Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DARENACROSS AMA National Championship Arenacross Series: Round 6 e .. ........ ........ J imm y G addis (37), shown here with J ason Edwards (121), had a near perfec t weeke n d, winning th ree of four Pro classes. Gaddis golden in Ector County Coliseum By Ka t Spann ODESSA, TX, FEB. 21·23 o r th e seco nd week in a row , Jimmy Gaddis ca p tur ed th ree of four Pro cla ss main events, as the Mi ke Kidd -promoted AMA National Ch ampi on ship Ar enacross Series stopped in Odessa 's Ector County Coliseum. Suzuk ilLCS -ba cked Gad d is a lso crossed th e l ine first in Sa turday ni gh t's 125cc Pro main , but he a nd runner-up Cliff Palmer were disqua lified fro m the event after they ig nored .Ilags warning of a dow ned rider, a nd completed a double jump. Bill y Whitley, who had led mu ch of the 20-lap main. became the win ner. Although Gaddis has dominat ed the past two event s, Pa lmer holds com manding leads in th e poi nt sta ndi ngs for bo th Pro classes with o ne round remain ing in the ser ies. O n Friday night, J aso n Langford go t th e ho leshot in the firs t o f two l 25cc Pro heat races and led all th e wa y to th e checkered flag. Den nis Hawthorne held o ff Ca na d ian Ro ss Ped erson to finis h seco nd . Pal mer pulled th e ho lesho t in heat two an d left Clay H oenshell and Jason U psha w to ba tt le for second. Upshaw p revai led for severa l laps until Ga ddis took over the ru n ner-u p spot. Gaddis the n moved in on Pal mer, but fell. Upshaw a lso fell a nd Palmer la nded on h im wh en he sai led o ver a do ub le j u mp. Palmer quickly remounted and F 22 co n tin ued in the lead before J ason Edwards co u ld catch him, w h i le Upshaw was ta ken to the hospital wi th a broken sho u lder , co lla rbo ne, ribs a nd a p u nct ure d lung. Pal mer rode o n to wi n th e heat and was foll ow ed across the fin ish line by Ed wards and Wh itley, whi le Hoenshell and Ga d d is were sent to th e sem i. , At th e start of thesem i, H oenshell held the early lead before being pass ed by Shawn Morga on th e firs t la p. Gaddis also go t by Hoen sh ell, th en took first fro m Mo rga before th e open ing lap was completed . Gadd is sta yed out fro nt to co llect the win, Mor ga hung o n to seco nd, wh ile J ason Krern pin mo ved u p to fini sh third. Wh en the rubber ba nd sna p ped to sta rt th e 20-lap l 25cc main , H aw th orne roc keted into firs t fo llow ed by Gaddis, Langford an d Pa lmer. Gaddis overtook Hawtho rne in th e rockers just befor e th e first la p ended, wh ile Palm er moved by Langfor d for third. Pa lm er spent th e next severa l laps foll o win g H a wth orn e a nd fin all y passed him on la p seven. H awthorn e h u ng on to th ird until he fell in th e rockers on the 18th lap, which a llowed Langford to ge t by. At th e checke red flag, Ga ddis crossed th e line with the win followed by Palmer a nd La ngford , whi le Whitl ey and Edwa rds also passed Ha wthorne to finish fourth and fift h, respecti vely. In th e first 250cc heat race, Wh itl ey led th e firs t la p until Gadd is 'got by a p p roac h ing th e finish line. H aw thorne moved in o n Wh it ley a nd for 'the next few la ps th ey battled for seco n d. H awth orn e fin all y edged a head a t the whi te flag, but Ga ddis was too far a hea d tQ, ca tch a nd he took th e wi n. H awthorne fin ish ed second a nd Whitley claimed third. La ng ford go t th e ho lesh ot in hea t tw o fo ll ow ed by Ed wa r ds, w h i le Palmer for ced his way ahead of Pederso n 10 take over third. on th e first la p. Edwards moved in on La ngford o n la p eigh t, th en jumped in to th e lead as they go t the wh it e flag. Edw ards stayed ahead o n the last la p to cla im th e win over La ngford and Pa lm er. In the semi : Morga pulled ah ead o f H oen shell to tak e-th e lead on the first la p a nd not lo ng after th a t Pederson also passed H oenshell for seco nd. T he top three rema ined th e same at th e fin ish wi th Morga getti ng th e win , Pederso n seco nd a nd H oenshell th ird . At th e sta rt o f the 