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/127930
ARENACROSS AMM'J1 NATIONAL ARENACROSS SERIES · By Dave Dering er Photos by Karl Ockert NIAGARA FALLS, NY, JAN. 30-31 efend ing champ Buddy Antunez mad e the most of his weekend , as he stood onthe podium in all fo u r of the ma in even ts a t th e Niaga ra Conven tion Center in New York . The A nswe r -backed Pr im a l Impul se/Bill's Pipes /Suzuki Ra cing Tea m-su pported rider cushioned his poi nts lead with thr ee second -p lace finishes and a thir d du ring rounds 1S and 16 of .t h e PP National A re nacross Series, p resented b y Thor an d Par ts Unlimited . Antunez does, however, have competition. His name is Chad Pederson, wh o rod e his Nielsen Ente rprises /Lightspeed / Tho r-backed Kawasa ki to victory in both Frida y a nd Sa turday's 12Scc fina ls to stay wi thin stri king d istance of Antunez . Kaw asa ki of Ca rrollto n/Smith / Pro Circuit's Cliff Palme r had a weekend he would rather forget. Th e Oklahoman had two decent finishes of a fourt h and a fifth , but his real downfalls we re an 11 th and a DNS a ft er cr a s hi ng with an other rid er during Saturday ' s 12Scc last-ehance qualifier . rID FRIDA Y 10 Yamaha of Tro y / Sinisalo/Scott-supported Todd DeHoop and Ped e rso n exited the first tum together during the 12Scc final. DeHoop led th e first five laps until Pederson made his move over the large double that many riders were not jumping. ounCls 15 &16: Niagara Convention Center Behind th e se tw o were BT Racing /FMF's Mike Jo nes and F&S Kawasaki / Fox-backed Jeff Gibs on, from Canada . Antu nez was abou t midpack in seventh, along with Palmer. Tuf Racing's Jerom y Buehl and Gibso n colli ded o n lap seven, a llow ing Antunez to move up to fourth. Four lap s later, it wa s DeHoop who fell in a tight co rner, m oving An tu n ez up ano ther pos ition to third , behind Pederson and Jones . Antunez mad e one more pass, on lap 13, as he doubled over Jones into second. Pederson ignored the acti on behind him and turned on the afterburners, and he cross ed th e line some si x se conds ahead-of An tunez , Jones and DeHoop, w ho had recover ed fro m his earlier mishap. "I found a line I wanted to take and just went for it," Pederson said of his early pass on DeHoop. "You' ve got to pick the good lines and not the bad ones." DeH oop sna re d h is seco n d h o lesho t o f th e ni ght as h e le d Antu nez , Bue h l a nd Tu f/ Pro Circu it/Su ns tar's Denny Stephen son in the 250cc final. Jon es and Ca rrollton Kawasaki's Brad Woolsey we re p icking th emsel ves off of th e ground a fte r a fir st-turn cras h . Antunez moved into the lead one corn er la ter; then DeHoop bobbled as a handful of the pack blitzed by. . On lap three, Antunez, Buehl and Step henson were having a race of their own up front, as Jones was up to eighth and Pederson was havin g some bad luck in 12th. (Top) BU ddy Antunez (1) dives underneath Mike ~~~·~s'·: < · (12) at the Niagara Convention Center Arenacross. Antunez failed to win a feature but did make It to the podium in allfour races. (Above) Chad Pederson won Saturday 's 125cc final.