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/1542338
I Despite losing a few teams and ride6 to the newly formed BooKoo Arenacross Series, the AMA National Arenacross Series is thriving. A few changes were ini- tiated for this season, with the formation of the main Ar€nacross clas: for the top Pros and the suppofting Lites class, which have been well received. And if thinEs go as planned, the series will be even bigger for next year, Pam Lamben, the National Arenacross event manager, filled us in on the progress of the series during the recent Guthrie round in Oklahoma, cn: €v€ruonG is awar€ of th€ split with Mik€ Kidd and th€ BooKoo S€ni€s: how is th€ AMA s€rl€s doing7 pamlambert; lt's doing terrific- I don't think we could ask for anything better this year. The new format has been exciting. The riders were a little hesitant at first, but now they love it and every- thing is going great. cnr You also hav€ a nEw spon- sor for this U€ar. pamlambert! We do, Toyota is the title sponsor this year, and everyone is excit- cn: T€ll us about thE Amat€un program. pamlambert: Just like last year, our Amateur riders qualify for a year-end event - the U.S. Open - held in Las Vegas. They qualiry through their region- al Arenacross races, and the top three in each class will be invited to panicipate at the U.S. Open. That is a huge thing for these kids and their families and that is what we are allabout - families. We have a full range of classes, from 50cc (4-6) to Over 40. We also added the Women as a full-time class this year. different venues, too. We are going to I'lemphis this year, to the new FedEx Forum and we are excited about that, We have been in Memphis for a number of years, but never at the Forum. cn: Ar€ gou happg with th€ tEams that choE€ to stau with th€ AMA s€ri€s? pamlambertr Extremely - of course, we lose riders every year because they go to the next level to Supercross, and that is what this program is all about. This is a proving ground for those riders to move up to Supercross. Darcy (Lange) got to move up to bigger things and now we get to see him in Supercross. We have had great partici- pation this year, and we are seeing a greater number of one- and trvo-man teams. Even thou8h they are a liftle bit smaller teams, they are getting more support, and that is good for the riders. And anfthing that is good for the riders makes our show better. stay the same where the riders accumu- late points only in the National (Arenacross) class. The exciting thing will be that I think we will see a large increase in panicipation for nexr year - which I hope for every year - but I think the AMA will soon be able to announce some progressions, that haven't been finalized yet, that will increase atten- dance. We will soon be seeing all of the top dogs from Loretta's and NMA com- ing through our rank. Shon Moore I 1 Year/6 lssues-$9.9S 2Yearll2 lssues-$l8.00 One yoar (6 ls.uos), 2nd cla$ Canada o, Mo co snd all othor foreign courtios $21.95 (tlS. Funds!. lst clasc and airmail iales aveilsble upon r€quo;t, 14 FEBRUARYl,2006. CYCLE NEW' a a t-l Pam Lambett: Managing ArenacPoss ed about that. The winner of our series is going to get a brand-new Toyota Tacoma, which is a big thing for these riderc and a huge thing for our series. cn: You hav€ a fEw n€w v€nuEs this U€ar. parnlambertr Yes, every year we go to a few different venues. Some of ir is scheduling and some of it is that we take in different evenB, whether it is Monster Trucks or Freestyle. We have a lot of repeat places that we always go to, like Dallas and Denyer, but we like to go to cn: Do gou for€s€€ ang chang€s for n€xt U€arP pamlambertr The National format will r=n / t1 q lt 'It_ 't ,l lrt -, frrc llfofo Maoa rre lot frtDs! ,1t5 I Tne lnolo r:fil7;1,,!tat Mrb .i 7 p I t. n :l;, ) t_ WTJ =7 / ) 4 ,a I w" ry Io Subseribe I -a00-a3l -222oi ulrulrulr. m oto - ki ds.co m Secure Online Subscriptions