Now Chad Reed looks untouchable.
Reed extended his record streak of winning at least one race a season to 11 years with a dominate performance on Saturday at the Georgia Dome in the first of two races held in Atlanta for the 2015 Monster Energy Supercross season.
The veteran rider became the fifth winner in eight Rounds by grabbing the holeshot and leading wire to wire as the field behind him shuffled around until points leader Ryan Dungey took second and Trey Canard held on for third. Dungey has not been off the podium since Round 1 and it was Canard's third straight and fourth podium in the last five Rounds.
At the start after the first turn, it was Phil Nicolette and Weston Peick holding down the second and third spots, respectively, then by the end of Lap 1 Peick moved into runner-up status. However, by Lap 5, Dungey and Canard moved into the two and three slots holding on to their positions for the remainder of the race. As a result Dungey increased his lead in the point standings to 25 over Canard.
Ken Roczen, who entered Atlanta second for points, had a rough night first with a brutal crash in the final qualifying practice which he, in despite of, made the Main but then crashed on Lap 4 and was a non-factor through the rest of the race. He finished 18th saving a few points but dropped out of second in the standings.
Eli Tomac who entered Round 8 in fourth place also crashed hard in the Main and finished 20th, his second one point race of the season and likely ended any hopes for a Supercross Championship. Rookie Jason Anderson raced to a seventh-place finish and is now just one point behind Tomac for fourth place. Anderson has finished in the Top 10 every race this season. Peick took fifth with that broken foot that kept him out of four Rounds this year.
Reed's win was only his second podium of the year but the much-need points put him in seventh-place just five from Tomac.
"It has been a long year for me," said Reed, who last won in Atlanta 11 years ago. "I always say you have to give yourself a good start to give yourself a shot at the win, and that is what I did tonight. I am excited to come back here next weekend and race for a win."
Reed now controls the inaugural "Duel in the Dome" trophy which goes to the rider posting the most points in both Atlanta races this year.
Nick Wey gets into third straight Main
On the home front, Nick Wey took second in the LCQ en route to a 17th place finish. It was Wey's third straight Main appearance and he is now in 22nd place in the standings. Jimmy Albertson missed the Main for the first time since Oakland. He dropped in right behind Wey in the standings.
Jimmy Albertson had a rough night in Atlanta
In the 250s, Jeremy Martin tapped into his 2014 Motocross Championship season and worked his way up from sixth position to take the win. The field started with Martin Davalos grabbing the holeshot, and defending 250SX East Supercross Champion Justin Bogle in second. Last week's winner Marvin Musquin started in fifth.
Martin pushed ahead to fourth-place on Lap 2 and Musquin found third-place by Lap 3. Halfway through the race, Bogle, Musquin and Martin, two-three-four, battled for position and on Lap 8 Musquin failed to jump a triple dropping him behind Martin. Davalos lost the lead to Bogle on Lap 9 and then lost second to Martin and third-place to Musquin. On Lap 13, Martin took the lead from Bogle and raced to the checkered flag. Musquin also passed Bogle and took second. Bogle held on for third. Davalos finished fourth.
Mitchell Oldenburg had a solid night of racing on Saturday in Atlanta
As for MotoSport riders, Mitchell Oldenburg, who rides with Albertson on the ARMA/MotoSport.com/Yamaha team, qualified for the Night Show in Heat 2 and rode to an 11th place finish in the Main. He's now 13th in the point standings.
Kyle Peters, who rides for the MotoSport.com/GPI/Honda Racing team, finished 13th after taking the fourth in the LCQ, the final qualification spot. His teammate Colt Nichols wasn't as lucky finishing sixth in the LCQ. Peters dropped to 11th place in the standings and Nichols to 15th.
Kyle Peters finished in 13th for his second race of the year
Supercross stays in Atlanta for another week though the track layout will change. Doors open ar 12 p.m. (EST) and Main event starts at 6:30 p.m. (EST) Saturday at the Georgia Dome. Buy tickets online or at the box office.
2015 Monster Energy Supercross Atlanta 1 Results
Atlanta 1 Supercross 450SX Class Results
- Chad Reed
- Ryan Dungey
- Trey Canard
- Cole Seely
- Weston Peick
- Broc Tickle
- Jason Anderson
- Blake Baggett
- Andrew Short
- Josh Grant
Atlanta 1 Supercross 250SX East Class Results
- Jeremy Martin
- Marvin Musquin
- Justin Bogle
- Martin Davalos
- Joey Savatgy
- Vince Friese
- Matt Lemoine
- Anthony Rodriguez
- RJ Hampshire
- Arnaud Tonus
2015 Monster Energy Supercross Season Standings
450SX Class Season Standings
- Ryan Dungey (174)
- Trey Canard (149)
- Ken Roczen (143)
- Eli Tomac (115)
- Jason Anderson (114)
- Cole Seely (111)
- Chad Reed (110)
- Blake Baggett (99)
- Andrew Short (94)
- Broc Tickle (78)
250SX East Class Season Standings
- Marvin Musquin (47)
- Jeremy Martin (43)
- Justin Bogle (42)
- Joey Savatgy (36)
- Martin Davalos (30)
- Matt Lemoine (30)
- Vince Friese (30)
- RJ Hampshire (26)
- Arnaud Tonus (24)
- Anthony Rodriguez (21)
