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/127986
Rounds 29 & Memorial Coliseum 30: RENA CROSS SERIES By Clay light Photos by Pam Pearson and Light PORTLAND, OR, MAR. 5-6 hen the smoke had cleared at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, and all of the weekend's mud-flinging had passed, Buddy Antunez had finalized two consecutive eVenings of total domination. For the second week in a row, the Shift/Primal Impulse/Bill's Pipes- backed rider totally trounced the competition, taking four wins to top the 125ee and 250cc classes in both nights of racing. Antunez's victories took him to a record eight consecutive wins in the series and a total of .18 wins on the season. That late-season surge, coupled with the bad luck suffered by key players Jeff Wilioh and Cliff Palmer, has put Antunez in the driver's seat in the championship point standings, as he leads the series with 981' points, 116 ahead of Thor /Honda/Tuff-sponsored Jeromy Buehl, who has 865. Buehl's teammate Denny Stephenson is third with 809. It was Stephenson with ~ next-best performance in Portland, landing on the podium in all four main .events. The Nebraskan was third in Friday's 125cc main behind KTM's Lance Smail, and third again behind second-placed Smail in the 250cc main. Saturday, Stephenson made it to second in the 125 and 250cc main events. Smail, who had previously only contested two events thus far in the series, made it to the podium one more time, in the 250cc main on Saturday. With a two-week break in the serie before heading to San Jose, California, Antunez isn't ready to let his guard down, despite his points advantage, ''I'll keep working out and stay focused," Antunez said. "Now is not a time to relax because of the advantage, because anything could happen. Yeah, the streak is nice, especially this time of the season." (Above) Buddy Antunez extended his winning streak to eight by sweeping the Portland Arenacross. (Lett) Lance Smail went 2-2-11-3 over the weekend. FRIDAY Antunez' got out ahead of KTM's Smail and Ohio's Greg Rand in the ] 25cc final, followed closely by the series' number-two rider, Chad Pederson, and SMP's Mike Jones, Canadian Doug DeHaan, and Stephenson, ~ho had gotten off to a slow start. Right from the get-go, Antunez had Northwest favorite Smail to contend with. Smail was using a variety of different lines on the moist, clay-based course, lines that would change with each lap as he tried to keep Antunez in sight, much to the joy of the cheering but cold crowd of around 5500. Rand, riding the Kawasaki of Carrollton-backed KX, ran a close third and led Jones and then Stephenson, who had turned in an incredible three-lap charge to close in on Jones. Buehl, who also gated poorly, followed his teammate through traffic and ran in sixth, and then gained ground on Jones when Stephenson tangled with a lapped rider and went down. By the midway point, Antunez held a decent advantage over Smail, who had a similar margin on Rand. Stephenson mounted yet another charge to not only catch up to both Jones and Buehl but quickly overtake the pair. At the front, Antunez was unaware that Smailllad clawed his way back into contention, and Smail did give Antunez a scare late in the 16-lap final, .but he could never clo e the gap. Smail got a similar wake-up call from his pursuer when Stephenson cut inside him with just two laps to. go. But Stephenson got caught in a rut and lost ground, allow: ing Smail to turn in his best performance of the season with a second-place finish. "The line kept getting tigh ter and tighter," Stephenson said. '1 got caught