Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Buddy Antun ez (1). CU Palmer (2), Denny ff Stephens on (3), Chad Pederso n (4). Jeromy Buehl (5), Heath Voss (6) and Todd DeHoop (7) rode an e xhibition race at the open ing round of the AMAlPJ t National Arenacross Se ries . hel d in Des Mo ines, Iowa. and raised nearly S3000 lor the newborn McCaughey septuplets. (Below) Ste phenson (center). flanked by promote r Mike Kldd (right) and trophy girl MlcheUe Falls (left), won the rac e and handled the donating 01 the purse to the McCaughey lamily. M gh ySeptuplets Benefrt Race cCou e Munificent seven By Pat Sch utte DFSMOlNFS,IA,NOV.14-16 h e norma ll y ro ug h -and -tumble world of Are nacross showed it had a softer side at last Satu rday's opening round of PACE Motor Spo rts' 1998 AMA/Pj l Na tional Arena cross Series . With Bobbi McCaug he y, mother of newborn septuplets, just two blocks away at Iowa Met hodis t Med ica l Ce nter, six of the nation's to p-ranked arenacross racers - plus one su percr oss rid er - pulled off a charitable exhibition race that d rew nearly $3000 in dona tions from the fans - at the sold-o ut Vet erans Mem orial Auditorium. The ra ce also land ed th e sport some major natio nal media attention, as N BC, C BS a nd Fo x - w hic h w ere all cam ped out at the hospital - ran na tional T stories on the event. Touch ed by the story of the septuplets, arenacross riders Buddy Antu nez, Cliff Palmer , Denny Step henson, Chad Pe d e rs on , jero m y Bueh l a n d Todd DeHoop, alo ng with AMA Su percross rider 'H eath Voss (filling in fo r the injured Shawn Mor gan), got together at. .breakfast Saturday morning a nd agreed to run a two-lap exh ibition race, wi th the p r oceed s goi ng to bene fi t the McCa ughey family - seven riders rep resenting the seven new babies. As arenacross promoter Mike Kidd acted as master of ceremonies. the riders lined u p across the track, an d fans were allowed on to the track to donate mon ey and personall y w is h the rid er s good luc k. Kidd worked th e aud ience like a moto-evangelist, and th e lines soon stretc he d fro m the a re na floor to the u pper level. Stephenson got the holes hot an d captu red th e tw o-lap even t. Th e na tive of Omaha, Nebras ka, then tu rn ed around a n d, wit h h is gi r lf r ie nd , tro p hy girl Michelle Falls, at his side, donated th e entire purse to the McCa ughey family. In a ll, th e Des Moines Arena cross raised $2618.36 for the family, including $200 fro m a local ma n who ran across th e street to withdraw his donation fro m a money m achine, a nd a special IO U fro m a fan wh o sai d he would cut the McCaugh ey's law n for an entire ye ar. The top do na tion ($200) earned a jersey sign ed by Bud dy Antunez. "T he d is pl ay of generosity by th e people of Des Moines was incred ible," Kidd sa id. 'To experience the fans filing down from their sea ts.. waiting in line and giving their hard -earned mon ey to the McCaugh ey cause was almost religious. I've been around mo tor sports for a long time and have never seen anyth ing like it." . ." A renacross Challenge,F R inal ound Three of a kind at Arenocross By Joa n Tiearney RENO,NV,NOV.I4-15 he Arenocross - the fina l ro und of the Arenacross Cha lIen ge - proved a huge success, with a sold-ou t crowd both nighls at the Reno Livestock Evenls Center. The a rena was the la r ges t in th e series - wit h a 9O-foot triple jump - and very technical. The rid ers were quoted as saying the track was great and very tough. The usual heats, semis and LCQs set the stage fo r exciting ma in event s, w here only the best wo uld conquer. Pee Wee riders such as "Flyi n'" Ryan Ferris brou ght the crowd to its feet, doubling jum ps like the pros. American Suzuki, alo ng with Michael's Cycles of Ca rso n City, raffled off an RM80. A special-edition snow boa rd from X Games wi nner Shawn Palmer was also give n away. T Th e Das h For Cas h wins Friday and Sa tu rday nig ht went to Casey Jo hnso n and Case y Lytle. The jum p con tes t over th e 90-foot tri pl e ju m p was a crowd pl ea ser, with Aaron Cheselske beating ou t Kris Rourke and jeff Willoh. The an nu a l Sheriff a nd Fi rem a n ' s race to earn m on ey for the families of injured police and firemen was entertain in g . The p olice ju m ped ou t front earl y, and the firemen 's talent of yea rs past was no t enough to sto p the drive of Sh eriff Max Brok aw a nd his H ond a . After getting the ho lesho t, Broka w d om ina ted the field . He was able to d ou ble a portion of the triple jump several times, givi ng himse lf a gia nt lead, and he captu red the trophy for the loca l s he riff's departmen t. Friday night's 125cc main event was loaded with all the top riders. Cla wso n Molorspo rts' Rusty Holland, Pro Circuit/SplitFire Ka wasaki 's Casey johnson , Team Noleen's jeff Willo h and Pro Circuit/SplitFire Kawasaki /I-8OO-COLLECT's Natha n Ramsey all placed first " o r second in their hea ls. Casey Lytle and Ty ler Evans wou ld transfer through th e se mis . jason Partridge sat it o ut wi th a possibly fractu red wrist after casing the triple jump. That was a tou gh break, as he had been ridi ng tou gh and in the top five o f the points fu nd fo r th e series . Dean Ma tson fin is hed second in his semi alo ng with Lance Smail, who earlier had bro ken hi s 250' s frame in p ractice. G reg Schne ll a nd O regon' s Ryan Terlecki, the spoil er, would also transfer fro m the semi s. The LCQ , be in g the most exci ting race, se nt Brad Hagseth and newcom er Aaron Chese lske to the main. Wh en the ga te d ropped on the talent ed field, Ram sey got the ho les hot , w ith H olla nd i n sec o nd a nd Cheselske in third . Matson, know n for his starts, ran in fourth, while joh nson had work to do in fifth. Evans suffe red a bad start an d was back in eig hth. The battle was brewing as H olla nd kept th e sm oo th pace after Ramsey, but Ramsey held his lines to the inside, and Holland, una ble to gel around him, had to hope for a mistake. joh nson sli d o u t near th e fi ni s h-line s tep-up, pu tting him back in n in th at one point. Lytle had a mid pack start and was try ing desperately to wo rk his way u p in the field . Willow was also having a bad night, una ble to get the rhythm , and he soon found himself being lapped around the ninth lap . Ramsey was ridi ng excellently, making no mistakes on the tig ht, technical track. Holland rode consistently, sluffing a whee l in w herever he cou ld, but he remained in second . Ramsey wa s the victo r, executing 12 perfect lap s . Cheselske finis hed a well-ea rned third. Fou rth we nt to Evans and fifth to john son. The 250Cc main event on Friday was just as action-packed . The holesh ot went to johnson. Holland , Matson, Cary Hart and Terlecki were running up fro nt, bu t r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... a ,..... .... QJ .rJ S QJ U QJ D 19

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