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| SX Season Recap - Atlanta |
| Jason Weigandt |
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Supercross was about
to get great as it headed East, and it was doing it in the right place. Atlanta's
Georgia Dome has grown from just another race on the schedule to maybe the biggest
of all, and many now consider it the Eastern U.S. Anaheim, since so many riders
and fans live in the area. This year the event hosted an opener of its own since
the East Region Lites Series was about to get underway-and Ricky Carmichael was
also returning to the series after a lay off, which made it like a third or fourth
opening day on the season for him.
It's hard to tell how many of the 70,000 plus that came to Atlanta came just to
see RC's last ride in the building, but it sure seemed like a lot of them when
the roar came up during opening ceremonies. There's no doubt Carmichael was still
the man, even though by now it was obvious he was a part-time racer who would
not be competing for a championship any longer. He would, however, be competing
for race wins, pitted first against his old nemesis Chad Reed in a heat race.
Carmichael ended up blowing a triple and going off the track, giving Reed the
lead. RC buckled down and tried to get Reed back, but he spun out in the last
corner giving it an all-out effort, giving Reedy the heat win. That meant nothing,
though. The real obvious point was that Carmichael was still racing to win.
Then the Lites class kicked off, which had everyone fired up. Since the West Region
Lites class has turned into the "run away from Villopoto" show, there
was a lot of talent stacked up in the East. The main event proved that, with a
dramatic duel between favorites, rookies, unknowns and upstarts. Mike Alessi grabbed
the holeshot but soon became a moving chicane for everyone around him, before
he went tumbling to the ground and basically out of the championship hunt. Then
Ben Townley's Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki grenaded on the start stretch,
effectively eliminating him from contention as well in a short series like this.
Eventually the Yamaha of Troy boys of Matt Goerke and Ryan Morias got into contention,
as well as Townley's teammate, the Arenacross master Darcy Lange. And somehow
in front of all of this was Ryan Dungey, the hardworking kid Makita Suzuki plucked
from the amateur ranks for a shot as a pro. Amazingly, Dungey, one of the least
heralded amateurs to ever graduate straight to a factory team, became one of the
first to ever win his first AMA Supercross.
The Atlanta crowd was pumped after that one, and the adrenaline was still flowing
when the 450s made it to the line. Carmichael's story was well-known, but in the
backdrop, James Stewart and Reed were still battling for the supercross title.
Reed had won last weekend's race after Stewart threw it away while leading, and
with the possibility of RC getting in between them, the championship would really
be decided over the next few rounds. Again, supercross was about to get great.
What followed was another classic 20 lap battle between Carmichael and Stewart,
with James holding to a precarious lead for most of the event. Carmichael was
there shadowing him the entire time, making up ground in the corners while Stewart
pulled it back by unleashing a ridiculous quad jump over table tops, and whatever
else they could pile in front of him. Carmichael, wise to the idea that one race
loss to Stewart won't effect his legacy, but knowing one error over a huge jump
like that could ruin everything, chose not to try it. And that made all the difference.
Stewart's win didn't bother the fans one bit, though. They had come to see Carmichael,
and he delivered a whole bunch of strong laps for them. He was sticking around
for the next few rounds, too, along with the Eastern Lites boys. Now that supercross
had gotten great, it was going to stay that way.
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