2020 Atlanta Supercross Results

Everything was going great for Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac coming into the Atlanta Supercross, the halfway point of the 2020 Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Series. He had just taken over the points standings a couple races ago and won the Arlington Supercross last weekend with a 5-1-1 score in the Triple Crown event. Then, today in Atlanta, he qualified on top for the first time this season, and then got the holeshot in his heat race and won it with ease.

But in the main event, things started to go horribly wrong for Tomac. Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen got the holeshot and Tomac didn’t get a good start, and as he fought his way forward, he rushed to the inside of Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM’s Blake Baggett and took them both down in a left-hand turn. This effectively eliminated Baggett from the race, and Tomac got back going in 15th. Even after remounting, Tomac wasn’t making up time very fast. He was still 11th at the race’s halfway point while Roczen was running away with it out front.

Behind Roczen at the halfway point was Team Tedder/Monster Energy KTM’s Martin Davalos, followed by Motoconcepts/Smartop/Bullfrog Spas Honda’s Justin Hill and his teammate Vince Friese, and then Monster Energy Yamaha’s Justin Barcia. Barcia started outside the top 10, just as he had in previous weeks, and was charging forward, as usual. Behind Barcia at this point was Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson, his teammate Dean Wilson, defending champ and world’s toughest racer Cooper Webb, Barcia’s teammate Aaron Plessinger, Roczen’s teammate Justin Brayton, and Tomac.

It got wild in the last half of the race, as Barcia went by the two Motoconcepts racers, then shot past Davalos and into second. Red Bull KTM’s Webb had Tomac latched onto his rear fender in the closing laps as Webb towed Tomac by Hill, and then they both went by Davalos, only for Tomac to come up just short of passing Webb at the finish.

Roczen won the race over Barcia, Webb, Tomac, Davalos and the rest of the field. Anderson went down on the last lap while running 7th and ended up 11th.

With 8 rounds left to run, the championship is tied at the top, with Roczen and Tomac both on 200 points. Remarkably, Webb has gained ground despite racing with a massive hematoma on his back/sacrum. He started the night 26 points out of the lead, and now he’s 24 points out. Barcia started the night 27 points out of the lead and is now just 23 points out.

Potentially bad news for the competition, though: Next weekend is the Daytona Supercross, and Tomac has won that race 3 of the last 4 years.

The 250SX East main event was far less eventful than the 450SX main in Atlanta. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire got the start and was quickly joined up front by GEICO Honda’s defending series champ Chase Sexton and Monster Energy/Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Shane McElrath. McElrath actually passed Sexton for second momentarily early in the race, but Sexton and Hampshire began to distance themselves from the field early, and just before the halfway point, Sexton saw his chance to strike and took it. They slammed together for a moment, but nobody went down, and Sexton took off with the lead, and the win.

Hampshire ended with a season-best second place, while McElrath hung on for third.

GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin took a major hit to his championship hopes while running fourth when Hampshire knocked a Tuff Block out into the track, which Martin landed on and went down, damaging his motorcycle and leaving him to finish 19th.

Sexton now holds a 5-point lead in the championship chase with six rounds left to run.

The series resumes next Saturday in Florida at the Daytona International Speedway.

2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series
Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Atlanta, Georgia
RACE RESULTS: February 29, 2020 (Round 9)

450SX Main Event:

1.	Ken Roczen	Hon
2.	Justin Barcia	Yam
3.	Cooper Webb	KTM
4.	Eli Tomac	Kaw
5.	Martin Davalos	KTM
6.	Justin Hill	Hon
7.	Aaron Plessinger	Yam
8.	Malcolm Stewart	Hon
9.	Vince Friese	Hon
10.	Dean Wilson	Hus
11.	Jason Anderson	Hus
12.	Justin Brayton	Hon
13.	Benny Bloss	Yam
14.	Tyler Bowers	Kaw
15.	Chad Reed	Hon
16.	Kyle Chisholm	Yam
17.	Adam Enticknap	Suz
18.	Daniel Herrlein	KTM
19.	Blake Baggett	KTM
20.	James Weeks	Yam
21.	Kyle Cunningham	Suz
22.	Ryan Breece	Suz

 

250SX Main Event:

