Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Antunez, meanwhile, gapped the field and ran away to his second win of the night. "Once I got a little bit of a lead, I just put it on crui e control and kept a lookout for lappers," Antunez said. "Once I get going at a comfortable pace, I like to keep that pace." Heavy lapped traffic did hamper Antunez's progre s late in the race, however, -which let some of the riders get close to him. Buehl ended up taking second, followed by Stephenson, Rand and Jones. Everyone (except, of course, Willoh) was back at it again for Saturday night's racing, and Antunez once again started things off with another holeshot in the 12Scc main, thus avoiding a small firstturn pileup. , Hanging on to Antunez out of the first turn were Rand, Buehl, Hofmaster, Stephenso'n and Smail. Antunez, however, was once again on top of his game, and he maintained the lead position easily, letting the rest of the field race for the scraps. Following some more position changes, Rand, Buehl, Hofmaster, Stephenson and DeHaan raced together in a tight cluster, followed by Smail, Chester and Jeff Northrop. Pretty soon, everyone was running together and positions were changing leftand right. "I had been running third, bu t I made a little mistake and Tommy (Hofmaster) got by me," Buehl said. After passing Buehl, Hofmaster came alive and closed in on second-placed Rand, while Buehl stayed close to Hofmaster. Hofmaster was knocking on Rand's back door for a couple of laps. Then he made his move, cutting underneath Rand around a big sweeper. Rand fought back, and the two riders battled side by side. Little did they know, however, tha t Buehl was stalking them. Suddenly, Buehl was in second. '1 had a great battle with those guys (Rand and Hofmaster)," Buehl said. "When they made a little mistake, I ended up getting by them both- in one shot, so that was great." Meanwhile, Stephenson and Smail were also close enough to take advantage of the situation, with Stephenson darting into third behind Buehl, and Smail bolting into fifth behind Rand. At the checkered flag, it was Antunez notching up his third win, followed by Buehl, Stephenson, Rand and Smail. "I'd like to give.credit for my wins to Danny 'Magoo' Chandler," Antunez said, "his International Riders Helping People programs, and all the kids at the U.c. Davis Medical Center for letting us visit. We spent some time with some kids there, handing out stuffed animaIS and other goodies. I think that was good motivation." After a heroic win in the Jump-Off contest, Jones was fired up, and he rocketed off the ga te in first in the 2S0cc main. Antunez, however, quickly pulled in besides Jones, and they went at it bar to bar, with Rand, Smail, Stephenson and Buehl in tow. Antunez took control of tile lead, but Jones held tough in second. Jones kept the pressure on Antunez and nearly pulled off a pass. Behind the leaders, Hofmaster and DeHaan were trading paint, while Davis diced his way through the backmarkers. Elsewhere, Buehl bobbled and fell, which gave Hofmaster and DeHaan the opportunity to get by him. Buehl, however, recov,ered quickly enough to stay right up with the lead pack. He held sixth by midrace. While Antunez roosted. away out front, Jones, Rand and Smail waged war over second through fourth. It was a wild race. At one point, Jones got out of hape in the whoops and got tangled. up in some banners. Smail ended. up riding around both Rand and Jones and settled into the second-place position. Jones got going again in sixth place, right behind Stephenson. DeHaan was then shaken up in a spill and decided to call it a night. Antunez, meanwhile, went on to record his fourth win of tile night. "I wi h the fans couId feel what I'm • feeling right now," Antunez said. "It's incredible, great sweetness. With Arenacross, you never know what can happen." Smail crossed the finish line in second for his best-ever Arenacross result. "It took me three main events to get the groove here," Smail said. "Last night I got knocked. back a bit when they started. banging bars, and I made a few mistakes. But tonight I said, 'That's not gonna happen.' And so this time, I really used my head and tried. not to make any mistakes." Rand filled out the podium in third, followed by Stephenson, Buehl and Jones. eM Arco Arena Sacramento, California Results: February 26-27,1999 (Rounds 27 & 28) Friday ~ 125 PRO: 1. Buddy Antunez (Suz); 2. Greg Rand (Kaw); 3. Jeromy Buehl (Hon); 4. Denny Stephenson (Hon); 5. Jeff Willoh (Hon); 6. Jim Chester- (Suz); 7. Kenny Bell (Yam); 8. Jake Windham (Suz); 9. Harold Hagemen (Suz); 10. Jerrad Fisher (Suz); 11. Tom Hofmaster (Suz); 12. Lance Smail (KTM); 13. Mike Jones (Kaw); 14. Doug DeHaan (J

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