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AMAlEA Sports 1 25cc Eastern Regional Supercross Series Round 3: Georgia Dome Yamaha YZ250F, Reed won his with a time that was over eight seconds faster than the first heat, won by Brown. The start was a mess if you weren't near the front. After a short By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN ATLANTA, CA, FEB 23 !perfection. Three races into the AMA/EA Sports 125cc Eastern Regional Supercross Series, perfection is the only way to describe Chad Reed's season. The Boost Mobile/Yamaha/ Troy Racing-backed Australian shot from eighth on the first of 15 laps to take over the lead on the 12th, then cruised to a comfortable win - his third in a row, this one on the redclay floor of Atlanta's Georgia Dome. Team Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Michael Brown was second, with Red Bull KTM's Steve Boniface third. "I got a terrible start and nearly went down," Reed said after beating Brown by 5.520 seconds. "It's a little scary those first couple laps, those guys going everywhere. I took a few chances, but none of them put me on the ground. I could see him [Brown). He wasn't really pulling away, so I wasn't too worried about him. I just put the pressure on him. I want this championship more than anybody." Brown, the defending 125cc outdoor National Champion, said, "I'm satisfied with second place tonight. I need a win, and it has to happen at Daytona if I'm going to make a run at this thing. I'm. confident I have what it takes and I just have to put together a complete ride in the main." "Today I did not ride very good," Boniface said. "I am happy with this podium. I just have to ride with Chad [Reed) or Mike Brown." Boniface had a better night than teammate Grant Langston. The South African got caught up with four other riders in a first-tum melee, eventually getting away almost last. Riding like a man possessed, he was in the top 10 by the fourth lap and up to fifth at the halfway point, when he had a spectacular endo in a long jump section. He eventually finished 16th. Moto XXX's Kelly Smith, who led the pack into tum one and stayed out front for the first four laps, finished fourth, about three seconds behind Boniface and 1.5 seconds in front of Team Blimpie Suzuki's Buddy Antunez. With a clean streak of wins, Reed leads the championship with the maximum 75 points. Brown holds second with 62 points, Boniface is third at 54. MAIN The heat races had provided a preview of what was to come. Riding the 12 MARCH 6, 2002' cue • e n e _ s start chute, the riders funneled into a gO-degree left and into a section of nine jumps. Much of the field got through cleanly, but not Langston and a number of others. Kelly Smith was at the front, trailed by Georgian Robbie Horton on the Nielson Enterprises Honda, then Moto XXX's Larry Ward, Brown, Boniface, KTM/Cernics.com's John Dowd, and Reed, the top six slightly away from Reed, who was on the move. "Going into the final, I felt really confident," Reed said. "I just needed another holeshot and try not to deal with the other guys. That didn't happen. I got a terrible start. I guess down the first straightaway I got kind of lucky, I kind of chose a good line. I think I ended coming out just two bikes behind Mike [Brown). I figured I'd stay up there. I knew Mike would go to the front." He was right. Brown used his momentum in a jump section to take second from Horton, who would eventually fall to 13th. There was only one whoop section this week. It was short, but deep, and a lot of riders had a hard time maintaining their speed. Brown wasn't among them. Speeding across the peaks of the whoops, Brown closed right up on Smith on the fourth lap. It would take until the fifth lap for Brown to take the lead from Smith in what turned out to be a popular passing spot, a tabletop landing pad at the end of the nine-jump section. There were two distinct lines, one on the inside and one on the outside. Smith landed on the outside, Brown on the inside, then powered out for the lead. Smith tried to make a run at Brown only to find himself attacked from behind by Boniface, who took over second, lost it, then took it back. By then, it was the seventh lap and Brown was leading Boniface, Reed, Smith and Ward. Reed moved into second on the eighth lap, trailing Brown by about 3.5 seconds at the line. He'd used the same tabletop landing area to take over second from Boniface. Brown's lead was down to 3.2 seconds on the next lap, and half that ending the 10th lap. Clearly, Reed was coming. "I had my chance to put some distance on those guys when Reed was battling with [Kelly] Smith, but I could just never put it together," Brown said. The order on the 10th lap was Brown, Reed, Boniface, Smith and Langston. Langston had recovered from being on the ground in the firstturn pile-up, but was about to go down again. Toward the end of the long jump section, Langston landed on his front wheel and was thrown over the handlebars of the tumbling