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/128342
By PAT SC HUTTE P HOTOS BY STEVE B RUHN In his first race back from injury a few weeks ago, Natha n Ramsey rode consistent for third overall. he vy Tr uck s/Kaw asa ki's Jam es " Bubba" Ste w art put the final touches on an amaz ing season in w hich he won all but one moto including going I-I today at Glen Helen Raceway - and broke his own singleseason record of 10 overall wins that he originally set in 2002. At Glen Helen he snapped that record by scoring his I Ith overall win of the 2004 I25cc ser ies. Stewart eve n made it a bit easier on himself at the ultra-rugged motocross facility in the San Bernardino foothills, racing for the first time the KX250Ffourstroke. Stewart won both motos in such convincing fashion (by as much as 40 seconds in the second moto ) that he was shaking his head in disbelief on how dominant the four-stroke is - at certain tracks - and how he's bee n beating the four-strokes all season on his usual twostrok e KX125. "If I was riding this thing allyear I'd be fat and out of shape," he said from the podium. Stewart may have picked the spot-on right time to run the KX250F. Glen C 16 SEPTEMBER 22, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS Helen literallystiff -armed two-strokes like a big kid ina playground football game. The top finishing tw o -stroke was KTM's Brett Metcalfe, who finished 13th. Afte r that , you have to look all the way down the charts to Cole Siebler (Suzuki) in 3 1st place on an RM 125. All totaled, only four 125s ran the I25cc class - a season low. And not only was the track tough on bikes, it was tough on riders. The Jody Weisel-designed Glen Helen track was easilythe most difficult the riders had seen all year, and it definitely took its toll on the fi eld, gobbling up two of the series' top riders in the second moto Broc Hepler (broke n collarbone) and Matt Walker (hip injUry), both of whom we re poised to make the podium after posting second- and third-place finishes, respec tively, in the first moto. Yamaha of Troy's Kelly Smith (fourt h overall) probab ly put it best when asked how he handled the track on the we eke nd: "It pretty much handled me [and] I think it handled everyo ne. It was pretty rough and I just wanted to hurry up and get it over with." In the fi rst rnoto, Stewart pulled the 40th Anniversary holes hot with fellow Kawasaki pilots Walker and Ivan Tedesco flanking him. Tedesco the n went down in the aptly named "Flounde r Freeway," a harmless looking mud/sand/rut stra ightaway that would take its toll on seve ral riders including Hepler. With Tedesco's bike unable to compete (cracked casing), Hepler moved up to third and put a great chase on Walker - catch ing and passing him on lap seven and holding on to the runnerup position in moto one. Walker then show ed some intestinal fortitude and held off a charging Chris Gossela ar, of the Amsoil/Factory Connection/Honda team , and Suzuki's Davi Millsaps, who finished fourth and fifth in the first moto, respectively . A couple more Factory Con nection/Honda riders were in the hunt for top spots in the first moto , but Josh Grant suffered a flat tire and Thom as Hahn ended up seventh, just behind Yamaha of Troy's Danny Smith. Rounding out the top lOin the first moto was a fourth Facto ry Co nnection/Honda rider, Greg Schnell, along with Kelly Smith and his YoT team-