Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128243
N ational Are nac r oss S erie s R ound 2: C e n t r u m C e n t e r Demuth pulls away while his competitors have trouble S T O RY AND PH OTO S BY S T A CY S MIT H WORCESTER, MA. NOV. 14-15 /iii:.. mi d st the East Co ast windst orm m t hi s w eek , w ith w ind s over 60 mph , th e t e ams an d c re ws were happy t o be p itting insid e th e Cen trum Center in downtow n Worces ter onl y abo ut 100 miles east of the fir st stop of th e t ou r in Albany , New York . " A t lea st w e' re ins ide this week ," said Chu ck Kehoe, tea m m an ager fo r the Fun Center Suzuk i tea m and Je ff Will oh's wr en ch , in re ference to the chi lly outdoor p it s in Al ban y . Ho m etown hero John Dowd, com in g o ff a soli d we ekend in A lbany, had a warm reception in Worcester. " T hey wou l d h a v e t o bui ld t h e tra ck in m y bac k y ard fo r m e t o be any cl oser to hom e," Dowd said fro m the arena fl oor. Dowd had a b it of mi sfort un e this w e ek en d , t hou g h , a s he fail ed t o qu ali fy fo r the 25 0 cc m ain event on Fri day , alt ho ug h he finis hed seve nth in the 12 5 cc ma in . He did mana g e sixth - and fifth-place finishes, resp ectively , on Saturday night and seeme d to be in good spirit s abo ut th e weekend. " I feel w e got a litt le b it b etter, ov erall , th is w eek end ," Dowd sa id . 'T he results didn 't show it, but ' feel we' re a lot cl o ser to where we need to be." Much of th e dis cussion before Fr i day 's 125 cc m ai n event was related ·14 DECEMBER 3. 2003· cue t o the new track layout. Th e sta rt had b e en moved t o t he m i d dl e of t h e track thi s week , wi th the whoops and rhythm section off to one side and the ca ta pult on th e ot he r side . Basicall y , th e c at ap u l t an d star t stra ight switched pl aces. "It's a pretty go od layout, " Tommy Hofm a st er sa i d . " It will d efin itely m ak e the raci ng a little tight er. " W illoh grab be d t he hol eshot , fol l o w e d qu ic kl y by H o f m a st er a nd Bu dd y A nt un ez. "We' ll give cre dit fo r th at holeshot t o Te rry Va rne r; h e build s ou r eng ines ," Willoh said. Hofm ast er moved around Will oh in sho rt orde r , and afte r th e first l ap , J o sh Dem ut h w as b reath ing d own Wi ll o h ' s neck f o r se c ond . Da r cy Lange was de ali ng with the roost and o t he r c omp lica ti o ns o f ge tti n g a m idpac k sta rt , b ut he wa s charging hard in an attem pt to catch the top three. "I h ad a ha lf-d ecent start , an d' was try ing ha rd to wo rk m y way up ," (Above) Josh Demuth onl)' won one main event in Worcester, but he finished second In the other three. He now leads b)' 18 points. (Right) Darc)' Lange (4) won both 250cc mains but finished eighth and 12th in the two 125cc mains, losing valuable ground to Demuth in the t itle hunt. Ie ne_"" La ng e said . Whil e th i n gs up fr ont rem ai n e d steady , with Hofm aster now com fort ab ly in the lead and Will oh hol ding off D em u th for seco n d , L an g e pass ed both Brad Hag seth and Antun ez t o m ove into th ird . Demuth fi nally passed Willoh with ju st a fe w la ps rem ai ning, and Lan ge also got by th e v ete ran to sli de in to th ird and set his sights on teamm ates Hofmaster and Demuth . '" did n 't kn o w he [D em uth] wa s back there at first, but then I felt him back there the last co uple laps," Hofm aster sai d. "I had good lines, and I felt strong." Ju st when it seemed like t h ing s wer e se t fo r the po d i um , wi th Hofmaster now firmly in cha rge. Demu th settled into second and Lange rou nd ing out the podium, Lange faltered . . "l stalled the bike at the end of the whoop secti on , and it t ook m e a few minutes to ge t it restarted ," Lan ge said . Th e m ist ak e dropped Lan ge from the podiu m to 12th place and ha nded third to Wi lloh. Hofmaster held on for first, and Dem uth settled for secon d. "I t was a great race!" D emuth en thuse d . "Tommy 's a g re at ride r, and I know from all the practicing we d o t o g et h er tha t he's har d to ge t arou nd ... My hat' s off to hi m fo r get ti ng the win ." Lange put t h e mistakes of h is 125cc ra ce behind him and sha red the hol eshot of the 250cc ma in event with Tu f Racing 's Brandon Bartz . Hofmaster, Willoh and Demuth followed, and they all soo n passed Bartz to run in th at orde r for th e fi rst few laps. '" j ust want to co me bac k st ro ng after the 12 5cc m ain ," La nge said . "I got t h e hol es hot an d j u st ro d e m y own race from th ere." Demuth passed Willoh just a cou ple of lap s in , and both he and Hofm as ter s e t o ut afte r th e el us ive Lange, who was bu ildin g on his lead as th ey ga ve c h ase. Ho fm ast er fal t ered , c atc hin g a Tuff Bl ock b efore the wh oop sect ion , hand ing second to Demuth. '" go t hun g up and st alled out a bit ," Hofrnaster said. " J osh [D emuth] ca ug ht up and then p assed m e on th e inside through the wh oops." W i ll oh sett l ed i n t o fou rth , and Bart z, wh o w as running fifth . go t tan-