Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ARENACROSS AliA P AnONAL J1N ARENACROSS SERIES tis 7&8: Will Rogers Coliseum Goodman s taved with jon es into th e 14th lap befor~ Demuth pa ssed him in the last rocker section. '" sta rted d ead last ," Demuth said . "There were a lot of 'p laces to pass and I was doin g some stuff that the other rid ers weren't d oing." Demuth was referring to hi s ability to triple in the las t rocker sec tion just sho rt of the finish line are a. Demuth zeroed in on jon es for the final tw o laps before once aga in using his tri pling ability to pa ss for the lead jus t one turn sho r t o f the checke red flag. "Every body go t th e hang of wh er e the fast lines were and they were takin g them ," commented Demuth. "I tried as hard as I could, but I love to jump and it worked for me." Demuth took his seco nd win back to back, a feat that no ride r has been able to do thus far in the series on anyone night. jones fi nis he d seco n d, w h ile Goodma n rounded out the top three. (Left) Chad Pederson finishe d on the podium three times, taki ng a win in Satu rday 's 125c c main . Pedersen left Fort Worth with th e series po ints lead. (Bel ow) Josh Demut h scored the do ub le win on Friday night, the fi rst rider to take back-to-back wins on a single nigh t th is season. By Kat Spann Photos by Chris Deutsc hen ~ FORT WORTH. TX, JAN . 2-3 fter a three-week interval for the holidays, the Pj1 National Are nacross Serie s p icked up steam again a t Will Rog ers Coliseum in Fort Wor th, Texas, in front of a packed house both nig hts . The Thor a nd Pa r ts U n li m ite d e ve nt saw 18vea r-old Ne ilse n Su zu ki /Thor / Smithsponsored j o sh Demuth of Marion , Ohio, p ick up b oth 12Scc and zso« ma in -event w in s on Friday ni ght, the first back-to-back winner in the series so far . e ilsen Kawa saki /Thor / Sco tt' s Cha d Pe derso n and Pri m a l Impul se Suzu ki/ An s w er / Bill' s Pipes' Budd y An tunez sp lit the win column on Saturday night , with Ped erson's perform an ce putting him on the top of the points list at the end of rounds seven and eight. 18 Ancea Heat & Air/R&S Kawasaki! Ace rbi s /Emi g Racing-backed Travis Hodges sta rted the 12scc main with the $100 PRO RACE Holeshot Award, chased by Antunez and Demuth. Hodges held the lead into th e final lap un til he got ca ug h t up with lapped tra ffic in th e whoops. In mere seconds, Hodges lost his lead to finish fourth just one jump section and a single tum from the checkered flag when he opted to go inside at the exit. A A l8 ~ FRIDAY Demuth a n d Antu n e z were at Hod ge s' rear w heel before the occ urance, but Antu nez went wide and go t shoved ou t whil e Demut h glided out of the tum and took the lead . "I go t stuck behi nd (Brad) Woolsey in th e wh oop sectio n a n d I was just afrai d to ge t ou t in the deep stuff and lose control," said Hod ges, "so I played it safe and stayed beh ind him into the tu rn a n d, s u re enoug h, Buddy (Antunez) and Demuth passed me." Cha d Ped erson was waiting in the wings and go t aro und Hodges as we ll to take the final spo t on the podium. "I'm just trying to get on the podium and stay consis tent," offered Pederson. Kawasaki of Carro llto n / Th or / Pro Cir cui t / O a k l e y / Su n s t a r / Dunl op ba cked Gra y son Go o d m a n fi nished fifth , th e sa me p os it io n in w hic h h e started the race, followed by Yamaha .of Troy ' s Todd DeHoop a nd Su zuki o f Gastoni a' s jim Chester. G rayson G oodman le d th e 2s 0cc main an d ca p tured hi s seven th 1-900PRO-RACE Holeshot Award of the season. " I' ve been really wo rki ng hard for the Arenacross Series," said Goodman , "and my starts have been good." • Kawasak i West /Pro Acti on /SMP / FMF / Klo tz/ Sm i th -s po nso red Mike jones, how ev er, had other plans and passed Goodman before the end of the first section of the tight arena course. SATU RDAY Chad Ped erson s top p ed De muth's win streak by nailing the holeshot in the 12scc main and never looking back for the entire 16-lap race. "A ll we ekend I've been ge tti ng bad star ts, or a least not a goo d line off the start," said Pederson. "In the 125 (race), I fina lly got out there." Hodges cha sed Ped erson from start to finish . "C h a d rode a reall y good race," offered Hod ges. "He made some time o n us in th e first few laps, but I cou ld n' t figur e out where he made that time up." The points leader go ing int o the Fort Worth round, Team Green /Kawasaki of Carrollton /Thor-ba cked Cliff Pa lmer, su ffered bad sta rts and cras hes durin g Friday's eve nt, but raced in third , catching his firs t podiu m spo t for the weekend. Off the start of the 12scc main, Cliff Ad optante we n t down, causing some major traffic conges tion for some major pla yers in the race. Both Antunez and Cory Francis got tangled wi th Adoptante, ma kin g up an RM goulash in the first turn. "I got a bad jump off the gate ," said Antunez. '" was mid pack going into the

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