Bess Gets His First
hane Bess took his Fun Center/
PPG{Troy Lee Suzuki to the top
step of the podium for the first
time this season on Friday night
in The E-Center, as the K&N
Filters Presents BooKoo Arenacross
Championship Series Powered By Toyota
brought its fast-paced action to West Valley City, Utah.
The competition in the series is at an
all-time high as Josh Demuth of Team
Babbitt Enxus Kawasaki attempts to hold
off Team Fun Center{Troy Lee Designs
Suzuki rider Josh Woods for the championship points lead that has flip-flopped
back and forth since the series kickoff in
Fort Worth.
In December 2 Friday night's 2SOcc
main event, however, it was Bess who
picked up his first victory of the year.
Bess, consistently a top-three finisher in
the series, led the pack into the first turn
with veteran Damien Plotts on the
Crossroad Powersports/RRP Racing
Kawasaki on the pace and challenging for
the lead. Woods made a pass on Plotts
early on and stepped it up to match the
pace of Bess until stalling it on lap six.
Hard-charging Tommy Hofmaster, on the
Sano/PPG/Shogun Yamaha, took advantage of Woods' mishap and gained enough
ground to challenge him for second.
Woods regained his composure and
charged to the front once again, putting
S
80
the pressure on his teammate in the final
laps. But Bess was determined to grab the
win and held off Woods by less than a
quarter of a second at the checkered flag.
In the end, it was Bess taking the win,
with Woods second and Hofmaster a
close third.
'" want to thank the team," Bess said.
"I think we're the best team out here and
they've put in a lot of work to get us
where we are. I had some troubles the
last couple weeks and cracked a couple
ribs, but I feel good and the bike is strong.
It feels good to land the Suzuki on top
tonight."
"I made a mistake and stalled it,"
Woods said. "Lucky for me, I was able to
get it restarted quickly and back on the
pace but it just wasn't enough to get by
Shane."
The 450cc main event looked to be a
repeat of the 2SOcc main, as Bess and
Woods were running a pace unmatched by
anybody else on the track until a large collision blocked the track and brought out the
red flags. After the restart, it was Woods
recapturing the series points lead with the
win, and Demuth charging through the
pack to secure second on the night and a
solid second in the points also. Tiger Lacey,
on the BooKoo Energy/AI Lamb Honda,
was on the podium with a third.
Saturday night opened with governor
Jon Huntsman Jr. on hand to witness the
JANUARY 4,2006 • CYCLE NEWS
