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.- • r ". , ."!' I """ '" • '~ race because I will be runnin g CPs for Honda. Who kn ow s - maybe I can come ba ck h er e and rid e th e Plus 25 cla ss ~ometime." Crine wa s having a good ride early in the race, as he cha llenged Hughes sever, al times for the lead . Huffman was able to p ick his way p ast Bria n Ca rrol and Kratz to move in to fourth. Hu ghes was able to pu ll it toget h er and ge t away as the IS-lap race wore on. Huffma n con tinued his rid e forward , passi ng both Walla ce and Kr a tz a n d even tua lly ge tting Cri ne in the back section to move in to second . Huffma n, who on ly recently re turned to ac tio n a fter recovering from a badly bro ken leg, was demonstrating poise and patience as he rose through the pack. At the checkered flag, it was Hughes win ning the mo to with a 12-second lead , foll ow ed by H u ffm a n , Kratz , C rine, Bruce Stra tton and Barry Carsten. In the second moto, Hughes pegged his KX from Englis htown's extreme leftha nd sta r ting stall to s q u e a k ou t a holesh ot. Stra tton came out in second , followed by Hu ffman . Huffman th en ska ted aro u nd Stratton in the center .section of the track to move in to second. At abo u t th at tim e, th e rain started coming d own harder, an d th e track became very slick with eve r-deepening ruts. This technical challenge began to ta x the locals, and just five laps later, both Hughes and Huffman h ad lapp ed up to 12th plac e. Carsten ran fou rth, follo wed by Chris Hunter. Three-quarters of th e way in to th e race, tr aged y struck for Ryan Hughes as he cartwheeled over a huge co m binati on .jump on one of Raceway Park' s stra ig hts . H uffman inherited th e. lea d a n d pull ed aw a y . Fo r t u n a te ly fo r Hu gh e s , th e t h i rd -pl a ce r ider w a s nearly half a la p be hi nd, an d he w as ab le to ge t restarted again in seco n d place. . "I ran into trouble on that jump and d id a fli p , " H ug hes sa id . "T h e rain m ak es vi sion ex tremely difficult, and . Ne w Jer sey has a rule agains t pullin g you r goggles off during a race." It was beginnin g to look as tho ugh Huffman' s d ay wo uld su ddenly be easy. 'Hughes, however, had other ideas. The 'Californian quickly wen t to work and ,w hittled away at Hu ffman 's lead in the fast est racin g actio n o f th e d ay as th e Team Kawasaki freight train lapped the field up to fift h p lace. With tw o laps rem ainin g, Hughes followed H uffman down a' drop -off w ith a hai rpi n turn at the bott om, called the "Dakota Ca nyo n ." Rem ar kabl y, Huffman came ou t of the Ca nyo n following Hugh es. Hugh es pu lle d out all the stops to 'ta ke th e w in over Hu ffm an . Stratton ended up th ird , follow ed by Carste n, Hunter and Carrol. Th e 125s bl ast ed into th e first turn and Tom Welch ran his yellow screamer in for th e ho lesh ot. Wey held second and New Jersey's fastest ride r, Ca rsten, held third on the start . Carsten had won both th e 125 and 250cc classes in th e p revious day's qu alifyin g events. Welch and Wey quickly took the race to another level and began to chec k ou t. The pace quickened , and Wey p assed Welch in a series of switchbacks in the cen ter sec tio n of th e track to tak e th e lead . Carsten held third and Ty Wallace held d own fourth. , "I'm a Michigan nat ive, so I love the sand," We y said later. "The sa n d se ctions on this track are very fun . I always seem to rid e a little better a t tracks that are more like what I grew up on." _ As the race wore on, Wey continued " , .. -, • ... • : • to chec k ou t, but Ca rs ten was able to ree l in Welch an d event ually make the pass for seco nd . In the later stages of the ra ce, a nd afte r recovering fro m a bad sta rt, Bentl ey came on stro ng . He passed 'Wa llace and Welch a nd mo ve d u p to challenge Carsten . With an im pressive last-lap move, he passed Carsten for seco nd o n th e flag po le s tra igh taway . Cars te n r os e to th e occasion, got i t toget h er a nd repassed Ben tley on the remainde r of the lap to take second. The 125cc mot o 'end ed w ith Wey winning, followed by Cars ten , Bentl ey, Welsh and Wallace. The second 125cc moto sta rted u nder t orrential ra in . Welch d ial ed on t h e ' throttle to nail his second holeshot, wi th Walla ce , Bentl e y a n d W ey fi li ng in behind him. Wey then locked his sights on both Bentley and Wallace and passed them to take second . Bentl ey was ne xt to work p ast Wallace. Welch, meanwhile, ran into p rob - Iems in the back sec tion of the track and everyone moved up a not ch . Ben tley then engaged Wey in a d uel t ha t would last for the next th r e e la p s. Bar to b a r, Weyand Bentley battl ed each other and the cond ition s. The New Jersey goggle ru le was basically ign or ed , because racers were droppi ng their goggles like ho tcakes as rain, m u d a n d fo g cha ll e nged the ir vision . Finall y, Bentley shot by Wey in the switchbacks. Wey didn't ha ve enough charge to a nswer Bentley' s ch all enge an d he was forced to let him ge t away. With a 1-2 tally, Wey would still cap tu re th e overa ll. The moto fini shed with Bentl ey winning, followed by Wey, Wallace, Cars ten and Welch . l~ Kawasaki Race of Champio ns Eng lishtown, New Jersey Results: October 4, 1998 250 PRO: 1. Rya n Hu ghes (Ka w): 2. Damon Huff ma n (Kaw): 3. Dave Kra tz (Yam); 4. Brpce Stra tton (Suz): 5. Barry Carsten (Suz ): 6. Brian Ca rrol (Suz): 7. Damico Plotts (KTM ); 8. Lee Rostien (SU2); 9. C ha d San ne (Kaw): 10. Jim Mcllvane (Hen) . 125 PRO: 1. Nick Wey (Kaw) : 2. Shae Be n tley (Kaw): 3. Barry Carsten (Suz); 4. Ty Wallace (Yam); 5. Tom Welch (Suz); 6. Rich Schmid t (5u7:) 7. Terry Finkle ; (Yam); 8. Sha w n Ru sso (Suz) ; 9. Jasen Narpcr (Kaw); 10. Steve Moquin (Suz). , ...... N I-< III ..g ...... o 2<1 U

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