The saying “truth is stranger than fiction” has never been more true than when talking about the 2011 Supercross class title chase. The Monster Energy AMA Supercross has finally gone east of the Mississippi to Atlanta, Ga. for the eastern equivalent of Anaheim I. Atlanta has played host to AMA SX since 1977 when Bob “Hurricane” Hannah won the inaugural event, and many epic races have been held there throughout its rich SX history. Saturday was round eight of the series, and the Supercross Class war was another epic Atlanta saga that could very well be written down in SX history as one of the best head-to-head battles ever.

As qualifying practice came to an end, the top five 450 riders were not finding much to separate themselves from one another. The top seven would finish the day sessions with less than one second between them. Of the top five in the Supercross Class, Ryan Dungey is the only rider to have not won a race in 2011, and it was looking like Atlanta might be his night as he qualified number one. San Diego SX winner Chad Reed seemed to be riding the wave of confidence created from his Main Event win, qualifying 2/10ths off of Dungey’s time for second spot with James Stewart—sans Larry Brooks who was said to be “spending time with family,” although rumors suggest a possible long-term absence—another 2/10ths off of Reed. Trey Canard would qualify a solid fourth, while Ryan Villopoto seemed to struggle a little in the day sessions, qualifying seventh behind the JG Racing duo of Justin Brayton and Davi Millsaps.

Reedy is back in 2011 and seemingly better than ever.

As 70,000 Atlanta fans filled the massive indoor venue, there was a vibe that the morning’s events could be the calm before the storm. We would soon find out by night’s end that the impending storm was big enough to blow the top off the Atlanta Georgia Dome. All season, this series has been described with words like “insanity” and “chaos. “ Those words proved to be a more than fitting description of what went down Saturday in Atlanta.

Heat 1
Heat 1 was the first chance for last week’s winner Chad Reed to show his newfound confidence and for Houston SX winner Trey Canard to rebound from the week’s Main Event mishaps. The #22 TwoTwo Motorsports/Honda and #41 Factory Honda got to work immediately, flying around the first-turn running one-two, with Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe in third. The two Honda’s would quickly check out on the field and begin the battle for the first qualifying spot of round eight while Metty would find himself flying over the bars and down hard. Millsaps would inherit a distant third after Metcalfe’s crash and stay there for the remaining five laps. Reedy would lose contact with Canard early then reel him back in, but he was never able to get close enough to make a pass stick on the Houston SX winner. The two would finish where they started with Canard taking the trip to the podium to talk to the cameras and Reedy riding back to the pits to get ready for the Main Event.

Ryan Dungey came to Atlanta with three second places and looking to climb one step up on the box.

Heat 1 Qualifiers
1 41 Trey Canard
2 22 Chad Reed
3 18 David Millsaps
4 29 Andrew Short
5 800 Mike Alessi
6 30 Kyle Regal
7 903 Antonio Balbi
8 321 Fabien Izoird
9 76 Kyle Partridge

Heat 2
Ryan Villopoto and James Stewart have met in heat races this year with JS7 winning three of the four prior meetings. Heat 1 would give RV2 another chance to start the night off with the first punch, and he did just that, quickly getting into the lead and checking out. H&H/BelRay rider Ivan Tedesco was the first through turn one, but his lead was short lived, with RV2 making quick work getting around him early. Stewart got a start just inside the top ten and would dispose of everyone but RV in the first five laps. With three laps to go RV2 had a four second lead, but that did not deter JS7. He would put his head down and click off the fastest laps of the night. By the last lap, Stewart was within striking distance of RV2, but it was too little too late. He finished second behind the Kawasaki rider. Villopoto had struck first on the night, but having closed in before race-end, Stewart may have gained the mental edge.

Heat 2 Qualifiers
1 2 Ryan Villopoto
2 7 James Stewart
3 14 Kevin Windham
4 9 Ivan Tedesco
5 10 Justin Brayton
6 1 Ryan Dungey
7 942 Tye Simmonds
8 38 Chris Blose

LCQ
2011 is one of the deepest fields—if not the deepest—in SX history, and the LCQ on Saturday was a clear display of that. One factory rider and two former factory riders were on the line battling for the last two spots in the Main Event. VMS/Rockstar/Yamaha rider Nick Wey would grab the most important holeshot of the night followed by BTO Sports/Suzuki pilot Michael Byrne and Factory Suzuki’s Brett Metcalfe. The three would leave the field and put on a show up front. All three maintained their positions until the final lap. On the last lap, Byrner—still in the last transfer spot—would make a minor mistake, allowing Metcalfe to squueze by before the flag. Wey and Metty would claim the last two spots for the Atlanta SX Main Event.

JS7 was once again the “fastest man on the planet” with the fastest lap times in his heat, but would that be enough to win the Main Event in Atlanta?

LCQ Qualifiers
1 27 Nicholas Wey
2 24 Brett Metcalfe

Main Event
As the Main Event rolled up to the line, the capacity crowd was screaming in anticipation of a five-way battle between the four Main Event winners of the year and podium-regular Ryan Dungey. Fans seemed to be hoping that Dungey would step up and become the fifth winner of this already unpredictable season.

