Anyway, let’s take a look at the positives and the negatives of having speedway races instead of the traditional stadium races.

Positives
-Longer track, doesn’t get beat up as much as usual
-Lots of room for pit party/ fan experiences, which is VERY important to Feld
-Cheaper to rent (I don’t know this for sure to be true, but one would assume)

Negatives
-Not a great “vibe” for opening ceremonies
-Amenities not always amazing
-Seating for fans is not always comfy, far away from action
-Lighting for night races can be sketchy

I thought the track in Atlanta, I was not there, looked to be tough to pass on, which is weird for a speedway. Two tough whoop sections were the difference in the race for many of the riders, but other than that, it was sort of a follow-the-leader type of track.

After the race was over, Honda HRC’s Chase Sexton mentioned a few times that his win in Atlanta, his third on the year, was huge for him because he did it start to finish. He led every single lap, qualified the fastest and yeah, won the damn thing. Which, as we all know, winning mains should be something that he’d done a lot of this year and it’s a minor miracle it’s only happened three times. Further, his other two wins came in a Triple Crown, and in Detroit when Aaron Plessinger threw it away. This is Chase's first wire-to-wire in a 20-minute race this year.

Sexton didn’t look to have made a mistake at all. In the last few races, he’s stalled it and had to make back up time he’s lost, and of course, we’ve seen him crash. Whatever it is, in almost every race he’s won or lost, there have been mistakes. Didn’t look that way in the A-T-L to me.

I know I said on my shows that Sexton, by virtue of having to jump two riders with a combined four SX titles, was out of the title hunt. I still believe that, but his win, and those two guys finishing off the box, gets the points deficit down to 17 and hey, remember those seven points he was docked earlier this year for jumping on a red cross? Well, give those points back and he’s looking at just ten. Of course, if ifs and buts were candies and nuts and all that stuff but I’m just saying.

Justin Barcia continues his surprising season by passing Ken Roczen late and grabbing the second spot. He’s been a second half surprise and as he joked in the press conference afterward, he’s been “clean” for a number of rounds now! Now that’s progress! Whatever’s been going on there, he’s been impressive.

I had someone reach out to me and mention that maybe the new team structure there at Troy Lee Designs Red Bull GasGas has something to do with 51’s success. Longtime manager Tyler Keefe is now working in-house but is still involved with the team, Max Lee (Troy’s kid) is the manager, and Olly Stone is the crew chief ( he was Barcia’s mechanic last year). So yeah, the team has changed but I don’t buy this as a reason Barcia has improved. Keefe and Barcia were and are tight, Olly taking over the technical direction of things might have helped (Remember last year when all we talked about was the new KTM frame and how Webb was struggling? Well Barcia’s on it now and Webb and AP have been great—now it’s crickets. As usual, let’s not blame the base motorcycles, people). I just think it’s Bam smoothing out a bit, maybe a bit more mature and feeling better out on the track. I would, although, love to blame Keefe for holding Barcia back all these years. In fact, I might text him that now. Be right back…

Ok, here’s his reply.

On the PulpMX Show we asked whether this was Barcia’s best SX season ever and I think, yeah, we have recency bias here so maybe that’s what some people were thinking. Assuming he doesn’t win the last four races, but racks up a few more podiums, he’ll secure fourth in the standings. I still don’t think it would be he best season, though. I mean, assuming he doesn’t win this year (although he definitely could), Bam’s gotten fourth overall twice before so that doesn’t work. He’s won more races in other seasons (two of them in his rookie 450SX season and of course he won the opener three years in a row), he got six podiums last year and has five this year, so we’re not there yet (but he could surpass that number this year), and all in all, as good as this season is for the #51, to me it’s business as usual. Yes, Barcia’s good this year and newsflash, outside of a couple of dark years on JGR Suzuki, he’s always been good! So, yeah, moving on. 

Roczen’s good at these ATL speedway races. I know he faded bad at one of them, but he’s also led a lot over the years and won one. It was hot on Saturday, and he rode well, pressured Webb in the heat, and then ran second for most of the main before giving it up to Barcia. Good job to Kenny and let’s just let James Stewart call Kenny “German chocolate,” okay? No one else is allowed. 

