Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127927
(Left ) Jeromy Buehl gave
Hon da its first w in of the
series when he won the
250c c class Friday.
(Below ) With his two
w ins, Antunez climbed
into the se ries points
lead.
ond lap , an d then Antu nez passed Wilson, as we ll.
Antu nez showed Ped erson his fro nt
tire a few times before passing for the
lead o n la p th ree, while Palm er, wh o
ha d gated fifth, wo rked his way to third
an d began to drill Pede rso n for second .
It wasn't until la p six that Palmer
cha rged by Pederson.
Antunez appeared to struggle in the
whoops, and Palme r was able to make
up time on the leader.
"Cliff is a goo d 5 inches taller than
me, " An tu nez said , "s o it ' s easier for
hi m through the wh oops on a 125, but I
just tr ied to s tay ca lm an d rema in in
control."
Palmer reeled in Antunez, bu t it was
all for naught after he slid ou t in a tum.
Palmer qu ickly rem ounted , but not
before Ped erson passed him . However,
Palm er came right back and passed Ped erson on the next lap.
" thought I blew it," Palmer said of
his slide-o u t, "bu t I was able to get back
up and catch Ped ers on, and then I still
had enough tilJ}e to ca tch ba ck u p to
Budd y."
Lik e h e sai d , Palmer ca ug h t u p to
Antun ez, u sing th e w hoo ps a s h is
"secr e t w e ap on ." On th e fin al lap,
Palm er narrowly got aroun d Antunez to
take the checkered flag first. The cro wd
loved wha t they had see n and chee red
bo th rid ers as the two took a victory lap
for the screa ming fans .
"There's alwa ys a little pressure riding in frorit of the home town crowd, but
I was ab le to tu rn that press ure into
a d re nal in e a n d ra ce a goo d race,"
Palme r sa id from the podium.
"I went to the outside (of the track)
becau se Clifford (Ado p tante) was in my
way, so I had to cha ng e my lin e. The
w hoops were ro u gh for me tonig h t,"
Antunez sa id.
The 250cc main even t was d estined
to be grea t fro m th e get-go, with the
crowd still reelin g from Palm er's 125cc
main-event win. Antunez was read y for
_the gate to d rop and nailed the holeShot.
Tom Hofmaster and Buehl tasted dirt
in th e firs t turn after bo th rid ers w en t
d o wn . Ji m C hes te r, Ta yl or, Tra v is
H od g es, Goo d ma n a n d Palmer got
throu gh the first tum un scathed.
As the race began to unfold , Palmer
wa s a m a n on a m ission, u s i n g h is
fi n esse throu g h th e w ho o ps to g a in
positions toward the front, but it wasn 't
until lap five th at he wa s ab le to get
a ro u n d Ch ester. But by thi s tim e
Antunez had a four-second lead on the
new second- placed rider, Palmer.
Ne vertheless, it took Palmer a lap to
Jimmy Wilso n,