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With th e w hi te flag waving, Pederson made it last-d itch pass on his close
fri end Steph enson. Th e tw o slam me d
together a nd , as a result, Stephenson
and his bike went careening through the
bales and over the berm. Antunez hung
on for the wi n ov~r the hard -chargi ng
Buehl, with Jones and Pederson crossing
next. Step henso n picked himself up and
finished 10th .
" It has been a long time since I got a
holeshot on the 125," exp lained win ner
An tun ez. "Ed (Longacre ) changed my
tires before the race and it reall y pa id
o ff."
" 1 go t aro u nd Mik e (Jon es ) a nd
pushed Bu d d y but co u ld n ' t m ake a
move," sa id Bueh l of his finis h. "The
track is real good, probably the best one
of the year."
Ste p he ns on a nd Gad d is exite d th e
fi rs t turn toge the r in th e 250cc final.
Buehl moved into seco nd th rou gh the
rocker s as points leader An tu nez was
back in 11th.
Step hen son and Buehl p ulled away
from the pack d uring the next few laps
as Jon es se ttled in to th ird. Good ma n
zipped by Gaddis on lap fou r and was
closing on Jones.
On the sixth circui t, Goodman stuffed
Jones in a comer and moved into third.
Antu nez had worked through the pack
and was u p to sixth on lap 10 and was
not finished yet. The Suzuki rider made
one more pass, and tha t was on Jones on
lap 12, moving himself into fifth.
Buehl kept his teammate Step henson
honest the fina l few laps, waiting for a
mist ak e, but Stephen so n was pictu reperfect and crossed the line for his first
wi n of the year. Bue hl finished a close
second, while Go odman rounded ou t
the podi um.
Wh en as ke d if th e win wa s a little
revenge from the 125cc final, Stephenso n answ ered , "It's a little revenge from
the who le series . I'm tired of eve ryo ne
saying I'm the 'Dash For Cash' guy. The
bikes are working grea t and this he lps
the confid ence."
" I was wait ing for a m ista ke so I
could sneak in there but he rode grea t,"
Buehl said of his second runner-up finish of the night. "As teammates, I wasn't
go in g to fo rce th e issu e lik e I wou ld
hav e on someone else."
SATURDAY
Ped erso n na iled the holesh ot of the
125cc final , with Antunez and Yamaha
of Troy I Sinisa lo/ Pro Ci rcu it-backed
Todd DeHoop in tow. Antunez went
d own so on th er eafter and picked his
bike u p in 14th pla ce. As DeHoop was
na vi g atin g arou nd th e d owned
Antunez, Jones snea ked und ern eath into
second . Step he nson a nd Ga d dis we re
next in fourth and fifth.
On the fourth lap , DeHoop forced his
wa y back into second, making an aggressive pass on Jones and settin g his sights
o n lead er Pederson . Six laps later,
DeHoop was pressuring Pederson and
Stephen son was o n th e rear fender of
Jones.
Ste p he nson moved to th e inside of
Jones in a sharp tum and took over third
from the Pennsylvan ian .
Th e best battle was up fro nt a nd it
co n tin ued throu g h the final laps as
DeH oo p wa s all ov er Kawasaki rid er
Pederson. Wit h tw o tu rns to go,
Del-loop tried to make an inside pass on
Ped erson and the two tagged each other
as the y cross ed li nes . Th e collisio n
so mewha t slowed the p rogress of
Del-loop, and Pederson crossed the line
fo r h is eig h t h win of th e seas o n.
Del-loop recovered and finished second,
ahead of Step henso n and Jones.
(Above) Second In po ints
Chad Pederson (4) scored
a win and f aired a little
be tter than A nt unez In t he
re sults, cl o sing the gap In
the ch am p ionship.
(Left) Jeromy Buehl
la nded himself on the
podiu m three ti mes over
the two rou nd s.
(Ri ght) Todd DeHoop (7)
ca me close to a win in
Sat urday 's 125cc f inal,
t houg h Pederson
ultimately he ld him to
second,
" I drifted out a little too w ide and he
ca me right in," said Pederson . "We had
a littl e collision but I fin ishe d w here 1
needed to."
