Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

S AT U R DAY Saturday night's 12Scc main was probably the highlight of the wee kend's rac ing. De muth and Lange got out of the gate clean ly, and the battle that everyone was hoping for was falling into place . The two riders bro ke away from the rest of the field, as Lange tailed Dem uth. And if that wasn 't e nough excitement, Northrop and Lawrence were engaged in the ir own dogfight ove r th ird place . Up front , Lange see med to be sizing up Demuth all the while hoping for a small mistake by the champ. Pre tty soo n, the leading duo began get ting into lapped traffic, and Demu th seemed to be most affected by the slower ride rs wh o w ere re luctant to move over, hinder ing Demuth's prog ress . This enab led Lange to get even closer. At one po int, a slower rider blocked Dem ut h's path, forcing the Yamaha rider to close throttle. This was all that Lange nee ded to squirt into the lead and take the win ahead of De muth. Afte rward , Demuth was not a happy man . "I got stuck beh ind a bunch of lappe rs!" he said. "Th ey see the blue nag, and they t hink it mea ns race w ith the leade rs. They just don't move." Mean whi le, in the battl e for th ird, Lawrence had broken free of Northrop but now had Hoffmaste r to deal With . Hoffmaster didn't wan t to mess w ith Lawrence and simply knocked him out of the way by parking him in a tum. Lawrence didn't seem too upset by Hoffmaster 's tactic. "I didn't know Tommy was ther e, and he came in hot thinking I did know he was the re : ' Lawrence said. "T hat' s racing . When I fell on the ground and looked up to see it was him, I laughed ." Northrop ended up hold ing off Antunez for fourt h. In the 250cc main, North rop was again found up fro nt at the start, but he sudde nly we nt dow n in th e w hoops , ta king ou t a bunch of race rs with him. As a resu lt, the race was restarted. Hoffmaster nailed the second start but slid out in the first turn, hand ing the lead to Lange. "I gra bbed a little too muc h fro nt brake and just lost the fron t end ," said Hoffmaster, who eventually finished fifth . "I had a ro ugh we e ke nd, and I wanted to do good in fro nt of the ho metow n crowd." With Hofmaste r out of the way, Lange took off with the lead, w ith Brayton running second. Demuth had a bad start and was worki ng his way up through the pack . He finally caught and passe d Brayton for second but had no chance of catc hing the longsince-gone Lange. Brayto n held on to finish third, w hile Dowd finish fourt h ahead of Ho ffmaster. Antunez ended up 13th afte r crash ing. eN METROCENTRE ARENA ROCKFORD, IW N O IS RESU LTS: DECEMBER 5-6, 2003 (ROUND 3) Friday DFC: I. Josh Demuth (Y am); 2. Tommy Hofmaster (Y am); 3. Justin Brayton (Han ); -4 . Darcy Lange (Kaw): 5. John Dowd (Suz); 6. Jeff Northrop (Kaw) . 125 : I. Dar cy lange (Kaw): 2. Josh Dem ut h (Y am): 3. Jeff N ort hrop (Kaw); -t. Justin Brayton (Hon): 5. Tommy Hofmaster (Y am); 6. Buddy Antunez (Hon); 7. Joh n Dowd am): 10. (Suz); 8. Jimmy Wilson (Hon) ; 9. Ryan Huffman (Y Brandon Bartz (Y ); I I. Chad Joh nson (Y ); 12. Brad am am Hagse th (Hon ): 13. Brad Mod Je ws ki (Suz); 1-4 . Shawn Clark (Kaw ). 250 , I. Josh Demuth (Y ); 2. D=y Lange (Kaw ); 3. am www.cyc lenews.com Jeff Northrop (Kaw); 4. Justin Brayt on (Hon) ; 5. John Dowd (Sk; (So,) ; 12. Randy ob Wood ring (Kaw) ; 13. Budd y Antunez (Ha n); 14. Jeff NO<'tho-op {Kaw): 15. B.andonBartz (Yam); NATIONAL ARENACROSS SE RIES POINTS STANDINGS (Aft er l of II rounds): I. Josh Demuth (224/4 wins); 2. Darcy Lange (2 10/7 wins); 3. Tommy Hofmaste r ( 17611 win); 4. Joh n Dowd ( 142); 5. Justin Brayton ( 139); 6. Jeff Northro p ( 137); 7. Buddy Antun ez ( 129); 8. Brad Hagse th (126); 9. Brand on Bartz ( I I I); 10. Jeff Willoh (94); I I. Keith Johnson (75); 12. Shaw n Clark (73); 13. Jim N eese (60); 14 . Brad Mod j"",kl (5 1); 15. Jimmy Wilson (38). UPCOMING ROUNDS R ound 4 fOil W T orth, exos Round 5 D esMoines, Iowa Jon.2-4 Jon. 9·11 CYCLE NEWS • JANUARY 14.2004 67

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