1.	Chase Sexton	Hon
2.	RJ Hampshire	Hus
3.	Shane McElrath	Yam
4.	Jordon Smith	Kaw
5.	Jo Shimoda	Hon
6.	Enzo Lopes	Yam
7.	Garrett Marchbanks	Kaw
8.	Nick Gaines	Yam
9.	Jalek Swoll	Hus
10.	Josh Hill	Yam
11.	Cedric Soubeyras	Hus
12.	Jordan Bailey	Hon
13.	Jimmy Decotis	Suz
14.	Kevin Moranz	KTM
15.	Hunter Sayles	KTM
16.	Justin Starling	Hon
17.	Pierce Brown	KTM
18.	Grant Harlan	Hon
19.	Jeremy Martin	Hon
20.	Luke Neese	Hon
21.	Curren Thurman	KTM
22.	Lance Kobusch	KTM

 

450SX Points Standings:

1.	Eli Tomac	200/4 wins
2.	Ken Roczen	200/3 wins
3.	Justin Barcia	177/1 win
4.	Cooper Webb	176/1 win
5.	Jason Anderson	151
6.	Malcolm Stewart	137
7.	Adam Cianciarulo	128
8.	Justin Hill	127
9.	Justin Brayton	116
10.	Dean Wilson	113
11.	Blake Baggett	108
12.	Aaron Plessinger	108
13.	Zach Osborne	105
14.	Vince Friese	96
15.	Martin Davalos	83
16.	Tyler Bowers	58
17.	Chad Reed	39
18.	Kyle Chisholm	36
19.	Ryan Breece	26
20.	Justin Bogle	24

 

250SX East Points Standings:

1.	Chase Sexton	75/2 wins
2.	Shane McElrath	70/1 win
3.	RJ Hampshire	61
4.	Garrett Marchbanks	53
5.	Jordon Smith	47
6.	Jeremy Martin	44
7.	Jo Shimoda	44
8.	Josh Hill	41
9.	Enzo Lopes	36
10.	Joey Crown	31
11.	Jordan Bailey	29
12.	Jalek Swoll	28
13.	Nick Gaines	24
14.	Jimmy Decotis	24
15.	Cedric Soubeyras	22
16.	John Short	19
17.	Kyle Peters	17
18.	Jace Owen	17
19.	Kevin Moranz	13
20.	Hunter Sayles	13

QUALIFYING REPORT

The Atlanta Supercross—the middle point of the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross Series—is proving to be somewhat of a simple track, although the dirt itself may end up making the track more and more technical as the night goes on.

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac topped daytime qualifying today for the first time all year, having qualified 2nd at every round prior to Atlanta (behind now-injured teammate Adam Cianciarulo at the first 7 races, and then behind Justin Hill last Saturday in Texas). He leads Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen in the championship by 7 points heading into tonight’s race inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Roczen qualified 2nd for tonight’s race, about 2 tenths of a second behind Tomac, while Motoconcepts/Bullfrog Spas/Smartop Honda’s Justin Hill came in 3rd another 4 tenths back, but 1 thousandth of a second in front of Rockstar

After his incredibly gnarly crash last week in Arlington, some were surprised to see Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb back on the track in Atlanta, but the one thing Webb isn’t is a quitter. As long as he’s physically capable of doing it, he’s going to fight to defend his 2019 title. He’s 26 points back—exactly one full race worth of points—and there are still 9 rounds left to run. He qualified 7th for tonight’s race with a 51.222, just behind Anderson’s teammate Dean Wilson in fifth and Hill’s teammate Malcolm Stewart in sixth. Just behind Webb came Monster Energy Yamaha’s Justin Barcia—only one point behind Webb in the championship chase—and then Team Tedder/Monster Energy KTM’s Martin Davalos and Roczen’s teammate Justin Brayton.

Mountain Motorsports/cbdMD Honda’s Chad Reed qualified the best he has all year tonight in 13th, while Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne is sitting out Atlanta, and likely a few more races, after a big crash while practicing during the week left him with a broken rib, bruised lungs, and a sprained wrist.

