U.S. Open of AX Results
American Honda-MDK Speed rider Tyler Bowers Wins The Big One!
Uncasville, CT (February 9-10, 2007) – Fifteen year old, rookie expert Tyler Bowers showed the bad boys of arenacross he still has plenty left. After finishing second to Darcy Lange riding the Babbitt’s Monster Energy Kawasaki in the BooKoo Arenacross Championship Series, Bowers stayed focused on doing what needed to be done to win the BooKoo U.S. Open of Arenacross and the $50,000.00 check that comes with the title.
The $100,000.00 payout over the weekend, making this the richest arenacross in the world, was held at the beautiful Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The worlds best arenacross riders were in attendance for the inaugural U.S. Open of Arenacross, which was also the final round of the BooKoo Arenacross Championship Series.
A near capacity crowd Friday along with a full house on Saturday provided electricity in the air like before. With Lange wrapping up the BooKoo Arenacross Championship Series the week before in Minneapolis, MN, Lange would be coming into the U.S. Open of Arenacross able to ride for wins and not having to ride to protect a point lead.
With 23 wins to his credit coming into the U.S. Open of AX, Lange was the odds on favorite. Bowers would come in with 6 wins, which would be an upset if he could pull off the overall for the weekend.
The first lap of the 250 Main Event on Friday would be the downfall for Lange. While leading the pack coming out of the whoop section, Lange went down with several riders landing on top. Bowers went on to win, with Lange getting up working his way back to a 6th at the checkered flag.
The 450 Main Event on Friday was all Lange, with Bowers hanging on to take a second. After the scores were tallied, Bowers would have a 5 point advantage over Lange heading into Saturday night.
During opening ceremonies, announcer Kevin Kelly brought the fans up to speed on the importance of both the 250 and 450 main events, as someone was going home with $50,000.00. Both Bowers and Lange would transfer directly to their main events out of the heat races, giving both riders time to think about their strategy.
The stage was set, the riders and fans were ready, so here we go…. Almost as a repeat from Friday, Lange was leading the 250 Main Event on the first lap went all of sudden he went cart-wheeling down the track. Lange got up and took off like a mad man…dead last. While Bowers was out front getting signals from his crew Lange had went down, Lange was on a mission. Many riders had committed the track was coming apart making it difficult to pass, except someone forget to tell Lange. With fifteen riders in the 20 lap main event, Lange worked his way around 13 riders to finish a remarkable second place behind Bowers. Lange had just put in one of the most remarkable rides ever in arenacross.
Going into the final race of the weekend, Bowers had a seven point advantage over Lange. Everyone knew this was arenacross…where anything can happen.
At the start of the 450 Main Event Lange took control early. After the first lap Bowers was back about seventh place riding smooth and aggressive. Bowers was moving up one rider at a time, making sure he stayed out of trouble. During the closing laps, Bowers moved up to third and settled in to finish behind Jimmy Nelson riding the GPS Racing, Cannon Falls Honda with Lange taking the win.
Bowers would end up winning the BooKoo U.S. Open of Arenacross with two wins, a second and a third.
When ask, “What will a fifteen year old do with $50,000.00?” Bowers reply, “Put all of it back into my racing program.” This kid is a racer.
Top 10 U.S. Open Results
1ST TYLER BOWERS
2ND DARCY LANGE
3RD ZACH AMES
4TH TOM HOFMASTER
5TH BROCK SELLARDS
6TH COLT HUMPHREY
7TH WILLY BROWNING
8TH JEFF NORTHROP
9TH JOHN DOWD
10TH JIMMY NELSON
