National Arenacross Series
Round 1 2: Areo Arena
became involved in a ferocious fourway scuffle for the lead. Jeff Willoh,
on the Thor[fuf Racing/Parts Unlimited Honda, held the early lead - but
not by much - over Antunez's Suzuki
teammate Jeff Gibson, fellow Honda
riders Chad Johnson and Rusty HoIland, and Carrollton Kawasaki[feam
Green's Josh Demuth.
Gibson kept sticking his Suzuki's
front tire next to Willoh's Honda, but
Willoh was reluctant to give up the
lead. Still, Gibson kept trying and trying, and his persistence finally paid off
just past the halfway mark when he got
around the Honda rider. But Gibson's
tum at the front didn't last for long.
Perhaps a little too excited after
having just passed Willoh for the
lead, Gibson over-cooked it through a
turn, drifted wide and clipped a hay
bale with his foot. His leg was flipped
back just as he was preparing to
jump a long triple. He was already
out of shape when he launched into
the air and ended up landing way
short, nose-diving into the third jump
and getting flung off his bike.
That was pretty much it for Gibson's night (and weekend, as it
turned out), as Willoh rode by the
downed rider and back into the lead.
But Antunez was breathing down his
neck with less than a lap to go.
The race for the win came down to
the final set of whoops - Willow on the
inside and Antunez on the outside.
Heading into the final, left-hand turn,
Antunez suddenly cut to the inside of
Willoh and blocked his line coming
out of the turn. Antunez's perfectly
planned block-pass netted him the
thrilling win, while a disappointed
Willoh had to settle for second.
After Demuth had crashed with
two laps to go, Chad Johnson slipped
into third and out-sprinted Holland to
PHOTOS BY RAYMOND GUNDY
SACRAMENTO, CA, FEB. 24-25
the name of the game
~ at the Sacramento Arenacross.
Instead of one or two riders dominating the weekend's racing, the 12th
round of the Speed Stick-presented
National Arenacross Series at the
Area Arena saw four different riders
make the top step of the arena's
podium, which, once again, demonstrated just how competitive Arenacross racing can be.
But the weekend's racing didn't
start out all that different, at least
compared to 21 other races this year.
That's because defending Arenacross
Champion Buddy Antunez scored the
first main-event race win of the weekend, and his 22nd of the year, when
the AXO/Bill's Pipes/RG3 Suzuki
rider scored an exciting victory in Friday night's 125cc feature.
Antunez's 103rd career win, however, didn't come easily, as he
WI ariety was
48
MARCH 14, 2001 •
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