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/1542337
I t- l I e seventh round of the BooKoo Arenacross Champi- onship Series, held at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania, had a lot of happeninSs: Team Babbitt Kawasaki's Josh Demuth took over the series points lead; both Brad Hagseth and Ti8er lacey retumed to the series from in,uries; and .losh Woods, the points leader goinS into the race, pulled out with an iniury Woods, on the TLD/PPG Suzuki, was forced to sit out the racing on Friday and Saturday due to a back in,ury he suffered during a New Year's Day practice session. "l crashed hard, iniuring my lower back," Woods said. "lt's a pretty serious iniury and after riding practice and the qualifiers, ldecided to pull out and re- evaluarc thinSs. lt was really a hard deci- sion to make and I wanted to salvage as many points as I could so I could stay in the championship race, but it didn't feel right. I need to get it looked at and hope to return to racing in a couple week.'' With Woods absent from the starting line, all eyes were on Demuth, who now had a good chance to take control of the series and put some distance between himself and the rest of the lield. But when the gate dropped on the 250 class on Friday ni8ht, it was l''lichael Blose, riding the GPS Racing/Storm Lake- Honda-com Honda. who would take home the victory Blose then proved his ride was not a fluke by taking a second- place finish in Saturday night's 250-class program. Demuth did flnd his way to victor/ in the 450 class on Friday night and swept the class for the weekend when he fend- ed off Fun Center/TLD/PPG Suzuki's Shane Bess for Saturday's win- 8ess is currently sitting in fourth place in the 250cc points, third ln the 450 points and fourth in the BooKoo Championship overall points, showing that his €onsistency is paying off And now with his teammate Woods out of contention, he should move up in the standings even more if he can continue to linish at the top each week, Sano System's Tommy Hofmaster, who is currently third in the overall standings, had a mix of good and bad in Reading. Hofmester and lacey were in a bar-banging battle, literally, as they touched over the catapult iump in the closing laps of the 450 main on Friday night. But the heated battle Eot the best of them as they both failed to yield to the red-cross flag that was displayed over the catapult iump. Both riders were subse- quently disqualified from the event, which gave the victor/ to Demuth, with Hagseth and Bess rounding out the podium. Hofmaster came back on Saturday niSht to win the 250 main event, his flrst victory of the season. Hofmaster is currently holding down a close second place in the 250 points rac€, 2l points behind Demuth, and fourth in the 450 class behind Bess. ln the BooKoo overall championship he is in third, a mere ll points behind woods, which makes it likely that he will step into that number- two sPot soon. Right now Demuth is the man to beat in the series. He commands the series by leading each of the class points standinSs and the overall championship points. The only class Demuth doesn't own right now is the Dash For Cash points race that Lacey is leading. Lacey has won the Dash six times this season with Demuth taking home the extra cash on three occasions. CN Sov:rElGN C:mrr llaDtNG, PTNNSYwANTA RrsuEs: Jar{u^RY 6-8, 2006 (Rou D7ort2l 2!0 MAIN: I ltli.hael Bl6e (Yam)r 2. JGh Demuth (Kaw): 3. Damcn Plotts (Kaw)i a. Bad Hasseth (suz): 5. Tomm, HormEte. (Ym). tso HAINi l. Jorh Demudr (Kaw); 2. 8Ed Ha8,.$ (S@)r 3. Share Beir (Suz)i 4. Caey Hins (Hon):5. colt 250 HAX: l. Tomml Hofmater (Yd); 2. tli.hael 8lo* (Hon)i 3.Josh Oemulh (Kaw):{. Brrd Hass€rh (Suz)i 5. Dam.e. Ploti. (Kaw). a5O ltlAlNr l. loih Demuth {K ); 2. shffi Bsr (su); 3. Tommy Holmat.r (Ym); 4. Dmien PlotB (Kaw)i 5. 8Ed Hasreth {s@). BC'OI(OO C}IATIPIONSHIP POINTS SIATDINGS: L Jch Demnn (462)i 2. l6h ut ds (192)r l. Tomny Holmarter (381): 4. SrEne 8e$ (164); 5. Omaen PlotB (32r). \rsrt I IlTr': --. *=--j]jr-\rrR--r'- 7- Jdtruory 6-4, 2()()6 l ARGNACROS ond than Bess {102) vie KEN Filt€ls Pr€s€nts BooKoo AnEnacnoss championship Pow€FEd Bg Togota Demuth Srorv av Dlvto wAxrn PHoros BY forv Scrvo I 8, m0ves back into points lead Y t- t- I t, \ I l 7 It ll t 7i tr v M TM l, I (Abovo| Elorc opcned the weekend with o win, his fir:r ol thc yccr. Itohl Tommy HormolLr slro got hii firit Yictory of the terE5. (8elow) Josh Demdh cqme owoy with rhc lcrie! pointr leod. .l a. ri :; Lr F. rr I lffs t .t It.il *f . a lr a I 5 I a t t q '! t I' ? rt. &.. t \; a I / \' iP t Fa q- I jl /. 36 JANUARY25,2qO6 . CYCLE NEWS