Atlanta, GA (March 3, 2018) – It’s been an exceptionally wild 250SX East Championship this year in Monster Energy Supercross, even by the usually mixed-up standards. Round three at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta just served as another example. The Triple Crown format of three shorter main events combined with a rough and tumble track kept the crowd guessing as to what was coming next.

The proof comes first from Jeremy Martin, who crashed hard in practice and was left battered and bruised. Martin went 6-10 in the first two races, with a bad start in race one and a first turn crash in race two. He then holeshot race three and took off for an uncontested victory. Martin has been mired in the pack and on the ground at the first two races of the year, so the race win was big. 6-10-1 gave him fifth overall.

“Total roller coaster of a day in Atlanta,” said Martin. “Had a massive get off in practice that left me hurting pretty bad. Going into the evening program of the Triple Crown format, I was pretty shaken up but was able to race the track and get better with each race to come out with the final moto win on the night. I finally got clear track and was able to ride my lines and race for once. Rode really strong until four laps to go then cruised it into the finish. Big step for me and the GEICO Honda team!”

While Martin has been searching for starts, RJ Hampshire had holeshot nearly every race he lined up for in 2018, The starts came undone in Atlanta, but his riding improved, and his 7-5-4 scores gave him fourth overall. Hampshire has finished fourth in all three races this season.

“This weekend was opposite from the first two rounds,” said Hampshire. “I actually felt like I had the speed to make something happen with a good start but my starts were just terrible. I felt good on my bike and probably made less mistakes all day then what I did in just the main event from round 1. Focus on the positives and get ready for next weekend!”

GEICO Honda’s rollercoaster ended with a huge get off for Cameron McAdoo on a triple jump. He ended up with 16-6-20 scores and 15th overall. The crash reinjured the broken hand McAdoo suffered two weeks ago in Dallas.

“Atlanta was just all around a rough day for me starting off with a pulled groin at the very beginning of the day and ending the night with a crash in the third main,” said McAdoo. “I was cross jumped over the triple and it was a scary crash. Now I’ve broken my metacarpal bone worse than it already was. I will be seeing a doctor this week for further evaluation as to when I will be back racing, hopefully sooner rather than later.”

Hampshire’s 4-4-4 finishes in the first three rounds of 2018 leave him third in the 250SX East standings. Martin is seventh and McAdoo 12th. The team races again this weekend on the supercross track built on the infield of Daytona International Speedway.

In addition to the 250SX racing, GEICO Honda’s Christian Craig jumped to the 450SX class for Team Honda HRC as a replacement for the injured Ken Roczen and Cole Seely. Craig rode well, grabbing two holeshots and leading laps in two races before finishing fifth overall with 6-7-5 scores.

GEICO Honda Results
Atlanta Supercross
(Overall)

4. RJ Hampshire
5. Jeremy Martin
15. Cameron McAdoo

Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.