Sellards Sweeps Dallas

Paul Carruthers | January 9, 2006

The following release is from Clear Channel…

An excited crowd at Dallas’ Reunion Arena was witness to quite possibly the best AMA Arenacross class race of the season when Thor/Honda/TUF Racing’s Brock Sellards backed up his Friday night win with an incredible come-from-behind performance to complete the two-race sweep of Round Five of the 2005/06 Toyota AMA National Arenacross Series.

Sellards, who trimmed back series point leader Chad Johnson’s once insurmountable points lead into the teens (17 points) with the 1-1 effort looks to be hitting his stride as the season returned from its one month holiday hiatus with some amazing racing in Dallas.

“I’d made up my mind that Dallas was a race that I really needed bad,” said Sellards. “Chad (Johnson) had a comfortable points lead through the first half of the season. And after the long break I knew I had to be on top in the first race in order to carry the momentum into our six-race stretch here through the finals in Denver.”

Sellards rode a solid race on Friday and was able to check out for the win. Saturday was a different story as the Ohio native had to pull out all the stops in a come-from-behind charge worthy of the ages, and one that also no doubt sold a ton of tickets for when the race returns next year to Dallas. Rival Zach Ames was able to yank the Weekend Warrior Trailer Hole Shot Award and led the race early. Ames was pursued by Sellards’ Thor/Honda/Tuf Racing teammate Jeff Northrop. Coming through the pack, though, was Sellards  who would not be denied in his quest for the lead.

“I was able to keep Jeff and Zach in my sights as I got through the traffic up to the leaders,” said Sellards. “At the end I just put my head down and charged, picking up time where ever I could with the idea I was either going to win or crash hard trying.”

Crashing out of the Arenacross class on Saturday was Johnson. The series’ point leader went down and came back to challenge for the lead from dead last place in a ‘never say die’ charge that earned him some highly important third place points.

Rounding out the podium on Friday with Sellards was Johnson and Northrop. Northrop and Johnson flip-flopped on Saturday with Northrop taking second and Johnson third.

Equally as exciting was the AMA Lites class racing and the battle between Suzuki-backed Jim Neese and the Unbound Energy/VRM.com Racing’s Shawn Clark. Having won the first night after catching Neese (after Neese pulled the hole shot), the stage was set for a Lites class race on Saturday that would bring the fans to their feet as well.

“We diced it up big time,” said Clark of his race with Neese. “I got the hole shot and he (Neese) came in and slammed me. It was a good move, but real aggressive. I was able to catch him about midway though the race and hold on for the win. We came off the track high fiving and stuff.”

Paul Carruthers | Editor

Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.