Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ARENACROSS:' .Prolite Arenacross Series . . Rounds 5·6: Lazy EArena (Above) Grayson Goodman turned In a trio of second-place finishes before finally posting a win In saturday's 250cc main event. (Below) Terry TInney made the top five In three out of four main events. A capacity crowd turned out for saturday evening's program. ~ 0\ 0\ ,..-4 C'l~ By Kat Spann ~ IfG lffiiRI( oIGIAN;1 SS5 iilJ 4-1 2 ,.0 (l) ~ 12 ~ • ill y Whitley claimed the main event wins in Friday night's 125 and 250cc Pro classes at the fifth round of the AMA ProLite National Arenacross Series at the Lazy E Arena, then went on to top the Rad 'n Bad Dash B .m btl' ~. . . _...... ." --a ;> f I ......... for Cash as well . Clint l atham nearly xecuted a similar performance at Saturday's sixth round, winning the 12Scc Pro main and the $1000 Dash for Cash, but a miscue over a 70-foot double gave the 250cc victory to Grayson Goodman. A record crowd turned out for Saturday night's Mike Kidd-promoted event. The Mike Lambert-designed track used ne arly every square inch of available space in the large arena, and two sets of d oubles had the pros soaring nearly to the ceiling. Abundant rockers, whoops, stu tter bumps, tabletops and turns kept things interesting. The Tucker-Rocky/MSR/LCS/CTi / Smith/Tuf/Works/J&M Racing/FMFsponsored Whitley began things right by dominating Friday evening's 125 and 2S0cc heat races. He and Terry Tinney then jumped out in front of the 12Scc main, with the pro field charging after. The red flag came out after five laps when Jason Krempin went down in a whoop section. After Krempin was helped off the track, a staggered restart had Whitley in front, followed by Jason Edwards, who soon flew by Whitley for the lead. "My goggles fogged up while waiting for the rest of the riders to line up , so when the starter waved the flag I could hardly see anything but Jason flying by me ," said Whitley. Edwards couldn 't hold Whitley off for .l ong , th ough; he recaptured the lead in the long whoops section and settled out front. For two laps, LCS/ AXO/Oakley / Jeff Long/N-Style-sponsored Goodman rode behind Edwards in third, but he passed for second down the start s tra igh t. Doug Stone also chased Edwards down to finish in third behind Whitley and Goodman. Whitley returned primed and ready for the 250cc main event, and it was a . night for Hondas as Goodman and Tinney shared the holeshot, with Latham al so in the hunt . Whitley blasted up from behind, ov ertaking both Tinney and Latham and setting out after Goodman. It took Whitley less than two laps before he powered by Goodman with a sm oo th insid e line into the whoops. From that point on, Whitle y paced himself all the way to the win, with Goodman claiming second spot. A race for th ird rag ed between Latham, Tinney and Roy Schellenberger, with the three swapping positions several times. Tinney secured the position on the final lap and held it to the checkered flag. In the Dash for Cash, which included the racers with the six fastest lap times during the 250cc heat races, Whitle y put the icing on the cake with another win. Miles of tra ffic poured towards th e packed arena for Saturday night's racing action, and Brad Woolsey got them on thei r feet as he holeshot the first 125cc heat race . John Hedden and Schellenberger cras hed in the whoops early in the first lap, which allowed young Jack Brassfield to take the number-two spot. Goodman followed in third, then passed Brassfield on lap two and began to reel in the leading Woolsey. Goodman took cha rg e at the white flag, and Woolsey and Brassfield .followed the more experienced ride r past the checkers. "Last weeke n d I thought I wa s placed in the heat races with the big gu ns on p u rpo se," said Brassfield. "It was unb elievable that I could qualify for the main against such talent! This is the ultimatelt U-;8...,..