Rad Chad Johnsons Toyota AMA National Arenacross Win Streak Ends - News - Dirt Rider Magazine

With a win on Saturday night at the inaugural Charlotte Bobcats Arena Arenacross - Round Three of the 2005-06 Toyota AMA National Arenacross Series - Team Thor/Honda/Tuf Racing's Brock Sellards put an end to Team Yamaha's "Rad" Chad Johnson's five-race win streak, moved into second place overall in front of teammate Jeff Northrop and pulled himself to within 32 points of leader Johnson.Johnson, Friday night's AMA Arenacross class (formerly 250 class) winner—and winner of the four previous AMA Arenacross class main events (Albany, N.Y., and Des Moines, Iowa)—has said from the beginning that it's going to be a long, hard-fought competition season. A bit surprised with his `undefeated' success early (given that he'd finished fourth overall last year), Johnson said Sellards' win on Saturday was a testament to how competitive the Toyota AMA National Arenacross competition is this season."Brock was on it Saturday," said Johnson, who has 145 points on the season with five wins and one third place finish. "I'd made a couple mistakes and gave it all I could to take the lead back from him, but just wasn't able to put another win together. I can't wait to race him again when we get back to Rockford (Ill.)."A hometown race of sorts for Johnson, who hails from nearby Rhinelander, Wisc., the Rockford Metrocentre Arenacross will be the only national Arenacross series race run in the motorcycle-friendly state of Illinois.Sellards has been fast all season. But the MX/SX specialist—racing his first Arenacross-style races in a decade—has played it veteran cool, biding his time before taking it to the competition this past weekend in Charlotte."To begin with my starts were better at Charlotte," said Sellards. "The racing's so tight, if you don't get an explosive start, it's tough to come through the pack—especially the way guys like Chad (Johnson) and my teammate Jeff (Northrop) have been racing. My timing's coming around, and that showed on Saturday. Main thing is that I'm having fun, got that first win out of the way and look forward to running it back here in a couple weeks at Rockford."Not to be overshadowed by "Rad" Chad Johnson, the series' other hyper-fast Johnson—Revin' Kevin Johnson—turned in a blazing fast 2-2 AMA Arenacross class weekend and moved past North Carolinian Jim Neese into fourth place in the overall standings with 101 points and is just seven points off the overall podium.In the AMA Arenacross Lites class, Iowan Cody Gilmore proved his Wells Fargo Arena Lites class win a couple weeks ago was no fluke as he took Saturday night's support class win. Top AMA Lites class racer Shawn Clark maintains the best overall speed in the class, though, as he captured the win on Friday and took second on Saturday.The Toyota AMA National Arenacross Series takes Thanksgiving Weekend off before returning to action Dec. 2-4 at Rockford's Metrocentre—marking the only time this year AMA-sanctioned Arenacross will take place in the state of Illinois.Results from Charlotte:

Overall AMA Arenacross class points
1.) Chad Johnson, Yamaha (145)
2.) Brock Sellards, Honda (113)
3.) Jeff Northrop, Honda (108)
4.) Kevin Johnson, Yamaha (101)
5.) Jim Neese, Suzuki (94)