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(Left) Brad ley
Baquail
do minated the
50cc PeeWee
divis ion by
taking the wi ns
on both nights
of ra cing.
By Homer Eubanks
Photos by Ryan Metzger
SAN DIEGO, CA, OCT.3-5
~_IIIJ. he West Coast Arenacross
Challenge came to Sa n
Die go ' s Spor ts Arena with
three d ays of arenacros s actio n,
and Honda of Troy's Mike Craig wa lked
away w it h both 2S0cc Pro w ins. The
125cc class wasn' t so cu t and d ried , as
Casey johnso n, who came to San Diego
as the favorite aft er wi nnin g both th e
125cc and 250cc classes in the prev ious
arenacross held in Fresn o, won the 125c
Pro cl a ss o n Frid a y n ight, a nd je ff
Willoh edged out Dean Matson to take
the 12Scc Pro class on Saturday evening.
Pro fession al 125cc and 250cc rid er s
filled the arena bo th Frida y an d Saturda y nights to battl e ove r the $10, 000
pu rse, while Amateur racers tried their
s kills o n Sundav. On Trac Events
deem ed the event ; uccessful and plan a
ret u rn visit nex t year. The la st arenacross event in San Diego was back in
1985. Robert Hansen of On Trac said he
ha d expected the tre mend ous r id er
tu rnout they received, as well as the notso-great spectator turnout. "However,"
Hansen added, "a ft er everyo ne tells
their friends abo ut all the exciting raci ng
actio n at this event, I expect to pack the
place next yea r."
FRIDAY
At the start of the 250cc main event,
johnson pulled out front, with Craig
seco nd and Buddy Antunez third. Craig
mad e his move for the lead by taking
the long double an d cutting to the inside
of johnson. Once out front, Craig twis te d th e throttle an d put several bike
len gth s between himself and john son by
th e time th e checkers flew . An tu nez,
who had fallen in an earlier 125cc mot a,
recovered enough to take third in the
250cc mai n. Chris Wheeler managed to
snag fourth, and Dean Matson came in
fifth.
The 125cc main had sev era l ea rl y
lead cha nges as Rus ty Hollan d snared
the holesh ot, wi th johnson, Wheeler and
Matso n trail ing . An tunez was also in the
pack bu t fe ll o n lap two, effectiv ely
killing his cha nces for a top-five finish .
Holland saw Wheeler pu II th e classic
block-pass just after the triple jump to
move Holla nd back to second . On the
nex t lap , johnson moved up an d used
the same comer and block-pass to take
the lead from Wheeler. Matson was next
to try his hand at leading after moving
up, but johnson wouldn ' t a ll ow the
pass. johnson held on for the w in and
Ma tson tra iled in second. Thi rd we nt to
Holland, w ho had Jaso n Part ridge and
Wheeler behind him.
The promoters gave the 250cc riders
an extra chance at making some money
on Friday nigh t with the Westcoast Arenacross Series Dash for Cash, which had
a purse of $500. Craig took home $250
for his winning efforts, johnson got $150
for second place and Antunez took third
place, which was worth 5100.
SATURDAY
Craig sa w the gate drop in the 12-lap
250cc main event a little late and, therefore, had to contend with Holland and
Wheeler, who grabbed th e ea rly lead
aft er getting good jumps off th e gate.
Craig followed in third place for most of
the firs t lap before long-jumping the
double jump and grabbi ng second from
Wheeler. just as Craig passed Wheeler,
Holland 's Kawasa ki threw a chai n, giving the lead to Craig. With Craig out
front, the d istance bega n to grow greater
be tween most of th e ri ders. Wh eele r
he ld on to seco nd, wi th Pingree third .
Fou rt h place we nt to Takeski Koikeda,
w ho had Travis Pres ton trailing hi m in
fifth.
jeff Willo h came from a th ird-place
sta rting position to win the 12-lap 125cc
mai n event. At first, it appear ed defending champion An tunez might wi n as he
holesh ot the race, but the speedster then
los t contro l of his fron t wheel in the second roug h section . jus t as his helmet hit
the ha nd lebars, he go t planted int o the
face of the next whoop. Antunez was
ab le to shake it off, but ended the mo ta
in the 10 th positio n . Once A ntune z
drop pe d ou t, Holl and took con trol of
the race, but Willoh had p lans of his
own for the wi n as he hounded Holland.
Willoh made his move on the third lap
when Holland lost his rhythm in th e
whoops. Ho lland tried to get back into
the battle, but ran into more trouble in
the form of a hay bale. A few laps later,
Willoh go t lo ose in the whoops and
all owed Wheeler to close the gap, but
Will oh recovered in time. Willoh then
headed on to the finish lin e to take the
win , while Wheel er lost sec on d to a
chargi ng David Pingree. Wheeler was
third and fourth wen t to Partridge.
O n Saturda y n ight, the fans were
treated to a jump-off, with Craig taking
home mos t of the mo ney.
'"
San Diego Sports Arena
San Diego, CaI ~om i8
Results : October 3-5, 1997
Frid"y
250: 1. Mi cha el Cra ig (Ho n) : 2. C asey Ioh nson
(Ka w); 3. Budd y Antunez (Han); 4. Chm Wheeler tsuzl;
5. Dean Matson (Suz) .
125: 1. Casey [ohnson ( ~ w); 2. Dean Matson (Suz);
3. Rus ty H olland (K.lw); 4. j aso n Partridge (Suz ); 5.
C hm Wht."t.'wr (Su:z).
P/W SO: 1. Br.ldk'Y Baqu ail (KTM); 2 Michael Hall
(KT M) ; 3 . C byto n Muril eo (Cob); 4. C h ris to p h e r
Lou ns bury (K'TM); S. Stewn Cerda