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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128363
FRIDAY
Heat winners Lange, Northrup and
Jessemen lined up for the start next to
each other. Laughridge beat them all to
the first turn, with Demuth, Teddy Meier,
and Lange in hot pursuit, but by lap three,
Lange found his way around the inspired
Meier just as Jessemen moved into the
fifth spot, a position he would defend
fiercely until the end of the race.
Two laps later, Lange reeled in Demuth
and the front-runners and somehow
upped the already frantic pace. The top
four were close enough to throw a blanket over, and they stayed that way until
after the middle laps.
On lap nine, Lange forced the issue
with Demuth, crowding him to the rim of
the berm leading to a triple. A half a lap
later, Demuth repaid the favor and used
lappers to squirt a gap between Lange
and himself. Meier saw his chance and
moved up to pressure Lange for third, but
this only seemed to fire up Lange, who
stepped up the pace again to reel Demuth
back in. Lange, feeling Meier's pressure,
stuffed Demuth in a berm hard enough to
allow Meier to slip through for third.
Lange charged relentlessly after his
teammate Laughridge, who had been
minding his own business, avoiding the
many fallen riders. On the last lap,
Laughridge's line choice had him behind a
lapper who didn't jump into the triple,
while Lange had the outside line and
smooth sailing into the lead. Two turns
later, the flag flew for Lange, Laughridge,
Meier, Demuth and Jessemen.
"I got off to a decent start, then
Demuth and Teddy got by me, so I settled
down into apace," said Lange. "Then I
found a good line through the whoops."
"I had the holeshot and the race in the
bag," Laughridge said. "I had the whoops
down pat, but on the second-to-Iast lap, I
bobbled, and Darcy got close. The same
thing happened the last lap, so I couldn't
triple in, and it cost me first place."
In the 250cc main, Laughridge took the
holeshot, with Brad Hagseth in tow. But a
bobble in the whoops by Laughridge let
Hagseth into the lead and Lange into second. The front-runners banged bars and
swapped plastic trying to sort themselves
out, and by lap three, Northrup had
moved into third, behind Lange.
When Northrup moved in and started
to pressure Lange, the defending champ
kicked in the afterburners and shot past
Hagseth in the whoops section.
Hagseth started a backward fall before
catching himself in sixth place, where he
would finish the race.
The four-way battle between former
champ Demuth, Kevin Johnson, Chad
Johnson and Jessemen carried them past
Hagseth. Laughridge, however, swapped
in the whoops and planted himself in the
back of the pack.
The two Johnsons beat one another
senseless, with Kevin moving into the fourth
spot. As the race wound down, it looked
like Lange lapped some riders twice.
Lange went on to win again.
"It's been a good week, a good night,"
Lange said.
Northrup finished second, ahead of
Demuth.
SATURDAY
The starting line for the 125cc main
looked like a Richmond Racing Kawasaki
benefit, as all fIVe team riders lined up to
do battle. Laughridge nailed the holeshot,
with Northrup and Lange in hot pursuit.
Northrup immediately went for the pass
on Laughridge but ended up causing a
chain reaction of bobbles from the riders
behind him. Lange tried to change lines to
avoid an out-of-shape Laughridge and was
nailed from behind by his teammate. With
a sea of green Kawasakis on the deck,
Northrup set off to widen the gap.
Demuth inherited third after the melee,
with Hagseth and Chad Johnson in tow.
Lange, busy avoiding being landed on, got
up in dead last and looked to be sorting
his head out.
At the halfway mark, the top four riders bunched up. Demuth worked on the
leader Northrup, but nothing doing.
Northrup held on to take the win, ahead
of Chad and Kevin Johnson, and
Jessemen, who passed Laughridge on
the last lap.
"I just put my head down and charged
the whole race," Northrup said. "I
couldn't see much of it, but I could tell
there was a lot of crashing going on
behind me. I just focused on staying up
front, where I belong."
Colt Humphrey got in on the action in
the 250cc main after taking the holeshot
ahead of Hagseth. On the third lap,
Northrup and Lange simultaneously
jumped past Hagseth over a triple, while
Humphrey continued to set the pace.
Both Northrup and Lange would eventually get Humphrey, as they fought over
the lead.
Lange soon slipped past Northrup and
opened up a small lead, while Hagseth did
his best to hang with Northrup. At the finish, it was Lange taking his third win of the
weekend, with Northrup taking second,
followed by Hagseth and Demuth.
"It's a long weekend but a good note
to end on," said Hagseth, who got on the
podium for the first time all weekend. "I
tried to keep it tight, but Darcy was just
flat-out going fast. After the way I've been
riding, a third is phenomenal for me." CN
FIRST MARINER ARENA
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
RESULTS: JANUARY 14-15,
(ROUND 7 OF 10)
2005
FrKlily
125 MAIN; I. Darcy l.ange (Kaw); 2. Evan Laughridge
(Kaw); 1. leddy Hel... (Kaw); 4. Josh Demuth (Yam); 5.
_
Jessemeo (Suz); 6. Chad JoIv=n (Yam); 7. Jeff
Nonhrup (Kaw); 8. Kevm Johnson (Yam); 9. Brad Hagseth
(Han); 10.JmN..... (S""); I I. SawnCIar1<(Kaw); 12.Kody
HoH,,,, 11. 8rad Hodjewski (Suz);. 14. R;1ey Ku",.ky 15.
Roy Honon (Hon).
250 MAIN: I. Da"Y l.ange (Kaw); 2. leff Northrup
(Kaw); 3. Josh Demuth (Yam); 4. Kevin Johnson (Yam); 5.
8randen Jes.emen (Soz); 6. 8rad H:ogseth (Han); 7. Teddy
He;.,. (!