The following is a release from Advanstar:
Round seven of the BooKoo Arenacross Series, held at the Sovereign Center, in Reading, PA, this weekend, featured the return to racing of Fun Center PPG Suzuki’s Brad Hagseth and Team BooKoo Energy’s Tiger Lacey, with both riders logging some of the fastest lap times of the night. The night was also marked by the withdrawal from the series of championship points leader, Josh Woods, who was forced to the sidelines due to an injury he sustained in a practice crash on New Year’s Day.
“I crashed hard, injuring my lower back,” Woods said. “It’s a pretty serious injury and after riding practice and the qualifiers I decided to pull out and re-evaluate things. It was really a hard decision to make and I wanted to salvage as many points as I could so I could stay in the championship race, but it didn’t feel right. I need to get it looked at and hope to return to racing in a couple weeks.”
In Friday night’s 250 main, Michael Blose proved to be a force to reckon with. Blose seems to have found himself a home with the GPS Racing/StormLakeHonda.com Team and took home the number-one trophy after fending off the early advances of Babbitt Enxus Kawasaki’s Damien Plotts, and Fun Center Troy Lee Designs PPG Suzuki’s Shane Bess.
Bess eventually crashed out of contention, and Plotts slowed with problems, and, in the end, it was Blose with the victory, Babbitt Enxus Kawasaki’s Josh Demuth in second, and Plotts ending up in third.
The 450 main provided even more drama as the final results were changed after Team Sano Systems PPG Yamaha’s Tommy Hofmaster and Lacey jumped the catapult jump while the red-cross flag was out, resulting in their disqualification. Both Hofmaster and Lacey got caught up in a heated battle and failed to see the flags, while Demuth, running third, heeded the warning. Demuth ended up taking home the victory with Hagseth in second and Bess in third. The weekend wrapped up Saturday night with Tommy Hofmaster getting his first win of the series, and Demuth notching another victory.
In the 250 main, Hofmaster led the field to the first turn. Local favorite, Plotts, was close in tow, with Bess third early on.
Hoffmaster set a solid pace from the start and put distance between himself and Plotts in the early laps to take the victory.
Blose, Friday night’s 250 main winner, would make his way through the field and into second place, as Bess washed out in a corner, relinquishing the position on lap 13. Two-time Arenacross Champion, Demuth, got on the podium with a solid third-place finish, further securing his lead in the overall point standings.
As the gate dropped for the 450 main, Plotts got out in front early as the fans cheered on their local hero. Bess was second with Demuth and Hofmaster in tow. Demuth made his way past Bess on lap three and set his sights on teammate Plotts, as Hofmaster continued to gain ground on Bess. Demuth would get past Plotts in the early laps and set the pace for the remainder of the race, while Hofmaster and Bess traded punches in a heated battle for the third and final spot on the podium. The two were actually touching as they soared over the catapult jump. Plotts would bobble in the rhythm section on lap 18, allowing Bess and Hofmaster to take home second and third place, respectively.
When the dust settled, Demuth would find himself in a familiar spot atop the podium, once again, while Bess and Hofmaster rounded out the top three.