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Motion Pro supported Tuf Racing rider Jeff Gibson rides strong in Texas, grabs valuable series points
posted Feb 2, 2012Tags: Racing, General News All Article Tags
The weekend began with a bang as both riders started 1 and 2 in their heat race on Friday. Jeff went on to win his while Cole finished third. Gibson gated first again in the main event and led for over half of the race until an inspired Kelly Smith made the pass for the lead and his and KTM’s first win of the season. Cole was involved in some first turn bumping and ended up coming around the first turn around 12th. He was stuck there until about the half way mark when the afterburners finally kicked in. Cole made a charge all the way up to 4th with a pass on Ames with just a few feet to go. The race ended in the order of Smith, Gibson, Bowers, Siebler and Ames.
The track crew redid the whole track for Saturday’s race. It was a lot easier and faster but very slippery if you got out of the fast line. Cole gated second in his heat race and finished there as did everyone in this heat. Gibson lead Bowers after the first lap in heat two until a rider went down on lap two that brought out the red flag and forced a restart. Jeff didn’t make it through the first turn clean this time and started around 7th. He did make it up to 5th but it was almost impossible to pass on the track. This forced Jeff into a second row start behind Cole. Somehow Gibson came around the first turn in fourth, with Cole right behind him in 5th. This just shows how crazy the starts can be in arenacross. It took Jeff seven or eight laps to get by Ames and Kelly to get into second, but by then Bowers had a fairly substantial lead. Cole cot involved in about a six bike pileup after the whoops and that dropped him out of contention for the night.
Arenacross Points Standings
Tyler Bowers 305pts. (Kaw)
Jeff Gibson 289pts. (Hon)
Chad Johnson 253pts. (Kaw)
Kelly Smith 227pts. (KTM)
Nathan Skaggs 198pts. (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
