Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Sacrsmento, CA . February 25-28.2000 National Arenacross Series Rounds 23/24: Areo Arena By JOHN came up with a perfect jump and captured third place before Stephenson co'uld recover his form. Charley Bogard also took advantage of the moment and swooped into fourth place. Payne tried to make a final run at Antunez on the last lap, but he gassed it too hard trying to overtake the leader, getting sideways for an instant, thus letting Antunez slip away for the win. The battle for the final podium spot was just as close. Charging hard at the checkered flag were Demuth and Bogard, with Demuth getting the nod. Stephenson crossed the line next to round out the top five. SILVA T eam Suzuki/Motorious.com/Bill's Pipes/AXO rider Buddy Antunez rolled into Sacramento's Arco Arena and gassed up on series points, taking three main event wins to firmly establish his lead in the PACE National Arenacross series. The wins took him one step closer to his goal of four National Arenacross Championship titles. Antunez raced his Ed Longacretuned Suzukis to both of Friday night's main event wins, topping Thor/Honda's Josh Demuth and Antunez's fellow teammate, Denny Stephenson, in the 125cc race, and outrunning SplitFire/Pro CircuitKawasaki's Billy Payne and Demuth in the 250cc race. Antunez's only stumble came in Saturday's 125cc main, where a spill while dicing for the lead left 'The Budman' with an eighth place finish. Antunez still had a great Saturday night as he also pocketed big cash in an exciting Dash-For-Cash win, and came back to win the 250cc main in convincing fashion. SATURDAY Saturday's main event racing got underway sans a couple of the previous night's top riders, as both Billy Payne and Josh Demuth were shaken up in separate crashes earlier in the evening, and were unable to race. (Above) Buddy Antunez (1) leads Billy Payne (195) in Friday's 250cc Main. (Right) Jeff Willoh (4) grabbed the holeshot in Saturday's 250cc Main ahead of Scott Davis (hidden), Antunez and Payne. and closed in on Willoh, eventually making the pass on the penultimate lap. At race's end Antunez took the win over Demuth and Stephenson. The injured Pederson left the track on a backboard white the post-race interviews echoed through the arena. Pederson's injuries turned out to be less severe than it first appeared, but he was unable to return to the weekend's racing. Antunez holeshot the 250cc main on the inside line, with Stephenson on the outside and Demuth and Payne right behind. Stephenson followed his teammate briefly, then moved cleanly into the lead. Antunez studied Stephenson's lines, and very soon retook the lead. This initiated a flurry of action as Payne suddenly turned it up and got aggressive with Demuth, who battled back, but eventually he succumbed to the pressure and relinquished third place. Next, Payne dove under Stephenson, but Stephenson held firm and the dice was on. All this carried the top four away from the rest of the pack, although after a few laps of this fury Demuth dropped back slightly to let the top three battle for the lead. All of the top three were launching major air off the Dunlop Catapult, but the penalty for a less-than-perfect take-off was a rough landing, or worse. When Stephenson missed his launch slightly and cased his Suzuki viciously on the landing, Demuth FRIDAY In Friday's 125cc Main, St. Louis Powers ports/MS R/Du nlop-sponso red Charley Bogard shot off the gate with Thor/Honda/Tuf Racing's Josh Demuth and Antunez in tow. Demuth held the lead coming out of the first turn, but in the blink of an eye Antunez was into the lead, with Thor/Honda's Chad Pederson running third, followed by Willoh. Antunez quickly got into an efficient rhythm out in front of the pack, but Demuth was right there hanging tough behind the leader. Meanwhile, Fellow Thor/Honda teammate Jeff WHloh put a pass on Pederson, and proceeded to pull away in pursuit of the leaders. Near the halfway point in the race, the leaderboard read Antunez, Demuth, Willoh, Pederson, Denny Stephenson, Mike Katin and Darcy Lange. As the leaders began to deal with lapped riders, Pederson suddenly went down hard off the huge catapult jump, and the yellow flags came out. Pederson was shaken in the spill and stayed down while mediiJcs went to his aid. Immediately, the Red Cross flag also came out, forcing the racers to roll off the jump for safety reasons. With the caution flags dominating the late laps, the gap between the leaders tightened up. Seizing opportunity, Stephenson raced where he could 30 MARCH 15. 