Who would’ve thought that the Atlanta SX, where it was going to be hot, where the laps were going to be long, where the strong were gonna survive, would see neither Eli Tomac nor Cooper Webb on the podium? That’s weird right?

Let’s check in with Eli Tomac from his press release quote: “We had a tough battle from behind this weekend and struggled on the starts. Overall, it was decent, and we salvaged some points. I'm looking forward to a better ride in New Jersey.”

Okay, moving on!

We had Cooper Webb on the PulpMX Show and he admitted that after re-watching the race his, “I rode like shit,” comment on the podium afterward was maybe a little harsh. He said it was more like that he felt going in that it was a race he could win or at least podium, but he didn't execute and he got a fourth, so he wasn’t stoked. He’s made some big changes to the fork size on his bike and seemed happy with that switch. It’s something he’s been asking for at KTM for a while. Smaller fork diameter with more flex, although Coop admitted that at this particular track, he didn’t see all the benefit he thought he would. Still, he will stick with this setup for now and see if it changes things for him.

We had Colt Nichols on the PulpMX Show Monday, and he was telling us how he didn’t sleep well at all before the race and had some sort of stomach bug. He didn’t feel great but still brought it home for a top ten. He’s raced nine 450SX races this year and has had a duel to the death with Dean Wilson in, I think, eight of them.

Nichols talked about the adjustment to the 450SX class after missing a year due to injury and said that the testing is what’s wild to him—team Honda making the smallest adjustment to his bike and it making a big difference out on the track. He and Kris Keefer talked about the Honda feeling of lacking traction in the rear and having the bike be so dependent on front end steering. It was a pretty interesting conversation for sure, with Nichols breaking down what he’s feeling on the bike and trying to get it to work better for him.

Pulpmxshow.com for the latest on that, Colt comes on at three hours in.

Some other news and notes from the 450 class:

Shoutout to Jared Lesher for making the main in the 450SX class on his two-stroke. He rode himself right into qualifying in that LCQ also!

Both Hill brothers are really riding well this year. This is not something I thought I would type in 2023. 

I bet Webb really wished his buddy, Aaron Plessinger, could’ve completed his charge up and around Eli Tomac in that main event. Looked like he was going to do just that before ET pulled away after an AP mistake.

Benji Bloss came from last to thirteenth in the 450SX main event. That’s some solid racing right there for the BB gun.

Chiz is sort of chizzing lately. He’s not full chizzing but he’s like, three-quarter chizzing. Kyle likes his new bike settings better, that’s for sure.

ICYWW why there are so many Kawasaki’s out there in the SX class. The Team Green guys pay $500 to just make the night show. Which is huge to these islanders. Sometimes I think the 450LCQ should be brought to you by Kawasaki.

That was a big crash for AC in the heat. I’m glad he’s okay and also, his impressive charge to fourth was great.

Ok, 250’s!

Hunter Lawrence won again. Yay for him and he continues to dominate this 250SX series. He also had a humongous save early in the main event. Wow, that could’ve been bad! But he saved it, rode off the track, then retook the lead. From there he stretched it out and won rather easily.

I spoke to someone close to the situation about Hunter’s improvement this year that kind of started last outdoors and they think he’s simply been able to stay injury free now for a while and build his base of SX speed up. Also, this person attributed some of the improvement to the 83 Compound. The Lawrence's now own the place and everything down there is in a really good spot now with the riders there, the training structure, and all of that. Whatever it is, there’s no doubt that Hunter’s reached a new level this season.

Honestly, the rest of the 250SX class, there’s not a lot to talk about. Not much happened out there and we’re seeing some distinct separations as well. Here are a few notes:

Jordon Smith’s been great for Star in getting second. Take away his dorky DNQ at Detroit and his bike breaking in Tampa and he’s right in this thing. Also, he confirmed to us that he’s at Star for 2024, which I didn’t know. Cool story here after almost two years with no races for Smith.

Great work by Henry Miller for his career best finish. That’s cool. He and his teammate Michael Hicks have been very strong all year long.

Jo Shimoda came back and just missed the podium. That will change here soon.