TICKLE, HILL LEAD DODGE INTO EIGHTH-CONSECUTIVE SX MAIN EVENT

February 23, 2013

ATLANTA, GA (February 24, 2013) - Team Dodge was well represented at Round 8 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series as RCH Racing riders Broc Tickle and Josh Hill both made the evening feature.  Broc Tickle led the Dodge Boys with a 12th-place finish while teammate Josh Hill scored 16th. 

With a near-capacity crowd of over 70,000 spectators in attendance, the world’s greatest dirt bike riders were challenged with a very technical racetrack that developed deep rutted corners and multiple racing lines. 

The rich red clay inside Atlanta’s Georgia Dome mirrored the two previous SX rounds with the race start being the determining factor as race winner James Stewart rode his Suzuki to a wire-to-wire race win.

BROC TICKLE (No. 20 Dodge/Sycuan Casino/RCH Racing/Bel-Ray/Suzuki Z450) earned his eight-consecutive Main Event start as the Michigan native fought off a tough inside starting gate position in Heat 2 to earn the automatic transfer.  Under heavy pressure from mid-gate riders, Tickle blasted into the 180-degree corner in sixth position as the field set charged into the first obstacle.  Tickle never budged racing has high as fourth on Lap 4 only to give up one position three laps later to finish fifth.

Tickle’s Main Event was uneventful as the Michigan native was pinched under heavy breaking In Turn 1 where he scored 15th.  Tickle would use the next five laps to gain two positions where he would score 12th.  Tickle now sits 11th in the 450SX Class rider point standings, two points shy of 10th.  Tickle commented on his tough race start.

“I was actually pretty good going down, got a pretty good jump and Millsaps, Stewart and me were all side-by-side in the first corner and I came in the first corner and I was pretty decent,” Tickle said. “I tried to hug around the inside and Millsaps came right in front of me and I was trying to follow him and I got a little bit close to him so I slowed down and I almost hit him so I slowed down and that’s when all those guys kind of funneled by me and I went back to probably 15th.” 

JOSH HILL (No. 75 Dodge/Sycuan Casino/RCH Racing/Bel-Ray/Suzuki Z450) used the afternoon practice sessions to hone in on the Georgia Dome track configuration that included a variety of obstacles including the very challenging whoop-sand section combination. 

The Oregon native made it a hat trick earning his third consecutive Main Event with A solid performance in Heat 1.  Breaking eighth when the gate dropped, Hill would battle Weston Peick for the final five laps of the eight-lap qualifier that included an elbow-to-elbow exchange through the gnarly whoop section and score a ninth-place finish.

In the Main Event, Hill broke for the far outside gate and was pushed wide as the 20-rider field fought for early position.  Unable to recover from the poor start, Hill would gain two positions and finish 16th. 

“I’m happy I made the main,” Hill said. “I made improvements.  We did have three more guys here this weekend that are fast.  My speed was there.  It was better in practice.  Once the night show came on I just never got comfortable.  I was just riding the people’s pace in front of me and that was just the story of my whole night.” 

Stewart earned his first win of the season followed by Ryan Villopoto and Davi Millsaps to round out the podium. Round Nine of the 17-race series heads to St. Louis and the Edward Jones Dome next Saturday night.

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