race, and qualifying has already taken place today, with Jeffrey Herlings winning the 250 race and Evgeny Bobryshev taking the MXGP class. But they aren’t really qualifying races, as they only have twenty-one riders in one class, and Clement Desalle pulled off after just trying to see how his broken arm felt. The other twenty finished on the same lap and will go to the starting gate in that order. The one American racing the series this time is once again Thomas Covington, now on a Husqvarna. His bike apparently broke in the beginning. Of the twenty-two riders who finished the qualifier, twenty-one were on the same lap. Because nothing is at stake but starting gate positions, and there are barely enough for half a gate in either class, most were on cruise-control, working out the kinks, or, in the case of Tony Cairoli and defending champ Romain Febvre, seeing how recent injuries fared on the track. They will all be going much faster tomorrow, when the actual Grand Prix will be held. You can watch it live on pay-per-view at www.mxgp-tv.com. This is the event that the Charlotte MXGP this fall is based on, though hopefully with a few more spectators.

And speaking of GPs, yesterday I had the opportunity to go out to Glen Helen Raceway and visit with Jody Weisel and discuss his plans for this year’s track—the national track, that is, not the GP. Glen Helen will host the second round of the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, and while one might think Jody and I don’t get along, he works hard to make the Glen Helen National track as competitive and challenging as possible, and he’s a strong advocate for what we’re all trying to do with the AMA Motocross Championship. While we were out there, the Thursday regulars were putting in their laps, from super fast pros like GEICO Honda’s Christian Craig, Rockwell Honda rider Fredrik Noren, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Chris Alldredge, and Rockstar Yamaha’s Brett Metcalfe (who will race the first two rounds of the AMA series before heading to Canada) to aspiring pros like Sean Cantrell and Mitchell Falk, plus just a whole bunch locals, as well as foreign riders on motocross vacations to Southern California (three of those programs were set up out there yesterday that I spotted). And a few old friends were out there doing work, including Husqvarna’s Andy Jefferson and crew and Michael Sleeter, Tom Moen, and the KTM testing gang.

After walking around for a few hours and talking about the track, the series, and motocross in general, Jody was kind enough to invite me over to the nearby Denny’s where he and the Wrecking Crew were having lunch. That turned into a great afternoon of exchanging tall tales, races gone by, talking about the late, great Gene Ritchie, and of course all of Dennis Stapleton’s travel stories overseas. (Okay, it was only a fraction of Dennis’ stories, because he’s been overseas probably more times than most folks have just gone into the next state!) I’m looking forward to start of the outdoors in California, both the Hangtown National opener and Glen Helen, and a great summer of Pro Motocross. We’re way ahead of where we were just last year, with a lot of good things to come. We just need to hope everyone stays healthy and gets to the starting gates ready to go. I also look forward to seeing what Jody and Karl Scanlon and crew do with those hills, because last year’s track was spectacular and rough, on a perfect day for motocross.

WHO'S THE BLOSS? (Matthes)

Last year the Horizon Award Winner from Loretta Lynn's was Benny Bloss, and he jumped in with the CycleTrader.com/Rock River team in the 450SX class at the Indiana National and put in some good results. This earned him a spot on Blue Buffalo/Slater Skins Yamaha for supercross this year, and until a few weeks ago, the team and Bloss were all set for the 250SX East for Benny's rookie year. Well, something happened, because Bloss and the team have broken up and now Ben will be a privateer four the opening rounds. The team put this email out to sponsors:

"Just want to let you know we parted ways with Benny Bloss. It just wasn't working out the way we had thought and both parties decided the best thing to do was part ways. We will have Andrew Silverstein take the East Coast position starting this weekend in Atlanta."

It's a very weird deal for sure, as Bloss is an up-and-coming rider, and no one close to the team is saying what happened. The team had been testing with him a week ago, so something went south, and it went south in a hurry.

You always have to shake your head at something like this and wonder how bad it could have been to jump ship from expenses paid/perhaps a small salary on a team that had been putting up good results with Michael Leib on the West Coast to just decide to pay for everything. I've talked with Leib this year, and he has nothing but good things to say about the squad. Bloss is someone who could, in my opinion, benefit from working with someone like team manager Larry Brooks. Big gamble by Bloss and family. We'll be watching to see how it turns out.

YE OLDE ANNUAL DMXS PARTY (Weigandt)

Incredible that this weekend hosts the 14th annual DMXS Radio Atlanta pre-race party. Seriously, I remember when these dudes first tried their little radio show—which was actually an outgrowth of the hilarious old Practice Track newspaper—in 2001, which was way before almost anyone was running live internet radio streams. To give you an idea how long ago that is in technology terms, I couldn't even listen to the shows because I had a Mac, and back then Macs were fringe and weird and a lot of programs just didn't jive with them. That included Internet streaming. 

So what was once new and cutting-edge has now become a tradition. This party is also one of the last standing in the once-thriving business of supercross parties. Used to be big post-race parties every Saturday night, and pre-race parties were big, too. This industry has apparently grown much more responsible, and these types of VIP throwdowns don't happen very often. It always happens in Atlanta, though. If you're going to the race, you really owe it to yourself to check things out at Tounge & Groove tonight starting around 9 p.m.

The party always did seem one-of-a-kind, but these days it actually, really is. Be there!

Head-Scratching Headlines of the Week

Cathedral Sculpture moved after texters kept bumping into it - USA Today

Waffle House Server Accused Of Spiking Co-Worker’s Drink With Meth - Huffington Post

Hey, Watch It!

Racer X Films caught up with Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha's Jeremy Martin and GEICO Honda teammates RJ Hampshire and Malcolm Stewart prior to the 250SX East Region opener. We also sat down with Tyler Bowers for an in-depth conversation on Epstein-Barr, his back surgery and more.

Jimmy Albertson Speaks Moto

Random Notes

Heading to Atlanta for the eighth round of Monster Energy Supercross this weekend? Stop by the Racer X booth—located in the Party in the Pits—to pick up a free copy of Racer X Illustrated. You can also sign up or renew for just $25 (60 percent off the cover price) to get a one-year subscription, a FREE Racer X beach towel, and an extra issue!

Talk about a great then and now! Torsten Hallman stops for a quick photo with our Jason Anderson limited edition cover shirt and the four Motocross World Championships he captured aboard a Husqvarna. Nearly five decades later, Jason Anderson earned Husqvarna's first 450SX win while wearing Thor gear, and as many of you probably know, Thor is an acronym for Torsten Hallman Original Racewear.

Want a Jason Anderson cover shirt for yourself? Subscribe today for as low as $9.98 and we'll send you one for free!

Looking to up your headwear collection? Racer X Brand has nine different styles of hats to choose from, including our recently added beanies. Visit the online Racer X Brand store to check out all of the different colorways.

For news from Canada, check out DMX Frid'Eh Update #8.

Here’s to the AMA's director of supercross and pro racing relations, Kevin Crowther, who got some additional work done on the double-knee-dislocation he suffered last September. How bad was it? This is six months later!