TUF Honda AX Race Report
January 18, 2012, 9:15am
This weekend in Topeka didn’t quite turn out the way we hoped, but we were close. First we were very happy to have our second rider Cole Siebler back for the rest of the season and he was right back in the thick of things finishing 2nd behind Gibson in their heat race on Friday. Gibson took advantage of the good gate pick in the main event pulling his third main event Holeshot in as many starts and was looking good with a fairly safe gap on Bowers who moved into second. Just past the halfway mark Jeff made a mistake in the whoops and went down giving the lead to Bowers. Both these riders had such a lead on third that Jeff could remount and finish 2nd for the night.
The track crew decided that the track was too hard on Friday and made some major changes to the whoop section making the track much faster and easier on Saturday. Some first turn banging left our riders back in the pack in the heat with Cole coming in third and Jeff finishing a seasons worst in 5th . Jeff made up for that in the main almost pulling the Holeshot from the outside gate spot. A little banging again in the first turn dropped him to 3rd. Bowers made a quick pass on Gibson but Jeff quickly passed him back. Jeff then passed Johnson for second and set his sights on Skaggs who had the lead. For 5 or 6 laps Jeff put the pressure on Skaggs but found it impossible to get by. Finally after the whoop section Jeff tried an inside move that ended up with him going down and quickly a great night turned into a bad one as he rejoined the race in a distance 11th. He put a great effort but on the easy track he could only get back to 8th by the end of the main event..
Arenacross Points Standings
Tyler Bowers 235pts. (Kaw)
Jeff Gibson 223pts. (Hon)
Chad Johnson 206pts. (Kaw)
Kelly Smith 172pts. (KTM)
Nathan Skaggs 153pts. (Hon)
TUF Honda’s full list of supporters for 2012 is as follows:
FMF Power Beverage, Poynt, American Honda, Thor, Smith, NGK, Wiseco, Renegade, Silkolene, Bazzaz, K&N, KG Clutches, Motion Pro, DP Brakes, Hinson, RK/Excel, UFO, FMF Exhaust, Cernics, Hot Cams/Pivot Works, Wow Tickets, Vortex, Factory Connection, Works Connection, HBD, Motorsport Products, Moto Tassanari, Dunlop, Sidi, and TUF performance products
The track crew decided that the track was too hard on Friday and made some major changes to the whoop section making the track much faster and easier on Saturday. Some first turn banging left our riders back in the pack in the heat with Cole coming in third and Jeff finishing a seasons worst in 5th . Jeff made up for that in the main almost pulling the Holeshot from the outside gate spot. A little banging again in the first turn dropped him to 3rd. Bowers made a quick pass on Gibson but Jeff quickly passed him back. Jeff then passed Johnson for second and set his sights on Skaggs who had the lead. For 5 or 6 laps Jeff put the pressure on Skaggs but found it impossible to get by. Finally after the whoop section Jeff tried an inside move that ended up with him going down and quickly a great night turned into a bad one as he rejoined the race in a distance 11th. He put a great effort but on the easy track he could only get back to 8th by the end of the main event..
Arenacross Points Standings
Tyler Bowers 235pts. (Kaw)
Jeff Gibson 223pts. (Hon)
Chad Johnson 206pts. (Kaw)
Kelly Smith 172pts. (KTM)
Nathan Skaggs 153pts. (Hon)
TUF Honda’s full list of supporters for 2012 is as follows:
FMF Power Beverage, Poynt, American Honda, Thor, Smith, NGK, Wiseco, Renegade, Silkolene, Bazzaz, K&N, KG Clutches, Motion Pro, DP Brakes, Hinson, RK/Excel, UFO, FMF Exhaust, Cernics, Hot Cams/Pivot Works, Wow Tickets, Vortex, Factory Connection, Works Connection, HBD, Motorsport Products, Moto Tassanari, Dunlop, Sidi, and TUF performance products
