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/128313
. - - - - -1 Round 10 ARENACROSS Feb. 13-14,2004 ~ longe continues to kill the competition in Denver he thin air in t he Mile High City proved a factor for bot h riders and bikes at round 10 of the National Arenacross Series. But none of it seemed to bother Darcy Lange , who murdered the field for what seems like the umpteenth race in a row, taking three out of four main events, and finishing third in the other. "Yo u defin itely notice the altitude here," Lange said. " Not so much physically, but with the bikes' performances." Lange increased his points lead over Tommy Hofmaster to 8S. Hofmaster was consistent over the weekend, picking up a win and two third-place finishes, but he fal- T 46 MARCH 3, 2004 • tered in Saturday's 2S0cc main and finished a championship-damaging ninth. The real points battle right now is for third between newcomer John Dowd and Justin Brayton . Only 12 points separate the two with just two rounds remaining . F RIDAY Ryan Huffman grabbed the holeshot in the 12Scc main event, with Lange and Jeff Northrop followlng closely. Lange moved quickly past Huffman midway through the CYCLE NEWS seco nd lap and began to pull away. While Huffman was hanging on to second , Northrop and John Dowd got tangled up while battling for third and went down, handing the spot to Hofmaster. Phil Lawrence also passed t he pileup and moved into fourth , directly beh ind Hofmaster. Des pite a slip in the whoops, Hofmaster made it past Huffman and settled into the second spot. However, Lawrence eventually caught his younger teammate and began to pressure Hofmaster for the runner-up spot. "I got a bad start, got into second thanks to the wreck - and got a little tight, and Phil got by," Hofmaster said. "It was a good battle." Hofmaster hung on to third , holding off Chad Johnson and Brad Hagseth. 40th Anniversary Tuf Racing's Joh nso n, riding a CRF4S0R, grabbed the holes hot in the 2S0 main, with Lange, Hofmaster and Lawrence giving chase down the narrow whoop section. "It's pretty one-lined tonight, but there are some good passing lines - you just have to be willing to get in close," Hofmaster said. Johnson took charge out front and rode mistake-free for the first few laps, making a pass by Lange seem like a little more work than normal for the Canadian, "I was second off the start, and Chad went to the outside and got out front ," Lange said. "Th e lappers worked well for me, though, and I made it around ." While it was a little mo re work than he was used to , once he was in front , it was business as usual. Johnson hung on for sec ond over Hofmaster, while Northrop and Brayton rounded out the top five.