Parts Unlimited World Off-Road Championship Series (West)
Round 2: Glen Helen Raceway
Ryan Hughes pockets a cool $5000
for a day's "work"
STORY AND PHOTOS BY KIT PALMER
SAN BERNARDINO, CA, FEB. 9
lS2lhe second round of the Parts
~ Unlimited World Off-Road Championship Series at Glen Helen Raceway played right into Ryan Hughes'
hands. After all, the Glen Helen race
was, for all intents and purposes, just
a long motocross race, and it was
also held in Hughes' own back yard,
so to speak. And with a $5000 purse
up for grabs, Hughes, a seasoned
motocross veteran, simply couldn't
pass this one up.
Hughes came to Glen Helen as
though this was just another
motocross race. His bike, a KTM 250
SX, was fitted with the stock (small)
gas tank without a dry-break filling
ITop) Off-roader Russell
Pearson (6)
pulled the holeshot over motocrossers
Ryan Hughes (305). Scott Sheak 11021.
Carter Gurnee 14481. Ryan Dudek (22)
and Nathan Woods (110). (Left) After
passing Pearson on the first lap.
Hughes led the rest of the way.
16
FEBRUARY 19, 2003'
cue
I
•
ne""s
system, and he chose to ride the twohour race without a steering stabilizer
or a drink system - he reportedly
didn't even set up a second pair of
goggles for a midrace change.
"I'm using this race as training,"
said Hughes, who is preparing for the
upcoming 125cc National MX Series,
"so I wanted to keep everything as
normal as possible."
As it turned out, Hughes flat-out
smoked the entire 50-rider Pro field a field rich with off-road talent, such
as National Hare & Hound Champion
Ty Davis, former Hare & Hound
champ Destry Abbott, Russ Pearson,
Johnny Campbell, Brian Garrahan,
Brian Brown and Robert Naughton,
among many others. The Glen Helen
WORCS race also tempted many formidable motocrossers, such as Scott
Sheak, Lance Smail, Nathan Woods
and Carter Gurnee. But Hughes was
in a class all his own on this day.
The only time Hughes wasn't out
in front was right off the start, when
Pearson put his big Yamaha YZ450F