250cc main, Gaddis reach ed the first turn in front of Whi tley, Edw ards a nd th e rest of th e pack. Edwards sailed by Wh itl ey over th e do ub les o n th e first la p , th en a few la ps la ter La ngford cha rged b y Whi tley as well. On lap six, Palmer moved up to fou rth and was p ressuring Langford for thi rd, wh ile not far behi nd Ha wtho rne was trying to pass fourth-place Whitley. A la p la ter Edwards took the lead fro m Gadd is, and for the next five laps the two 'r iders battled, as Gaddis tri ed to retaliat e. Ga ddis fina lly succeeded in passin g Edwa rds o n la p 12, th en he stayed in front to co llec t hi s seco nd wi n o f th e nigh t. P a lm er got by Langford to grab th ird at the fini sh, w hi le H aw th orn e passed Whitley to , com plete the top five. Sa tur day night's acti on saw Gaddis lead th e first 125cc P ro heat race fro m start to finish wh ile Ed wards passed H awthorne in the whoops for the seco nd-p lace fini sh in g position, In hea t two, Hoens hell a nd Wh it ley exited th e first tu rn sideby side wit h H oenshell in ching a head as th ey flew over a doubl e jump. But Pa lmer surprised th em bo th as he shot into the lead th rough the whoops a nd stayed ou t fro nt to th e checkered flag. H oensh ell the n fell back to last whi le Langford sho t u p to th ird. Langford th en ca ugh t a nd passed Whitley for second, but the re was no wa y he co uld ca tch Pa lm er. ' The sta rt of th e ma in saw Whitley jump into the lead, whi le G addis and Lang fo rd crashed at the start, Gaddis q uick ly remo unted, while La ngford was a bit sha ken and resumed th e race a t a slower pace. Whitley stayed ou t front until lap eigh t when Edw ards soared into the lead over a do uble j um p. By thi s lim e Ga ddis had moved up to fifth , then slipped into fou rt h a t th e halfwa y po in t o f the 20-lap race. A lap lat er Ga ddis passed Pal mer for th ird , a nd as he went after Whi tley the leader Edwa rds went down. The redcross flag q ui ck ly went up a nd Whitley ro lled over the do ubl e j ump, whil e Gaddis a nd Pal mer overl oo ked the warning flag in their battle for second a nd too k the doub le in orie lea p . Edwards was' a ble to rem o u nt in fourth. fiy la p 11 the Gaddis / Pa lmer ba ttle caugh t Wh itley, a nd Ga ddis was th e fir st to pass with Palmer qu ickl y follo wing him into seco nd. Gaddis ' stayed a head to the chec kered flag with ' Palmer clos e behi nd in second, but both rider s wer e d isqu alifi ed for jumping the double when the red -cro ss flag was d isp la yed. T ha t gave Whi tley the wi n over Edwa rds a nd Morga. In t h e fi rst 250 cc heat , it was Whitley's tu rn to be pena lized as he jumped the sta rt a nd was moved to th e back ro w for the restart. Pal mer a nd Edwards battled for th e first two la ps until th e cha in on Palmer 's Suzuki dera iled. H a wth orne took up second wh er e he finishe d , behind w in ner Edwar ds. Morga la nded th ird a nd Whitley claimed fou rt h. The seco nd heat saw H oen sh ell get th e ho leshot , whil e Pederson a nd Gaddis flew by Lan gford on the first lap to tak e seco nd a nd th ird , respectively. It took two la ps for Ga ddis to find a .way past Pederson for seco nd, th en he q uick ly close d in on H oenshell a nd pressured the lead er. Ga ddis found his o pe n ing in the roc kers, wh ile La ng for d shot u p a nd pa ssed H oen she ll a sho rt time lat er. At the fini sh it was G addi s wi th the wi n o ver La ngford a nd H oenshell. At th e start o f the main , Gaddis grabbed th e hol esh o t with H oen sh ell , Edw ards a nd the rest of the pack right beh ind him. Edwards fell back on the fir st lap a nd Pederson took up third ah ead o f Pa lm er a nd Mor ga. On lap five P ed er son o vertoo k Hoenshell for second, a nd a short time la ter Palmer p us hed H oens hell bac k a nothe r position. H oenshell was a lso passed by H awthorne a few laps la ter. Just past the halfway point, Pal mer took seco nd from Pederson , bu t he wou ld never ge t close to Ga dd is: who rode o n for hi s third w in of the

• Cover