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/128352
Aboard his new ride, Hughes dominated the race, w inning bath motos without any trouble. • n • • rssron Rf n Hughes is a man on a mission, and his ultima te goal is the 2005 125cc Nation al Motocross Championship. His uest began this weekend at the White Brothers 20th annual Vet World Championships at Glen Helen Raceway on the track he hopes will be th e site of his crowning achievement. T his coming season will be his last chance to obtai n something that for years he has been hunting for - a Nationa l Motocross Championship. Last year, when he won the first moto on a KTM, he seemed destined to win his first-ever Vet World Championship. But early in the second moto, he had a run-in with a tire that spoiled his plans. As for his 2004 National campa ign, it was cut short by an injury and then he parted ways with KTM . Now, at age 32, Hughes knows that his time is running out for a champi onship , and he is wasting no time getting up to speed. "I broke my arm at Millville," Hughes said, after his first rnoto win, "and this is my first outdoor ride since. Actually, it' s my second time on the bike [the first was at a supercross in Fresno]. But the bike was set up for outdoors with outdoor suspension, and it didn't rea lly work very well there . Ou t here, the suspension worked awesome." Hughes pushed his new Honda CRF450 to the lead as they rounded the high-banked Talladega first tum in the first moto . Behind the Honda rider was the always-tough, Yamaha-mounted Doug Dubach, with Gordon Ward in third and defending champion Spud Walters in fourth. Once in the lead, Hughes crushed any hopes of opposition from the other 39 riders in the field. By the end of the first lap, he had a five-second lead that only grew as the race went on . In second was Dubach , and in third was Walters . For most of the race, this was the running order. Since last year 's Vet Championships, Walters has taken up a desk job at Honda , where he works do ing specs and testing 36 DECEMBER I , 2004 • CYCLE NEWS pro duct ion machines. Going into the race, he realized that his chance at defe nding his numbe-o ne plate wou ld be hampered by his new job. "I haven't been riding allthat much. I'm just happy to hold up third ," Walters said. Toward the end of the rnoto , Walters began to have trouble with arm pump, and slowly but surely fourth place began to sneak up on him. Walters continued to glance over his shoulder at his competition and saw Canadian rider Julian Cerny, who was making his first appearance at Glen Helen . He had visited the United States before but never to race . So, needless to say, his debut at this race was impress ive. Coming from a midpack start, the 32year-old Cerny sliced his way into the 40th Anniversary top -10 and the n began picking off loftier positions . Ahead of the Canad ian we re Te rry Fowler, Jeff Ward and Don Bisceglia, but a few laps late r Cerny had worked his way around all of them and moved into a comfortab le fourth position. "Who is that guy on the Honda ," Cerny asked after the moto , refe rring to Walters in third. "I saw him and kept reel ing him in, and I was so disappointed when I saw the checkered flag. I saw him looking back, and ali i could see was him looking for blood." When the second moto started, Dubach tena ciously grabbed the lead and headed to the top of Mt. Saint He lens, with Hughes closing in. Neither rider was going to give up easily; Hughes had won the first moto by nearly 50 seconds, and Dubach didn't want to lose this one again. However, once the duo had crested the enormous hill and began the quick descent down , Hughes was in the lead and already beginning to pull away. Then , Dubach had a lapse in concentration when he hit a rock in the middle of a berm and tipped over, handing the second position to Walters. By the time Dubach remounted, he found himself in a battle for third with Cerny, the speedy Canadian. "I was getting excited about passing [Dubach] and my front end washed out ," Cerny said of his brief battle with the Yamaha rider. "I'm just not used to riding