Good, Bad, 'n Ugly: Atlanta 1

250 Class

The Good: Jordon Smith | 4th Place

After two rough rounds for Jordon, Atlanta was the bounce-back performance that he so badly needed. There's still a lot of room for him to improve and get back to where he was before his wrist injury, but this is clearly going to be more of a process than many of us expected it to be. It's so easy for us to assume that it was a typical wrist injury and that he'd be fine after letting it heal during the offseason, but it sounds like it gave him problems for a long time and set him back in his preparation for this season. I'm not sure if he'll get up to speed in time to win a race this year unless a whole host of things go his way, but I think he'll secure a podium or two by the end of the series. This could be looked at as a re-building year for Jordon at this point. 

The Good Bonus: Jo Shimoda | 5th Place

Considering Jo was apparently pretty far off the pace of his teammates at one point during off-season training, his results through the first three rounds (10th-10th-5th) have been pretty impressive. So while Supercross may have been a sharp learning curve for him when he first started training for it, he's clearly a quick learner and is making big strides every week. His riding style is also very smooth and fun to watch, similar to Chase Sexton in a lot of ways. He also came through the pack to secure this fifth-place finish, and any time a rookie is able to slice through the pack without having any major issues is an impressive performance to me. It shows that he already has some decent racecraft. We'll see how he does at a more outdoor style track this coming weekend. 

The Bad: Shane McElrath | 3rd Place

This was the first race of the year where Shane was clearly a step behind his closest title rivals during the Main Event. Sure, he didn't win Arlington, but he was also coming from behind in two of the Triple Crown races and he won the last one. That was not the case in Atlanta. He started in third, made a quick pass on Chase Sexton early in the race, got passed back, couldn't really make inroads on RJ Hampshire in second place, and finished in third place. That was his race, and while we can't expect these guys to never have an off round, Shane has to be careful here. That's two wins in a row now for Chase and it's almost palpable how much his confidence has grown over the past two weeks. Shane needs to shut this down now, and I'd say a win in Daytona would be a good place to start.

The Ugly: Jeremy Martin & Joey Crown

This was just an unfortunate result for Jeremy Martin at the end of the day. I don't necessarily think he had podium speed, but I do believe he was on track for another fourth-place until he made a slight mistake in the sand and landed on a tuff block that was pushed out into the track by RJ Hampshire. He had to make a stop in the mechanic's area to get his rear fender ripped off, and that was all she wrote. He was only able to make it back to 19th place by the end of the race, and as a result, he slid from third to sixth in the standings. The good news? Next week is Daytona, and Jeremy is very good at Daytona. 

Joey Crown was a rider who I thought was really going to make a name for himself as this season progressed, but a crash on press day left him with a broken collarbone and will force him to the sidelines for a few weeks. At least it wasn't worse, and I look forward to seeing him out there again soon.

450 Class

The Good: Ken Roczen Wins & Justin Barcia Returns to the Podium

Ken Roczen's win in Atlanta was about as textbook as a win can be. He got out front early and just checked out. He was gone so quickly that he was hardly shown on the broadcast. His final margin of victory was nearly 14 seconds, and he also brought himself level with Eli Tomac in the points standings heading into Daytona. A famous saying is that the championship really starts in Daytona, and whoever leaves that race with the red plate is far more likely to win the title. So...who do you have leaving Daytona with the points lead? Ken or Eli? 

It has been a while since we've seen Justin Barcia up on the podium, but I wouldn't really say it was because of a lack of speed. He has been coming through the pack a lot recently. It seems like, and he has consistently finished just off of the podium in fourth or fifth place. He also had to come through the pack in Atlanta, but several big passes and a couple of things going his way (like Eli taking out Blake Baggett) pushed him to the front. This finish elevated him to third in the standings, and while I still think the title is between Ken and Eli, this is shaping up to be Justin's best Supercross season in a long time. 

The Good Bonus: Eli Tomac & Cooper Webb Salvage Points

A poor start hampered Eli Tomac from the beginning, but an ill-advised pass attempt on Blake Baggett early on left them both on the ground, and he had to restart his charge all over again. He was still able to come from 15th up to fourth place by the checkered flag, but he did lose his points advantage on Ken Roczen, and he'll have to share the red plate with him in Daytona. It could have been way, way worse, though, and I have to imagine that he's happy that this didn't turn into one of those throwaway races that he tends to have every year. 

What an insane effort by Cooper Webb to not only race just a week after his huge crash in Arlington, but to also finish in a podium position! He absolutely showed why he's the defending champion. The toughness of these guys will never cease to amaze me. The bad news for Cooper, of course, is that he's now 24 points down in the title chase. However, the good news is that there are eight more rounds. 

The Bad: Jason Anderson | 11th Place

Jason Anderson has had some really weird races as of late (outside of Arlington). And Atlanta was no different with him having a couple of run-ins with other riders and stalling it at one point, which caused a pileup. This season has really not gone the way I expected for him, and I don't think there's much to the "why" other than he has just made some mistakes and had some bad luck. I really thought that Arlington was going to be the result that set him back straight, but now I'm not so sure. Let's see how he does in Daytona.

The Ugly: Zach Osborne | DNQ

Right as it seemed like things were turning around for Zach, he had a practice crash right before Atlanta and sustained a broken rib, two bruised lungs, and a sprained wrist. Zach's a tough guy, so I don't think these injuries will keep him out for a long time, but this is just another bump in what has been a rough sophomore season for the multi-time 250 champ. Get well soon, Zach.

Words by Grant Dawson

Photos by Steve Giberson