Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda: Atlanta Round 8 Supercross 2015

Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda -- Race day excitement was on overdrive at the round 8 AMA Supercross series. The night which was the first of two back-to-back stops of the Monster Rally series at Atlanta Georgia Dome was a race of terrific accomplishments for Team Honda HRC. Trey Canard progressed up in point’s standings consolidating his position in touted second place. A power ride rounded off by a spectacular podium finish saw to this achievement by Canard. Among other Team Honda members Cole Seely had a more satisfying race day rebounding after a hiccupping previous race. He progressed to a stronger fourth place one slot behind his teammate.

It was a showcase performance by Trey Canard riding a factory Honda CRF450R. Having won the heat race he passed the checkered flag on a third place finish during final race. He fell short of the two riders in front as a result of a poor pickup costing him precious race time. Yet overall it was a formidable performance by Canard who executed an impressive ride by advancing to top pick of ten from nowhere and cruising towards the checkered flag as third fastest rider of the race. Seely who gained qualification in the semi race was dogging four other riders in the first of twenty laps in main race. Superb persistence saw him steadily advancing through the pack to cross at fourth place.

Highlights

·         The autograph signing session of Team Honda HRC riders represented by Cole Seely and Trey Canard was held on the eve before race. The racing duo was joined by Eli Tomac, Jordan Smith, Justin Bogle, Malcolm Stewart and R J Hampshire holding up the GEICO Honda end.

·         Team Honda HRC hosted Keisuke Inomoto, HRC Motocross Representative Director for the HRC Motocross on race night at Atlanta. Inomoto is expected to participate in a round of post-race meetings at California Headquarters of Honda before returning to Japan en-route to Losail, Qatar where he will then join Team HRC for the MXGP opening round on February 27th.

·         Canard qualified on pole for the second time in Supercross series during timed practices. The second qualifying time was 48.380 on second lap. Coming a close second was Tomac with a 48.628 and Seely placed at seventh place at 49.383.  The fastest man at the main event was again Canard with a terrific racing time of 48.811. This timing was on a track that had seen lowest timings for this season so far.

·         Atlanta Supercross track has a signature soil of red dirt, a fact that is remarked by most riders and mechanics who race in this track. Canard’s mechanic Brent Presnell is said to have remarked that Atlanta is rather weird because riders are hard put to predict what kind of Georgian clay they will have to race on. ‘Tonight it has been really slippery and hard. However, there was also some moisture. So it is definitely not the old school famous Georgian clay that we are used to seeing here’ he said.

·         Canard and Seely were also among the four riders who accomplished a spectacular quad jump following a section of whoops. An enthusiastic Seely commented on the jump saying ‘ I didn’t execute the jump in main event. Because during the night the line never formed and it was pretty tricky. However, during practice I and Trey managed it but we didn’t know that others had done it’.

·         Canard is in consistent form which he topped off with a finely executed podium finish in Atlanta. For Ken Roczen the night was not that favorable as he fell on second place in championship chase. He is now second to Ryan Dungey in the lineup with a fall of 25 points. Tomac with 115 points is now at fourth place while Seely remains in sixth position at 111 points. Interestingly there is only a five point gap between the fourth and seventh places in point standings.

·         The second and final stop in Georgia Dome Atlanta will take place following weekend where the Honda Red Riders will continue their quest for championship.

Fast Freddy gears up for Motocross

Fredrik Noren nicknamed as ‘Fast Freddy’ has been on a terrific roll for the past eight months. Following a twister performance as substitute rider for Factory Honda Team at the end session of AMA Motocross 2014 season, the speedy Swedish born rider was elected to the squad as official test and fill-in rider this year. The first six rounds of AMA Supercross campaigning for Noren were in 450SX class representing Crossland Honda and MotoSport.com. The time is now right for Fast Freddy to begin outdoor testing says Dan Betley, Team Honda HRC Manager. ‘Freddy wanted to first ride in Supercross and we thought it best for him to get his feet wet as he had not really ridden Supercross. It was a learning experience for all concerned as we wanted to see how he would perform on a 450. Most importantly we didn’t want him getting hurt as we have planned for him to move forward and prepare for outdoors’ Betley said. At present Noren is riding a test bike and expected to undertake endurance testing on engine parts. Betley informs that the plan is to move him into chassis testing when he is more acclimatized to motocross with the right speed. Noren will join the foray again towards the latter part of this year when he returns to race at Hangtown AMA Motocross.