•. ' '08 J AQ . .. . ) ~CCEI~. l tona) '( 11 '1 Chris""Daubitz earned hWspoHrrthe m ain by -w inning the third -heat,-after battlingl . th Whitley, Edwards and Kaylom 'Young. Whitley' was lead ing w hen he crashed hard over the triples and was taken to the hospital, possibly .with broken ribs. With Whitley out of the picture, the 12Sec main was wide open for the other I r I riders. Team Texas/Fox-backed Latham holeshot ahead of Doug Stone and Goodman. Goodman charged by Stone through the whoops in lap two, but Latham had built up a considerable advantage and couldn't be chased down before the finish. "Actually, I felt really confident tonight after my performance last night," said Latham. "I really felt good in pra ctice, so I was stoked for the main. I hate to see Billy get hurt. He was a trainer when I rode 60s, so just being on the same gate with him and the rest of these pros is mind-boggling!" The Dash for Cash brought out some of the best racing of the evening, as six racers lined up to do battle. Goodman holeshot the four- lap race with Tinney in second. Fired-up after his 125cc victory, Latham made an unbelievable move at the end of the first lap, blasting off the first of three jumps at the finish line and flying past Tinney in a triple jump that no one else attempted all night. Lathan chased down the leading Goodman and repeated his daring move to shoot into the lead, but Goodman was able to recover the point in the next comer. As the white flag came out, both Goodman and Latham cannoned off a triple, but Goodman came up slightly short, while Latham landed perfectly and raced to the win and the money. Latham went in to the 2S0cc main event with a triple-header in m ind. eager to im itate Whitley's feat of the . previous night. Goodman and Latham shared the hol eshot in the lO-lap rac e but Goodman held down the lead out of tum one. Latham shot off the big double an d landed with his foot off the peg. straining his knee and allowing Stone and Tinney to slip by . Tinney passed Stone over the second double near the end of lap five, and Trey Owens rode . out of nowhere to pass Stone as well Schellenberger cruised up into fourth and blasted his way past Owens on lap eight, in tent on catching Tinney, then passed him in the whoops when Tumey got a little si d ewa ys and faltere d. Owens moved in next for his attack or. Tinney, and took over th ird at the checkered flag. Goodman was ahead of Schellenberger for the win. "I was running in second behind Grayson, but when I made that mistake, it made me th ink of Billy, and I just couldn't shake it," said Tinney, who is close friends with Whitley. "I think I'm both physically and mentally prepared to race this series an d the supercros s se ries," said Goodman "I' m looking for sponsorship next year. " "I've been working out and sticking with it ," said Schellenberger. "I was kind of scared at the beg inning of the series, due to some injuries I got a few years back, but I'm overcoming that and riding good. " O! Lazy E Arena Guthrie, Oklahoma Results : January 14-15 (Rounds 5-6 of 16) FRIDAY 125: 1. Billy Whitl ey (Hon ); 2 Grayson Goodmal (Ho n); 3. Doug Stone (Kaw); 4. Trey Ow ens (Yam); 5. Terry Tumey (Hon). 250: 1. Billy Whitley (Hoo); 2. Grayso n Good o.... (Ho n); 3. Teny Ti nney (Ho n); 4. Roy Sche lle nbe rg", (Kaw); 5. Sha wn Morgan (Kaw). so, t . The ron Cook (Yam); 2. Cod y Dickey (Yam); 3 Dustin Jones (Yam); 4. Larry Klinge r (Yam); 5. Randy Childers (Yam). SATURDAY 125: 1. Clinl'm (Hon) ; 2. Grayso n Coodmaa . (Ka w); 4. Doug Stone (Kaw); i (Hon); 3. Sha Jason Edwards (Hon) . 250: 1. Gr a ys on Goodman (Han); 2. Roy Schellenberger (K3w ); 3. Trey Owens (Yam); 4. Terry Tinney (Hon); 5. Dou g Slone (Kaw) . so, 1. Cody Dickey (Yam); 2. Theron Cook (Yam) ; 1 Dustin Cook (Yam); 4. Larry Klinger (Yam); 5. Zach Ta u (I~). Upcoming Rounds: Rounds 6-7: Topeka, Kansas, January 21-23 Rounds 8-9: Uncaln, Nebraska, February 4-6

• Cover