Parity Abounds in Toyota AMA AX Series

January 17, 2007, 2:26pm

Top six riders in Toyota AMA Arenacross Series’ premier AMA Arenacross class have victories this season

AURORA, Ill., (Jan. 17, 2007) – Toyota AMA Arenacross Series points leader Danny Smith (TUF Racing/Honda) put it best recently when he said, “I still think the whole deal is coming down to the last night in Nashville.”

Count them – six different winners in six weekends of racing thus far on the Toyota AMA Arenacross Series tour. You’d be hard pressed to find a year in the history of the sport featuring more early on parity through out the standings, from 1st place down through 6th.

“I’ll tell you this: I can’t remember a year that has been this diverse in terms of main event winners,” said longtime Toyota AMA Arenacross Series announcer Tim Cotter. “It’s been such a great year of racing for the fans.”

With attendance and rider numbers up at nearly every event, the Toyota AMA Arenacross Series has featured guys like Smith and Keith Johnson (Yamaha) from the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series, one of racing’s all-time legends, Robbie Reynard (privateer Honda) and, of course, last year’s No. 1 and No. 2 placers – Chad Johnson (Junior Jackson Racing/Suzuki) and Brock Sellards (TUF Racing/Honda), both of whom were separated by one point for the 2005-’06 overall title.

Adding to that substantial list is Team Faith/Yamaha’s Kevin Johnson. With the best season of racing unfolding weekend after weekend, it’s no wonder the fans have been holeshotting the turnstiles in order to catch the high-flying Toyota AMA Arenacross Series action.

Added Reynard, one of the greatest amateur racers of all time and the racer with the most wins on the Toyota AMA Arenacross Series tour this season with three: “Arenacross is letting me have a lot of fun and has been a good change for me. It has given me that feeling I haven't had in a long time with racing.”

The Toyota AMA Arenacross Series’ AMA Arenacross Lites division, as expected, has had even more racers atop the podium this year. All said, eight racers have won AMA Arenacross Lites class events this year. Led by Jim Neese (Carolina Xpress/Suzuki) with three wins, racers also winning in this class include: Gray Davenport, Kody Molitor, Teddy Maier, Cory Green, Kevin Markwardt, Ryan Voit and Robbie Smith.

“The AMA Arenacross Lites class has turned out just the way we expected,” said Robert Hansen, director of arenacross for Live Nation. “We’ve got racers vying for four separate Toyota AMA Arenacross No. 1 Regional Lites class plates, and we couldn’t be more please with the way things are playing out.”

Toyota AMA Arenacross Series: AMA Arenacross Class Point Standings

1. Danny Smith (2 wins) 198

2. Chad Johnson (2 wins) 183

3. Keith Johnson (2 wins) 162

4. Robbie Reynard (3 wins) 156

5. Kevin Johnson (1 win) 150

6. Brock Sellards (2 wins) 145

7. Justin Buckelew 138

8. Teddy Maier 124

9. Matt Barnes 120

10. Greg Schnell 94

For more information regarding the racing coming to Dayton (Ohio) and Pikesville (Ky.) this weekend, the current series’ point standings and results, or the latest news on the series are all available at www.arenacross.com.

Tickets are available online at www.arenacross.com, www.ticketmaster.com, www.tickets.com. For more information on the Toyota AMA National Arenacross Series log on to www.arenacross.com.