,
By DAVE D ERINGER
PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN
" ~ubU·IStevkn:
aJk
jJ.l!l cohtin- '
ues to amaze . Not only did he manage to kee p his unbeaten st reak
alive and remain perfect for the season ,
t he
C hevy
Truc ks
Kawasaki team rider won the Budds
reek National by almost unbelievable
margins. Y might say that he was betou
ter than perfect.
Aboard his Jeremy Albrecht-tuned
KX125, one of t he few two-stro kes in
the race , Bubba rode to two flawless
moto wins, one of them by a margin of
over one minute! No wonder he liststhe
Budds Creek track as his favorite. With
his latest win, he slips into the top 20 on
the AMl\s all-time win list.
Stewart started inside the top five in
both motos and was able to move into
the lead early in both . His speed, style
and frtness are unrivaled in the 125cc
class, and his lap times are within hundredths of a second of the top 2SOcc riders. His low-flying "Bubba Scrub" is a
th ing of beauty and something that many
riders are tying to duplicate. But the
Bubba Scrub isn't the only thing his cornpetition wishes they could duplicate.
"I'm eight for eight so far in '04 and I'm
so pumped; I love corning here : ' Stewart
said, "The two-stroke still lives. This is
the first time I ever won by over a
minute, and it feels good . I call this place
'Bubba's Creek: "
Seeing as it was Fathe r's Day, Stewart
threw out a little speech for his and allthe
other fathers at the track.
"I need to tellmy Dad that I love him:'
Stewart said, "and that I wou ldn't be here
w here I am toda y witho ut him. Happy
Fathers Day!"
Suzuki's Broc Hepler finished second
overall with a pair of thirds. The youngste r from Pennsylvania has been on a roll
since the series started - except for the
second moto last week, where he took a
costly DN F - Hepler has been flying. This
week Hepler was able to add another
podium finish to his impressive first season.
Even though Hepler was questionable
before the event, alte r he crashed out at
Southwick and injured his ankle, there
were no signs of weakness at Budds
Creek for him, as he looked sharp as a
tack throughout the weekend. He was a
front-runner during both motos and only
had one bobble where he and Stewart
got together in a corner and he briefly
went down. Other than that, Hepler
