Jones finished second, ahead of
Antunez, while Buehl refused to relinquish his fourth-place po ition to the
Husaberg-mounted Smail.
SATURDAY
Huffman hoped that his third
holeshot would be the charm, as he led
the 12Scc Pro main over Ramsey, Smail,
Jones, Buehl and LaMastus.
Antunez gated poorly but displaced
a pesky LaMastus to set out after the
front-runners.
.
Jones kept both Huffman and Ramsey in sight, while Buehl was looking for
a way around the SMP rider, who is best
known for his air antics, as evidenced by
his jump-off wins both nights. But Jones
maintained his position, as the frontrunners hit lapped traffic, which would
later cause havoc for the front-runners.
As the leaders, Huffman and Ramsey, carved cautiously through lapped
traffic, Huffman had his line taken
away, and Ram ey too)< the lead.
While Huffman managed to stay
close to Ramsey to finalize their 1-2
order to the finish ahead of the consistent Jones, Antunez improved his position as well, after battling around Buehl,
who also lost a spot due to lappers, netting fifth behind Ramsey, Huffman,
Jones and Antunez.
'1 was in the right place at the right
time," Ramsey said. "I'm pretty happy
with it. A win is a win."
The final 250cc Pro main event of the
1998 PJ1 Arenacross eason had Huffman in his all-tao-familiar position right
off the start. Jones and Ramsey were
right there to capitalize when, on the
third lap, Huffman came up short over a
jump and handed the lead to Jones.
Huffman recovered in mid pack while,
up front, Jone began pulling away from
Ramsey, who had a similar margin on
Antunez and Buehl.
Antunez po ted one of the most spirited rides of the weekend, as he caught
Ramsey, made a pass stick, and then
clawed and scratched his way up to
Jones, when the Kawasaki rider lost his
clutch, which starting going south on
lap 12.
Antunez' winless streak came to an
end on the next-to-last lap, as he overtook Jones - as did Ramsey. Jones managed to hang on to third to find his way
to the podium. Behind him finished
Smail, Buehl, Huffman and LaMastus.
"I rode my ass off all weekend," said
Antunez, who pocketed in excess of
$2000 for his efforts. "Maybe it's not so
nice to win this way - I feel orry for
Mike - but I wanted to win one for all of
t.,;
the fans."
Memorial Coliseum
Portland, Oregon
Results: April 3-4, 1998
FridilY
125 PRO: 1. Ryan Huffmp;n (Suz); 2. Buddy
Antunez (Su7); 3. athan R.1msey (!(aw); 4. Lance Small
(KTM); 5. Mike Jones (Xaw); 6. Jcromy Buehl (Hon); 7.
j,mmy LAMastus (KTM); . Dushn Lenaburg (!Caw); 9. j.
Whlpple (Yam); 10. Rod Tapia O
