Josh Woods is in a three-way tie for the lead in the BooKoo
Arenacross Championship Series, and he wasn’t even supposed to race it!
The K’s Motorsports/Maestro Suzuki rider was at his home track, right
next to Davi Millsaps’ in southwest Georgia, when he got a call last
Thursday afternoon. Buddy Antunez’s Fun Center Suzuki team had just
lost a top rider due to an injury on press day, and Buddy wanted to
know if he could he fill in. Josh packed his supercross practice bike
and drove all night to Ft. Worth, Texas, and signed up. When the racing
was over, he had won both 450 Pro mains, made some money, and suddenly
became a series contender. That’s arenacross!
 | | Josh Woods |
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Racer X: First, tell us how this weekend even happened.
Josh Woods: It was an unexpected weekend. I got a phone call late
Thursday night to come here and ride Brad Hagseth’s bike and fill in
for him because, unfortunately, he got injured [a broken leg on press
day]. I made the trip all night long to get here. I was really nervous
about racing here and how it was going to work out. One thing for sure,
though, I felt really comfortable on my 450 Suzuki. I’ve been
practicing supercross a lot on it. I knew I had a good chance of
winning the main events with it.
I also had a lot more fun than I expected to doing this series. My past
experience with arenacross wasn’t the greatest. That was about five
years ago on Kawasakis, back in my Team Green days!
You rode both classes on four-strokes, a 250F and a 450F, right?
Yeah. There weren’t that many 450s out there. On a track like this, it
was a big advantage in those whoops and stuff. If I have one thing to
work on after this weekend, it’s the 250F, and maybe my starts. It’s
been a while since I rode a 250F, and I struggled a little on that
bike, especially Saturday night. On Friday night I had the speed, but
the second night I made some mistakes and just didn’t feel as
comfortable on it as I needed to. I’ll have to sit down and consider
doing some more [arenacross]. I’ll have to sit down and talk with Buddy
Antunez and Cole Gress in the next few days.
So sometime next week we’ll know if you’re sticking with arenacross?
[Laughs] If I show up, I’ll race! I imagine I’ll be there next
weekend no matter what, and as far as the rest of the series, we’ll see
how it goes. I’m definitely up for a few more races and to see if I can
stay in the points chase.
 | | With an RM-Z450 set up for supercross, Woods was the king of the whoops at Ft. Worth |
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Were the Fun Center Suzukis all dialed in for arenacross when you got here, or how did you find things?
I used my own 450 with my supercross suspension. I raced my practice
bike, actually. I think that’s why I felt so comfortable on it. On the
250F, it was set up for Brad, so it was a little bit soft for me. I
think I weigh about 15 pounds more than he does. I struggled a little
bit with that bike, and I think a lot of it had to do with suspension.
What did you find when you got here, compared to what you expected?
The track was pretty much what I expected it to be. These layouts are
pretty similar all the time. The whoops turned out good. They were easy
at the start of the night both times, then they got slippery and ate up
a little bit and more difficult. That was my advantage this weekend,
for sure. On that 450, I was pulling a little bit of time on everyone
there. The track turned out great. It was a little slippery, but it was
fair. I liked that sand in the first turn. It broke things up and made
things interesting. Hopefully we’ll see some more stuff like that this
year.
How was the overall event, the show and the organization?
I think it was great. Mike Kidd did a great job with this series, and
of course the payout is awesome. It’s almost more than supercross,
really. It’s great as far back as they pay and everything. I’m glad to
see there’s another series for these guys to race and make a living at.
Unfortunately, the NASCAR race drew a little of the crowd away.
Hopefully next weekend they will get a good crowd and we can put on a
show for a few more fans. The fans were great, and they cheered for us
the whole time. That made it fun for me.
Do you have any crazy arenacross stories? Anyone fly across the track in front of you or anything?
I got taken out a few times, but that’s expected in arenacross. I
learned a little bit on how to ride smart with these guys. It’s
different than supercross, for sure. There’s contact, and these guys
know how to ride it. They know how to block their lines and stuff. It
was a little bit of a quick learning curve for me. But I think I did
pretty good with it, and it’s only going to get better.
 | | Fun Center Suzuki has two riders - Woods and Bess - in a three-way tie for the series lead |
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What’s your impression of the arenacross guys’ skills at this point?
They’re good. Shane [Bess] and Tiger [Lacey] were amazingly consistent.
I don’t think either one of them won a main, but they have the same
points as me. It’s all about consistency. Its going to come down to
that and no DNFs—ride smart and don’t get hurt.
You totally blocked Shane in that turn just before the start gate.
Yeah, Shane was riding a lot better Saturday than he did the first
night. He was fast in the whoops. He was taking my line down the
inside. I was having a hard time passing him. I wanted to make a pass
early, before anyone had a chance to catch up to us. I had to make a
little bit of an aggressive move—hopefully I didn’t cut him off too
bad. I think he knows that’s arenacross and we try and ride clean. I
don’t think there was any rubbing in that pass. I had to do what I had
to do to get in front and pull a little bit of a lead and ride my own
race.
Thanks for the time, and keep us posted on your arenacross plans from here on.
Thanks a lot, Steve.
