Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Left) He got his MXdN win on his second attempt in 2000, winning the event with teammates Travis Pastrana and Ricky Carmichael. He rode a CR250R in the Open class. (Right) Also in 1995, Hughes came the closest he's ever come to date to winning a National title, finishing a close second to Steve Lamson in the 125cc Nationals. RH: Age is one thing, experience, maturity and training. I train harder now than I ever have - I guess the important thing is the intensity that I train at that a lot of people don't understand. CN: I guess if you're going to come back, you want to do it right, don't you? RH: If I'm going to come back, I'm going to give it everything I have. I don't understand people who can just go out there and half-ass it. You only have one chance at doing this, and they're going to find that out when they're retired. You only have one chance, and you're never going to get another chance again, so you might as well put everything you have into it, and what comes out of it is what comes out of it. If you do good, you do good; if you don't, well, life goes on. At least you can't say that you didn't try. CN: What do you think the key differences are between the 125cc class in 1995 versus the riders you're facing this year? RH: I don't think that there are any differences in the class, I just think the equipment has gotten much better, and I think the technique has gotten much better, but I don't think that riders have changed. The Baileys and Johnsons would be the Reeds and Carmichaels, and the younger guys coming up in the class would be myself and Lamson. It's just the equipment gets better, and you learn techniques over the years, and I think that's what elevates the speed. CN: Did you try to get your old number 120 when you decided to make your comeback? RH: Yeah, I tried to get it, but it was gone, and I tried to get a couple of other numbers, but 105, I like it. After I got it on my bike, I think it looks kind of cool, and if you want to look at it like this, I was number 10 one year and number 5 another year. Or my son's birthday's on the 10th, and he's 5 years old. You can look at it any way you want, but that's pretty much the only number that was open. CN: What do you think the key will be to running with James Stewart? Is it going to be more mental, more physical, or what? RH: Well, you can be mentally strong, and you can be physically strong, but if you don't have the speed then you're worthless. I'm hoping my speed is with him. Right now, I feel really good, and my times have been good, but I believe in my fitness. If I can match his speed, then I think my fitness will come into play. If I can't match his speed, then it doesn't matter if I'm fit or not. So that's the biggest question there. I can't control what he does. If he's five seconds faster than me, he's five seconds faster. I have no control over that except giving it 100 percent. If I come off the track and say, "Hey, that's as fast as I possibly can go, and I still got smoked," well, what else can I do? I can't control what he does, you know? I'm going to give it everything I've got, but what place I get is what place I get. I want to win really bad, but I can't control what happens to him unless I knock him down, and I'm not going to go about it that way. CN: If all goes well this year outdoors, should we expect to see you racing supercross next season? RH: No. Just for me, the outdoors. I mean, that many races is too much, and I haven't ridden supercross in a while, so I would like to stick to the outdoors. It's fun to me, I like the speed and the roughness and how long the motos are. If people don't want to give me a ride just to ride outdoors, then I'll be done again. I'm just going to stick to what I know I'm good at, and I just don't need to go into supercross. I guess it's the most important series in America, but it's also pretty damned dangerous. I'd rather sit up in the stands with a beer and watch. eN cue I e n e _ S • MAY 14, 2003 43

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