" I thought I could sweep insid e but
he protected it well," DeHoop explained
of his fina l-lap charge. '1 felt strong and
I'm happy with that. "
Goo dman had the earl y lead of the
250cc final , with Gaddis, Stephen son
and Buehl behind him . St ephen son
mad e qu ick work of Gaddis and settled
into second while Antunez had another
dismal start and was in eighth.
Stephe nso n doubled over Good ma n
in to th e lead on lap five a nd se t sail.
Bpehl moved by Gaddis qu ickly thereafter and was in third . Buehl 's next victim would be Goodman. The two bat tled back and forth for severa l laps until
Buehl powered into second throu gh the
rhythm section on lap 13.
Antunez was up to fifth wit h thr ee
la ps to go w hen he wen t d own while
d icing w ith Ped erson. The entire pack
passed Antunez as he had p robl ems
sta rting his bike.
Stephenson cruised the final laps to a
conv inci ng wi n over Bueh l and Good man, a n exact replica of the pr evi ou s
night's 250cc podium.
Antunez passed four riders en rout e to
an 11th-place finish, his worst of the year.
"It was a good track and I s ta yed
smoo th," Step henson said of his win . " It
wa s p re t ty much a r ed wr ecki ng
machine in the 250s this weekend."
"1 felt good once I got by Grayson:'
com mented Buehl. "I still have a shot at
it (the championship), because any thing
ca n happen . That' s the beauty of Arenacross, as you can see tonight."
"These Pro Circuit Kawasa kis haul ,"
Good ma n ex p lai ned of h is 250cc
ho lesh ot a nd seco nd podium of th e
weeken d . "Th e tr ack is good and I' ve
been wo rking my ass off lately."
"Tonight was just one of those nights,"
Antu nez said after the race. " I crashed in
both mains and you just can't do that." l ~
.
Brieflv...
-
,
mad at the moment : but that' s racing , I don't even remember the .race what happened?" '
Two-time Arenacross champion Jimmy Gaddis m ade a return to racing
,
,
.
,
at M ilwaukee. The Nielsen Kawasaki'nder has not raced since the opener
The 1·900·PRO·RACE holeshot awards went to Buddy Antunez and
at Des Moines three months ago, when he brok e his collarbon e, " I reDenny Stephenson for Friday's 125 and 250c c finals, respectively, On
, broke it again, " seid a smiling Gaddis, " I rolled over in bed and it snapped,
Saturday it was Chad Pederson and Grayson Goodman who react That' s what took so long," Gaddis had a so-so w eeke rid;with his best
ed quickest .
'
result being a fifth,
,
.
DUring 'Frida'y' s ,125cc f inal. Chad' 'P ed e rso n and ' D e n ny Stephe';"
Grayson Goodman and his mechanic, Wyatt Seals, were both sport 'so n ' got togethar in a corner on ' the final lap, result ing in Stephenson
ing new haircuts at Mi lwaukee: Both had shaved heads, " Grayson said
crashing over the berm, A s Pederson came by the mechemcs' area, Don
last week that if he didn't make' the podium, he w ould shave his hair."
Stephenson CDe~ny' s father end mechanic) swung his pit boardat PederSeals explained. " I told Grayson that if he wo n, he cou ld 'shave mine,"
'son, hitting Pederson's front-number plate.The board broke in half and
Although Goodman w on a 125cc final, he still went through with the bet.
arguments broke out. " I was wrong and apolo gized ," , said the elder
Stephenson, ' Tve known Chao since F>e was 6 and wouldn't do anything
This year' s event had to be 'the warmest ever at Milwaukee. Ove r
'to hurt him," Stephenson was not allowe d to signal trackside on' Satur- ' the last four years that the city has had an even t, the temperatures liave
day,
punishment for the incident. After hiason's 250 cc win on Friday, . been at or below zero , Twoyears ago it was around -70 degrees, Ternperatures this year were at a sweltering 45 degrees!
Don added:
friendship is too important for hard feelings, It made me
as
"t:
Milwaukee Center Arena
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Results: February 13- 14, 1998
(Rounds 19 & 20 of 28)
Friday
125 PRO: 1. Budd y Antunez (Suz); 2. }eromy Buehl
(Hon); 3. Mike J OO l'S (!