And in the 250SX East, we’ve had a different top qualifier in all three rounds so far. At round one, it was GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin on top (he qualified 6th tonight in Atlanta), and then at round two it was Monster Energy/Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Shane McElrath. Tonight, it was round-two winner Chase Sexton, also on a GEICO Honda, who put his motorcycle on top during daytime qualifying with a blistering 50.406. Sexton was the only 250SX racer with a time in the 50-second range.

McElrath qualified second with a 51.043, and then the rest of the field was significantly off of the pace of the top two.

Third in qualifying went to Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire with a 51.835, which means that not only was Sexton over a half-second faster than second place in qualifying, but his time was almost 1.5 seconds faster than third place!

Fourth place in qualifying went to TLD/Red Bull KTM rookie Pierce Brown. Brown was injured at the start of the series and missed the first two rounds of the 250SX East, but he put in a great time in qualifying. Something to consider, though, is that Brown qualified through the ‘B’ practice/qualifying session, which means he was on a slightly better-groomed, smoother race track than the three racers who qualified in front of him, and the 11 racers who qualified next-in-line behind him. Brown’s time came on the third lap of his second qualifying session, whereas most of the top times in the ‘A’ group came late in their session. We will see how it pans out once the gate drops this afternoon.

Racing kicks off at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific, so tune in on NBC Sports if you’re not close enough to go buy a ticket and take in the action first-hand.

2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series
Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Atlanta, Georgia
QUALIFYING RESULTS: February 29, 2020 (Round 9)

450SX Combined Qualifying Results

1.	Eli Tomac	Kaw	50.294
2.	Ken Roczen	Hon	50.514
3.	Justin Hill	Hon	50.921
4.	Jason Anderson	Hus	50.922
5.	Dean Wilson	Hus	51.089
6.	Malcolm Stewart	Hon	51.141
7.	Cooper Webb	KTM	51.222
8.	Justin Barcia	Yam	51.282
9.	Martin Davalos	KTM	51.302
10.	Justin Brayton	Hon	51.452
11.	Blake Baggett	KTM	51.776
12.	Aaron Plessinger	Yam	51.788
13.	Chad Reed	Hon	51.867
14.	Tyler Bowers	Kaw	52.110
15.	Vince Friese	Hon	52.193
16.	Benny Bloss	Yam	52.216
17.	Alex Ray	Kaw	52.281
18.	Kyle Cunningham	Suz	52.336
19.	Adam Enticknap	Suz	52.354
20.	Ryan Breece	Suz	52.768

250SX East Combined Qualifying Results

1.	Chase Sexton	Hon	50.406
2.	Shane McElrath	Yam	51.043
3.	RJ Hampshire	Hus	51.835
4.	Pierce Brown	KTM	51.948
5.	Garrett Marchbanks	Kaw	51.955
6.	Jeremy Martin	Hon	51.988
7.	Jordon Smith	Kaw	52.205
8.	Jimmy Decotis	Suz	52.227
9.	Nick Gaines	Yam	52.391
10.	Cedric Soubeyras	Hus	52.626
11.	Josh Hill	Hon	52.689
12.	Enzo Lopes	Yam	52.740
13.	Jalek Swoll	Hus	52.833
14.	Jo Shimoda	Hon	52.886
15.	Jordan Bailey	Hon	52.907
16.	Justin Starling	Hon	52.941
17.	Jerry Robin	Hon	53.027
18.	Jeremy Hand	Hon	53.072
19.	Hunter Sayles	KTM	53.358
20.	John Short	Hon	53.375

 

2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Schedule

Round 1	January 4	Anaheim, California
Round 2	January 11	St. Louis, Missouri
Round 3	January 18	Anaheim, California
Round 4	January 25	Glendale, Arizona
Round 5	February 1	Oakland, California
Round 6	February 8	San Diego, California
Round 7	February 15	Tampa, Florida
Round 8	February 22	Arlington (Dallas), Texas
Round 9	February 29	Atlanta, Georgia
Round 10	March 7	Daytona, Florida
Round 11	March 14	Indianapolis, Indiana
Round 12	March 21	Detroit, Michigan
Round 13	March 28	Seattle, Washington
Round 14	April 4	Denver, Colorado
Round 15	April 18	Foxborough, Massachusetts
Round 16	April 25	Las Vegas, Nevada
Round 17	May 2	Salt Lake City, Utah