Arenacross Finishes Up In Amarillo
T
he 2020 Kicker Arenacross
Championship came to a
close at the Amarillo National
Center in Amarillo, Texas, March
9, without its new champion,
Kyle Peters. After having already
clinched the title the previous
week in Salt Lake, Peters sat out
the race to rest an injury. Still, the
rest of the top five was far from
decided going into the single
night of racing in Texas.
As usual, the 250 Pro Sport
heat races kicked off the show.
Kyle Bitterman (Kawasaki) won
the first heat, followed by Geran
Stapleton (Honda) and Jaylend
McCarty (Honda). Gared Steinke
(Kawasaki) won heat two ahead of
Todd Bannister (Kawasaki) in sec-
ond and Greye Tate (Kawasaki) in
third. Darian Sanayei (Kawasaki)
got boxed out by Steinke on the
first lap of heat two and was un-
able to finish the heat race.
Sanayei was back for the 450
Pro heats and won heat one.
Bitterman finished second and
Bannister came in third. Steinke
won the second heat ahead of
Stapleton and McCarty.
The race of the night and perhaps
the entire season was the 250
Pro main. The race started out as
a battle between Bitterman and
Bannister fighting for first place
through the first lap, with Steinke
right behind. But by the end of
the second lap, Steinke had
moved into first, followed by Bit-
terman and Bannister. During the
third lap, it became clear this race
was going to be a battle to the
finish between Steinke and Bit-
terman. Bitterman moved ahead
of Steinke by the end of the third
lap and held onto the lead (albeit
slightly) through lap 10, but on the
final turn before the finish line, on
the second-to-last lap, Steinke cut
inside and was able to pass Bitter-
man for first. Sanayei, who had
been in fifth place for most of the
race, had slowly but surely moved
IN
THE
WIND
P36
Gared Steinke (726) scored a close
win over Darian Sanayei (457)
and Kyle Bitterman (581) in the
250 Pro Sport final at the Amarillo
Arenacross. PHOTOS: JACK JAXON
