Marietta, GA: May 8-9
Sponsored by Planet Bikes
Report and Photos by Grant Hansen

Brian Strieby pleases the crowd with some major air.

The track was a bit tame in its layout. No major obstacles or rhythm section to contend with, but the turns were hairy. Under normal conditions turn one is tight, but coupled with the moisture and kitty litter, it was quite hard to hold your line. Many a racer who got the coveted holeshot was rewarded by flying over the berm.

Although there was a large moto count, there was a small pro turnout because of the conflicting NBL national in Nashville. A whole 11 AA pros made the trek to Georgia, while a good 20+ A pros evened out the score. Matt Pohlkamp was flying and got just about every holeshot, but still had to settle for two seconds on Saturday as John Purse was back to old form and doubled day one. Purse was working the pack well and owned Pohlkamp in the turns.

On Sunday the track was packed harder, but the morning dew made for ice-like conditions. The track was super slick and racked up a bunch of victims. The worst fall of the day was awarded to John Purse. After colliding with Charles Townsend, Purse went down and broke his collar bone. We wish him a speedy recovery. Speaking of Townsend, he had a great Sunday by taking third in AA and second in Open. And Matt Hadan had a better day by winning his first national. Hadan was riding a prototype Sinister Steering Systems fork (Click here for spy photos) and it looked real burly. Strength tests showed that it would take almost 10,000 pounds of pressure to remove the fork leg from the crown. Can you say strong?

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