By STACY SMITH
PHOTOS BY RAYMOND GUNDY
arcy Lange officially pulled
ahead of the injured Josh
Demuth in t he race for the
2003 -2004 National Arenac ross Championship at
the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. To make matters worse for the competition, the Kawasaki-riding Canuck swept
all four main events, putt ing him comfortably in front of Demuth's teammate Tommy
Hofmaster by 52 points with only five
D
rounds remaining.
The weekend also marked the return of
five-time AX cham p Buddy Antunez . "The
thumb's about 85 percent," Ant unez said.
Lange's taking it one race at a time for
the championship. "It' s way too far from
over to be thinking [abo ut t he champ ionship] right now," he said. " I just want to
kee p building on the lead, and we 'll see
how it goes."
Lange start ed right be hind his teammate
Jeff Northrop in th e Sat urday's 125cc
main.
"I got a good start right behind Jeff
[Northrop], and I didn't want to be aggressive on him," Lange said. " I waited for a
while, and he finally took an inside line and
let me around. He [Northrop] went on to
take second. 50 two of the Richmond
Kawasakis are on the podium . I hope we
. have the same luck in the 2505."
Hofmaster had some trouble with failed
brakes in the heat race and ended up
starting from the second row behind
(Left) Darcy Lange completely domina ted the Hampton Arenacross,
winning a ll four main events.
(Below) Tommy Hofmaster had a
couple of eroblems over the weekend but stili scored three podiums
and sits second in points w ith five
rounds remaining.
52
FEBRUARY 11 , 2004 •
CYCLE NEWS
40th Anniversary