TwoTwo Motorsports/Discount Tire Kawasaki’s Chad Reed scores a clean win at round eight of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series.
TwoTwo Motorsports/Discount Tire Kawasaki’s Chad Reed proved once again tonight why he can never be counted out for the win in a Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series main event win.
At the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, the 32-year-old two-time former AMA Supercross Champion collected his 44th career Monster Energy AMA Supercross main event win on the first of two consecutive weekends of racing at the venue.
He may be getting older, but Reed looked like the Chad Reed of old, the one who earned his last Georgia win way back in 2004. The Australian was in dominant form as he scored a clean holeshot and led every lap in the 20-lap 450cc feature to claim his first win of the season on a night when two of the main title contenders experienced bad outings.
Two-time season winner Ken Roczen suffered his worst day of the season when he injured his left foot after a scary crash in the whoops during practice. The RCH Soaring Eagle Jimmy John’s Suzuki rider returned to action during the night program rider and transferred directly through his heat race to the main event, only to suffer a bad start and another bad crash in the whoops, dropping him to 18th place and costing him some more ground in the title battle. Ditto for GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac, who crashed on a straightaway and appeared to be shaken up in the incident. Tomac managed to salvage a 20th-place finish.
Although he didn’t win, Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey had another great night at the Georgia Dome, finishing second and padding series point lead over Team Honda/HRC’s Trey Canard, who overcame a poor start to finish third.
Reed wasn’t the only rider to claim his first supercross win of the season. Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin bagged his first win of the year during round two of the AMA 250cc East Supercross Series, topping round one winner Marvin Musquin and defending series champion Justin Bogle.
450cc Main Event
Reed rocketed from the middle of the starting gate left of the doghouse and to gain a clear advantage up the start straight, but he secured the holeshot by playing the first-turn cagey and ducking to the inside to cross the white stripe ahead of Toyota JGR Yamaha teammates Phil Nicoletti and Weston Peick. Once again showing his potential as a supercross star, Peick easily skipped past Nicoletti to take over second place on lap two.
Dungey ran fourth early, ahead of Team Honda HRC’s Cole Seely and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson, but Dungey continues to display a newfound aggression early in supercross main events, as he blitzed past Nicoletti and went after Peick.
Meanwhile Dungey’s main title rivals were being forced to battle back from terrible starts. Tomac was stuck in seventh, Canard was mired back in ninth place and Roczen was stuck even farther back, in 13th. Both Tomac and Roczen would see their race plans go off the rails on lap five. Tomac tucked the front end on a high-speed straightaway and took a tumble, and Roczen bailed hard in the whoops for the second time of the weekend. Both men managed to get back underway, but their championship hopes suffered severe blows.
With two of the top four title contenders down and the rest of the field in his wake, Reed had not trouble building up a 3-second lead over Peick, who had his hands full with the charging Dungey. While Reed ran alone out front, Dungey was able to pass Peick in the same corner where Tomac had crashed. By then, Reed’s advantage was up to 4.1 seconds. Canard managed to stay out of trouble, and he was able to catch and pass Peick at the end of the rhythm section by the halfway point in the race.
Farther back in the pack, Seely was hanging tough in fifth place. Anderson ran seventh, sandwiched between RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s Suzuki’s Broc Tickle and Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett.
Reed still held better than 3 seconds on Dungey through lap 14, but the race began to get interesting when Dungey started to pull a half second per lap out of Reed’s advantage as the last five laps unfolded. Dungey had Reed well in his sights with two laps to go, but Reed stayed smooth and got through traffic cleanly to keep Dungey at bay and score his first win of the season with 1.29 seconds to spare.
“It was awesome,” Reed said. “Hat’s off to this team. We’ve had our ups and downs, but good teams dig deep, and [they] just gave me the tools to get the job done tonight. That was a strong 20 laps. I think I held my breath off and on. It has been a long time. I’m old as the hills, but it is still a hell of a lot of fun out here, racing with these kids.”
Canard followed Dungey home, while Canard’s Team Honda/HRC teammate, Cole Seely passed Peick late in the race to finish fourth, with Peick, Tickle, Anderson, Baggett, BTO Sports KTM’s Andrew Short and TwoTwo Motorsports/Discount Tire Kawasaki’s Josh Grant completing the top 10.
Dungey’s consistency is serving him well this season, as he has continued to grow his series point lead. Dungey now leads Canard, 174-149 as the season eclipses its halfway point.
“I’m happy,” he said. “We put a hard charge in, and it was a solid performance. I can’t thank everybody enough.”
250cc East Main Event
Martin definitely had his work cut out for him, as Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Martin Davalos pulled the holeshot at the start of the 15-lap 250cc East main event, with defending series champion and GEICO Honda rider Justin Bogle hot on Davalos’ heels. Vince Friese, Matt Lemoine and Red Bull KTM’s Musquin occupied the top five early.
Martin ran sixth off the start, and he appeared to be jammed up by Lemoine as Musquin and Friese as they battled for third place at the start of lap three. Musquin completed a pass on Friese for third while Martin slipped past Lemoine for fifth, and before the lap was over, Martin also crowded Friese to take over the fourth spot and go after Musquin. Martin seemed to catch fire about a third of the way into the race, and he began turning in the fastest laps of any rider on the track.