When the gate fell, the “fastest man on the planet” got out to the early lead with the holeshot and the fans’ anticipation of an epic battle seemed to calm a bit. The SanManuel/Yamaha pilot James Stewart is known for checking out when he gets the holeshot. Combining the early lead with the fact that he had been a second faster than anyone else in the heat races, the audience in attendance was left to think the race might just be over. Those thoughts, though, quickly melted away as Chad Reed matched Stewart the entire way around the track with Canard, RV2 and Dungey all in tow, rounding out the top five. If ever a stage was set to make history, it was now!

Andrew Short is beginning to find his groove on the KTM 350.

With five proven champions at the top of their game on the track—matching each other’s speed—the race would have to come down to desire, mistakes and a little bit of luck. The first mistake of the twenty-lap Main Event would come on lap three and would be committed by the rider in the lead. JS7 lost traction on the slippery Atlanta clay, allowing Reedy to fly by into the lead position. Reed would capitalize on this mistake, put his head down and charge like it was 2003 all over again.

Behind the battle up front that evoked memories of battles past, Canard and RV2—a couple of seconds behind the two former champs—were in the midst of their own battle when Canard would make the second mistake of the Main Event, going off track in the fast whoop section and letting RV2 and Dungey move up into third and fourth. While the guys up front were working to keep it on two wheels while over the edge, Red Bull/KTM’s Andrew Short was running a solid fifth after Trey’s mistake but showed no sign of wanting to take on the top dogs despite having consistently been making improvements each week.

Chad Reed would pass James Stewart on lap three and renew the rivalry with JS7 on lap twenty.

Back at the point, Reed was putting on a clinic on how to ride a perfect Main Event. To the amazement of many, he was keeping Stewart at bay by between 1.5-2 seconds. Stewart would play “catch and release” with Reed from lap three on, but wouldn’t get close enough to get a wheel in. At one point—with six laps to go—Stewart was close enough to make a move, but once again lost rear-end traction. This mistake allowed Reed to squirt away to a three second gap, and many might have thought it was over. The drama, though, had just begun for these two former mortal enemies. In the meantime, the points-leader RV2 was riding his own race in third, four seconds behind JS7, with Dungey about another four seconds back as well.

As the race wound down to the final three laps, JS7 was two seconds behind Reed, and lapped riders began to come into play. When the top riders in the world are battling on lap eighteen and running the same pace as they were on lap three, their closing speed on the riders being lapped is unreal. Running five seconds a lap faster than the rider ahead means taking lines that are based only on an educated guess of where you believe the other rider will be two corners ahead of time. Reedy guessed twice, and two times in a row he guessed wrong. He got held up by Chris Blose and Stewart’s teammate Kyle Regal, and Stewart was able to sneak by. When the white flag came out the running order was Stewart, Reed, Villopoto, Dungey, Short and Canard. Reed all over JS7, RV2 was three seconds behind, and Dungey another was another three seconds back. Canard—after charging through the field—was right on Andrew Short’s rear-wheel, battling for a top five.

Trey Canard is going to have to do away with the rookie mistakes if he wants to battle for the title in 2011.

It became obvious that Reed was not through with Stewart yet, and three turns later this was clearly validated. In a 180-degree right hander after a big triple, Stewart committed a cardinal sin and underestimated his opponent’s desire to win by any means necessary, leaving the door wide open. Reedy put in a last-ditch effort with the old “two riders are going in, one rider’s coming out” style of block pass, and the two men came together. Both Reed and Stewart would fight to get up first as RV2 flew by. In the race to pick their bikes up, JS7 briefly stood on Reed’s bike, and Reed would somehow find the strength to pick up the number 22 Honda and Stewart’s 150lbs as well. Stewart would get going first and set off for the final podium spot, but in the last 45-degree turn, Reed would sneak back underneath Stewart. At the same time, though, Dungey would sneak by both riders to claim second behind the elated Villopoto, leaving Reed in third.

The events on lap twenty would take Stewart from a two-point lead in the championship to a ten-point deficit. As the riders left the track, it was clear that Stewart was not a thrilled with his new friend Reed’s decisions. Stewart was about to say something to Reed, when big James, quite animatedly, directed little James to ride directly back to the San Manuel rig and leave well enough alone. RV2 may have gotten lucky, but he rode an incredible race himself and was only able to win because he had kept the leaders only a few seconds in front of him for twenty laps. Dungey barely got around the carnage created by Reedy’s block pass and banked his 6th podium and his fourth runner-up finish on the year. Reed would take his fourth podium in the last five rounds.

RV2 is the happiest man in Atlanta.

If you had thought that 2011 couldn’t get any better, you were wrong. CR22 and JS7 have reignited an old flame and the brat pack of TC41, RD1 and RV2 are now igniting one of their own. All five of these proven champions are here to win races and titles. The days of moving over for anyone are officially in the past.

You can follow me at @dandunes818 or @motoxaddictscom for all things SX/MX. Check out the results and podium interviews below.

AMA Supercross Atlanta Main Event Results
1 2 Ryan Villopoto
2 1 Ryan Dungey
3 22 Chad Reed
4 7 James Stewart
5 41 Trey Canard
6 29 Andrew Short
7 10 Justin Brayton
8 14 Kevin Windham
9 9 Ivan Tedesco
10 24 Brett Metcalfe
11 18 David Millsaps
12 27 Nicholas Wey
13 30 Kyle Regal
14 38 Chris Blose
15 942 Tye Simmonds
16 50 Matt Boni
17 321 Fabien Izoird
18 800 Mike Alessi
19 903 Antonio Balbi
20 76 Kyle Partridge

Author

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