Dungey Tops Atlanta Supercross Qualifying
Cycle News Staff | February 26, 2011
ATLANTA, GA, FEB. 26 –
Defending Supercross champ Ryan Dungey topped timed qualifying Saturday afternoon in the Georgia Dome at round eight of the 17-race Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship. Dungey tripped the clocks at a time of 46.880 seconds on his Rockstar/Makita Suzuki to edge Chad Reed’s time of 46.906. James Stewart was third, the only other rider in the 46-second bracket, with a time of 46.932.Ryan Sipes was the quickest rider in the Lites class with a 48.094 on his DNA Shred Stix Yamaha.
“So far the track feels great and so does the bike,” said Dungey, who won Atlanta last year. We’ve made a few adjustments to counteract the dirt. It’s a little harder than I expected. So we had to make a few little touches on the bike and it feels good. I’m getting traction and good momentum out there.”Dungey went on to say the track was a more technical than Atlanta is normally. “The track is pretty tight and technical,” he said. “Every year it seems the dirt gets a little harder here and it’s a little more slippery as well. I’m going to have to be really good with throttle control.”Dungey concluded by saying the heat races would be important to set up a good starting position and added, “I think having a good game plan and executing it precisely and having good line choices and using your head is going to be what it takes to win tonight.”
Sipes was pleased with his speed in practice, but said it’s translating that to the heats and final that is important.”I’ve been pretty fast in practice the last couple of years,” said Sipes, who accomplished the same feat at Houston. “The goal is to keep that same speed in the night’s program. I think I’m ready for it. I’m going to try to get a good start and ride my own race.”The track was better for him even than Houston according to Sipes.”I like the track here, it flows better and has good traction,” he explained. “It was actually pretty easy in practice, but the whoops are going to get tricky because they are really rutted out and slick so you get sideways in them. I feel like I have good lines and my bike’s working great so I’m ready to go.”