2000' eye I e n e vv s The 125cc main got off the line with Willoh in the lead and Stephenson, Bogard, Antunez and the rest in hot pursuit. The tightly-packed field kept speeds down going over the Catapult jump and no one was able to double over it, so the bar-to-bar jockeying for position con~nued with Stephenson, then Bogard, banging by Willoh on the inside of the following turn. Antunez tried a similar move and got by Willoh briefly, but Willoh slammed him back to retake third place. Meanwhile, Bogard overtook Stephenson to steal away the lead. When the racers finally sorted themselves out somewhat the order was Bogard, Stephenson, Willoh, Antunez, Katin and Buehl. About this time yellow flags started to fly as some of the back markers began to take soil samples, and the inevitable lapped riders provided a 'rolling chicane' opportunity that Antunez brilliantly used to put a move on WHloh. Once past WHloh, Antunez focused on catching Stephenson and Bogard, which he did in short order. Stephenson hounded Bogard for the closing laps, eventually finding his way p.ast. Antunez saw the open door too, and shot past Bogard, who seemed stunned as he went from first to third in one fell swoop. In a rarely-seen moment, Antunez bobbled and crashed while trying to make a last-lap pass on Stephenson. Antunez took a moment to remount and rejoin the fray, and in those few seconds Bogard, Willoh, Buehl, Lange, Davis and Katin all passed the stalled champ, who got started just ahead of Jeff Northrop and Donald Upton. That made up the final order for the top-ten finishers as the 125cc main came to a close. Antunez's spill benefited Willoh the most, as it put him back on the podium after he looked certain to finish in no better than fourth. Willoh busted out another holeshot in the 250cc main but his lead was cut short by Antunez. Meanwhile, local hero Scott DaVis was racing a strong third, with Stephenson, Katin, Buehl, Lange, and Hodges behind, followed by the rest of the field, including Charley Bogard, who was mired mid-pack but moving up briskly. As the race progressed, Antunez gapped the field and Stephenson moved into second ahead of Willoh. Buehl prOVided the next big excitement by crashing hard and dropping out of contention for a good finish. Second-place Stephenson pulled away from Willoh, who looked to be cruising along happily in third. But while Willoh was cruising, Bogard was careening and dicing his way through the pack until at last he was knocking on WHloh's back door, just as the white flag flew. Antunez and Stephenson raced to the finish secure in their positions, but for third place it was an all out drag race to the finish as Willoh and Bogard went at it hammer-and-tongs. It was a photo-finish, but Willoh got the podium in the end. eN Areo Arena Sacramento, California Results: February 25-2&, 2000 lRaunds23/24 of 34J FRIDAY 250 Pro: I. Buddy Antunez (Suz); 2. Billy Payne (Kaw); 3. Josh Demuth (Hon): 4. Charley Bogard (Suz); 5. Denny Stephenson (Suz): 6. Jeff Willoh (Hon): 7. Travis Hodges (Kaw); 8. Darcy lange (Kaw); 9.Mike Kalin (Kaw); 10. Scott Davis (Kaw). 125 Pro: l.Buddy Antunez (Suz); 2. Josh Demuth (Hon); 3. Denny Stephenson (Suz); 4. Jeff Willoh (Hon); 5. Mike Kalin (KlIw); 6. Darcy lange (Kaw); 7. Justin Husko (Kaw); 8. Billy Payne (KlIw); 9. Daniel Blair (Hon); 10. Jeromy Buehl (Hon). SATURDAY 250 Pro: 1. Buddy Antunez (Suz); 2. Denny Stephenson (Suz); 3. Jeff WHloh (Hon); 4. Charley Bogard (Suz); 5. Scott Davis (Kaw); 6. Mike Kalin (Kaw); 7. Oacy Lange (Kaw); 8. Travis Hodges (Kaw); 9. Daniel Blair (Hon); 10. Justin Huska (Kaw). 125 Pro; I. Denny Stephenson (Suz): 2. Charley Bogard (Suz); 3. Jeff Willoh (Hon); 4. Jeromy Beuhl (Kaw); 5. Darcy Lange (Kaw); 6. Scott Davis (Kaw): 7. Mike Katin (Kaw); 8. Buddy Antunez (Suz): 9. Jeff Northrop (Kaw); 10. Donald Upton (Kaw). Upcoming Rounds: Round 25/26 - Salt Lake City, Utah, March 3-5 Round 27/28 - San Jose, California, March 10-12

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