Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Arenacross Rounds 1and 2: Veterans Memorial Auitorium Goodman had established a good -size lead over Stephenson, Hofmaster had gone down, Willoh was up to third and charging and Voss wa s up to sixth . WiIIoh moved by Stephenson a lap later into th e second s po t while Voss w as a lso movin g up. Gonzales, Who wa s ra cing hi s first-e ver Are nac ross, look ed comfortable on the tight trac k an d was up to fourth. By th e h a lfw a y p oint, Voss h ad pa ssed Will oh a nd w as closing in on the lead er G oo dman . Gonzales was working on Willoh and he would strike next . Stephenson w as fading after a great start and Antunez looked ou t of sync, rid ing with a rotator-cuff injury, an d was racing mid pack the entire time. Wit h o nly a few laps re maini ng , Voss mad e a grea t block-p ass on Good man going into the rocker sectio n an d to ok o ver th e le ad . G o n zale s h ad p assed Will oh a nd a t the lin e it wa s Vos s, Goodma n a n d Go n zale s . Al tho u gh Voss wa s th e fi rs t rider to cross th e finis h -li n e, a pro test w as immed ia tel y filed a nd Vos s was d is qu ali fied soon th ere a fte r for ill e gal forks. (See Briefly...) Goodman inherited the win while Gon zales, WilIoh, Buehl and Wey rou nded ou t the top five. "I almos t went ove r the bar s going into the w hoops t he la p b e for e h e p assed m e a nd it thre w me into the a nchor mode," Goodman said before he kn ew tha t he had won . "I al most threw it all away." Antun e z , Ste phenso n and Wey gated bes t at the start of the 250cc final. By Dave Dering er Photos by Kinney Jones DES MOINES, lA, NOV. 5-6 ow in its 16th vear , the National Arenacross Se~ies ope ned , once aga in, in Des Moines, Iowa. Promoted by PACE Motor Sports and sponsored by Thor and Part s Unlimited, the tour now offers rid ers ove r $1 million in cas h a nd contingency in the cou rse of the series. Riders arrived from throu gh out the cou ntry to give Arenacross a shot, but in the end two names stood out, and those names were Nick.Wey and Heath Voss. Aboa rd his Spli tFire / Pro Circuit / Ka wasak is, Wev wa s the most consistent rider over the two-d ay race weekend, as he placed inside the top five in all four main events , two of them bein g wins, and those cam e du rin g both 250cc finals . Wey now goes into rounds three and four in Albany, ew York, with the poin ts lead , but he is only using the Arenacross series as a warm-u p for the upco mi ng supercross series in Ja nuary, wh er e he wiII rid e 250ccs on the Wes t Coast rounds an d 125s on the East. "I haven' t been riding for a cou ple of months and this is some goo d practice fo r th e u pcomi ng su percross se ries," sa id We y . "Si nce th e m iddl e of th e' Na tionals , my wrist has been hurting, so I gave it some time off lately, and I'm just out here for practice. 1 race to win every time I'm ou t there though ." For Voss, the weekend was a little co ntroversia l. Voss ac tua lly w on Frid ay's 125cc final, bu t was d isq uali fied soon thereafter for illegal suspension. He wou ld finish second to Wey later that night in the 250cc final, and then repeated his performance on Satu rday. Voss elected to sit ou t Saturd ay's 125cc racing. Becau se of th e d isqu alifica tion and the on e missed main eve nt, Voss goes into the second s top of the tour in 12th N '" '" '" - ..E N ., ~ ..Q E ., i; z 6 (Above) Nick Wey opened up the National Arenacross Series in Des Moines with two wins in the 250cc class. (Right) Pedro Gonzalez recorded his first arenacross win with a victory in the 125cc class Saturday night. place in the point stand ings, but that is n ot a fa ir ind ica t ion o f h is r id in g , becau se at numerous times throughout the w eekend, he was easil y the fastest rider on the track. Ironically, both riders are supercross contenders, and it is doubtful that either ride r-will contest the entire series. The s u rp rise o ~ th e weeke nd wa s Ped ro Gonzal es. Th e St. Louis Pow er sports/Troy Lee Designs / Scott-backed Kawas ak i rider won Saturday 's 125cc final and finis he d second in Frid a y' s 125cc main. A sevent h and an eighth in the 250cc races has Gonzales in second in poi nts going into the next round, but he does plan on racing the enti re series . "I just got my bikes this week and this is going to be a long, long season," Go nza les ex p lai ne d of h is a renacross outlook . "I don't see the reason for the sla mming an d every body ta kin g eac h other out. Just pass clean or try harder, that's how I see it." Th e o the r mai n-event winner was Plano Ho nda /MSR's Grayso n Goodman. The former Arenac ross cha mpion, who says that he is in his final year of racing, came ou t just for fun , but won several hea t races and the one ma in event and currently sits in fourth after one stop. "I had fun this weekend and enjoyed it," Good ma n said o f the event. "We just had a baby and this year is for fun , and then I'm settling down." FRIDAY Good ma n, Tu f/Thor /Honda' s Tommy Hofm ast er and Gonza les each too k a 125cc hea t race win, while Voss, Primal Impu lse Suzuki/ Axo /Bill's Pipes- teammates Denny Step he nson and d efendin g cha mp Bud dy A nt unez took th e 250cc hea t wins. Voss too k the wi n in the four-lap Dash for Cash and pocketed over $500, and Tuf/Thor /Honda's Jeff Wilioh took the Jump-Off win with a beau tiful sideways whip. Stephenson grabbed the sta rt of the first main even t of the season, followed by Hofmas ter an d Goodman. T he Texan Good ma n qu ickl y go t by H ofmaster and Stephenson an d was into the lead a t the end of the first lap . Gr eat Lakes Airlin es / Sini sal o /Tom Morgan Racing 's Voss wa s hamper ed by a poor start an d was wa y back in the pack du rin g the openi ng s tages. By th e th ird lap o f the 16-lap fina l, Voss a lso had a d e cen t s ta rt but h e used his su pe rcross prowess to pass a number of rid ers through th e to ug h rocker section during the first few lap s. Tuf/Thor/ Honda' s Chad Pederson, Carrolton Kaw asaki ' s Mike Katin and Gonzales we re pi ckin g themselves off the gro und after a first tum pileup. Stephenson and Wey moved b An tune z in th e earl y goings, bu t Ste p henson wo uld be wi pi ng the d irt off his ches t after goi ng down solo on th e fo u r th la p w hi le lead in g . Takin g adva ntage of the cras h, Wey took ove r t h e le ad a n d set s a il. She ne n d o a li H o nd a /RR P / Xt re m e' s Kevin Crin . moved in to seco nd wh ile Voss was in third ahead of Antunez. On the eight h lap of th e race, Voss m ad e h is w a y by Cri ne for second.

• Cover