The battle for the lead intensified as the race reached its halfway point, with Bogle pressuring Davalos, but Musquin and Martin closed in on Bogle to make a four-rider battle for the lead. Martin was able to take advantage of a bobble by Musquin to take over the third spot. Davalos was still in command until he had a bad run through the whoops with six laps to go. That allowed Bogle to take the lead, but Martin and Musquin wasted no time in pushing Davalos to fourth place.
Martin was fast through the whoops, and he let Bogle know that he was lining him up by grinding on him in the next corner. Bogle was able to hang onto the lead at that point, and Musquin was pushing hard in an attempt to pass Martin, only to lose time when he cased tabletop in the rhythm section after the whoops.
Martin still had five laps to catch Bogle, and he used two of them to get back to Bogle’s rear wheel, but when they got back to the whoop section Martin simply powered past Bogle and into the lead on lap 12. Musquin passed Bogle over a jump to move into second place with two laps to go, but Martin quickly built up a 2.5-second gap and made no mistakes as he crossed the finish line just under 2.3 seconds ahead of Musquin. Bogle finished third, about 7 seconds behind Martin. Davalos was fourth, with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy fifth.
“The intensity was high,” Martin said. “I was six laps in, and I’m like, ‘Oh, they’re breathing heavy.’ I was like, ‘It’s on.’ It was whoever is going to suffer the most. Those guys are riding really good, and learned some stuff from them. I’m just really happy.”
Martin knows that he will have to have more performances like Atlanta if he hopes to capture the 250cc East title. The top three riders are currently separated by a total of five points. Musquin still holds the series lead with 47 points, four ahead of Martin and five ahead of Bogle.
“It’s tough for sure,” Martin said. “Bogle is trying to defend his title, and Marvin [Musquin] is on it—it’s his last year. Martin Davalos is good. There are a lot of good guys, and it’s just kind of whoever is the best man come Saturday because we are all fit and we are all fast.”
AMA 250cc East Supercross Series
Georgia Dome
Atlanta, Georgia
Results: February 21, 2015 (Round 2 of 8)
450cc Main Event
1. Chad Reed-Kaw
2. Ryan Dungey-KTM
3. Trey Canard-Hon
4. Cole Seely-Hon
5. Weston Peick-Yam
6. Broc Tickle-Suz
7. Jason Anderson-Hus
8. Blake Baggett-Suz
9. Andrew Short-KTM
10. Josh Grant-Kaw
11. Phil Nicoletti-Yam
12. Davi Millsaps-Kaw
13. Mike Alessi-Suz
14. Josh Hill-Yam
15. Jake Weimer-Kaw
16. Kyle Chisholm-Kaw
17. Nick Wey-Kaw
18. Ken Roczen-Suz
19. Zack Freeberg-Yam
20. Eli Tomac-Hon
21. Ronnie Stewart-Suz
22. Cade Clason-Hon
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Point Standings (After 8 of 17 rounds)
1. Ryan Dungey-174/2 wins
2. Trey Canard-149/2 wins
3. Ken Roczen-143/2 wins
4. Eli Tomac-115/1 win
5. Jason Anderson-114
6. Cole Seely-111
7. Chad Reed-110/1 win
8. Blake Baggett-99
9. Andrew Short-94
10. Broc Tickle-78
11. Justin Barcia-71
12. Davi Millsaps-65
13. Jake Weimer-61
14. Weston Peick-49
15. Josh Grant-41
16. Mike Alessi-40
Brett Metcalfe-40
18. Phil Nicoletti-33
Kyle Chisholm-33
20. Josh Hill-32
250cc East Main Event
1. Jeremy Martin-Yam
2. Marvin Musquin-KTM
3. Justin Bogle-Hon
4. Martin Davalos-Hus
5. Joey Savatgy-Kaw
6. Vince Friese-Hon
7. Matt Lemoine-Kaw
8. Anthony Rodriguez-Yam
9. RJ Hampshire-Hon
10. Arnaud Tonus-Kaw
11. Mitchell Oldenburg-Yam
12. Gannon Audette-Kaw
13. Kyle Peters-Hon
14. Dakota Alix-KTM
15. Brady Kiesl-Hon
16. Jimmy Decotis-Hon
17. Nick Gaines-Kaw
18. Justin Starling-Yam
19. Jace Owen-Hon
20. Daniel Herrlein-Hon
21. Levi Kilbarger-Yam
22. Zack Williams-Hon
AMA 250cc East Supercross Series Point Standings (After 2 of 8 rounds)
1. Marvin Musquin-47/1 win
2. Jeremy Martin-43/1 win
3. Justin Bogle-42
4. Joey Savatgy-36
5. Martin Davalos-30
Matt Lemoine-30
Vince Friese-30
8. RJ Hampshire-26
9. Arnaud Tonus-24
10. Anthony Rodriguez-21
11. Kyle Peters-19
12. Gannon Audette-12
13. Mitchell Oldenburg-11
Jimmy Decotis-11
15. Colt Nichols-10
Justin Starling-10
17. Luke Renzland-9
18. Dakota Alix-8
19. Brady Kiesel-6
Zack Williams-6
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