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AMA 1 25ee Eastern Regional Supereross Series Round 2: Georgia Dome Easterners sweep the podium in Adanta By PAT SCHUTTE PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN ATLANTA,GA,FEB.22 . E rock Sellards captured his first '125cc AMA/THQ Supercross Series win of the season in fine fashion after taking to the tacky, brightred Georgia clay - similar to the conditions on his home Outdoor National track at Troy, Ohio. The Boost Mobile/Yamaha/Troy Racing rider ran away from the entire field early, bringing with him the overall points lead two races into the 125cc Eastern Regional Supercross Series. Joining Sellards on the podium were Team Pro-Circuit/Kawasaki/ Chevy Trucks' Mike Brown, who came from behind and rode well for second place, and round-one winner Branden Jesseman, who also had to play catch-up for third. This marks the first time this season that the entire podium was made up of riders born and bred east of the Mississippi - Ohio, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Michigander Kelly Smith pulled the holeshot on one of the season's longest starts, but he was quickly passed by Sellards in the rhythm section. This, according to Sellards, would prove key in his winning of the race. "My YZ250F got me off to a great start, and I did the rhythm section right at the beginning the hard way, and I just took it from there," said Sellards, who has a two-point lead over Jesseman (47 to 45) in the (Above) Michael Brown challenged Sellards midrace, but the Ohioan eventually pulled away. (Above left) This is the view of Brock Sellards everyone had from the start in the 125cc main - if they could see him at all. He won by about four overall Eastern Region points chase. "I was then able to pullout to a little bit of a lead while those guys [Steve Boniface, Erick Vallejo and Mathieu Lalloz] were battling for second. I got to ride my own race with my own track, which was excellent." With Sellards out front, Brown (who was sixth after the first lap) and Jesseman (eighth after a lap) started their ascent through the pack on the highly technical Georgia Dome track. Another rider absent from the front of the pack was Amsoil/Chaparral Honda's Michael Byrne. Like the previous week, "Byrner," who won the first heat race, tangled with another rider early in the race and had to race through traffic for 15 laps just to make the top five. cue I e seconds. By lap five, Brown, who won the second heat race, put the pressure on Boniface and took over second. Sellards' YZ125-mounted teammate Ivan Tedesco then went at it with Lalloz and took over fourth - which led to the 125cc main event's biggest wreck when Tedesco and Boniface came together, the end result forcing Tedesco from the race and to the Asterisk Mobile Medical Center with an "apparent concussion," according n e _ so • MARCH 5, 2003 13