Demuth Back to Winning Ways

Shan Moore | January 10, 2005

Josh Demuth (pictured) claimed his first win of the 2004-2005 National Arenacross Series before a very vocal hometown crowd at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas, over the weekend.

The Shogun Factory Yamaha/Motion Cyclesports-sponsored Demuth added a Dash-For-Cash victory and electrified the partisan crowd by running down series points leader Darcy Lange from a 20-bike deficit during Saturday’s 250cc final to almost take a third win. The showing was Demuth’s best of the season, while series points leader and defending champion Lange suffered his worst performance of the year, including a season-low 12th-place finish in Saturday’s 125cc main. The Kawasaki Team Green/Pro Circuit/Richmond Racing-sponsored Lange suffered from bad starts, poor gate selections and an unfortunate crash with another rider, but he still managed two main-event wins on the tight and slippery course Saturday night.

Kawasaki Team Green/Pro Circuit/Richmond Racing’s Jeff Northrop, who occupies second place in the series standings, also had a night to forget after finishing eighth in Saturday’s 250cc main and having to watch the 125cc final from the bleachers.

Like Demuth, Branden Jesseman, of the Motoworldracing.com/Suzuki team, liked the Dallas course and claimed his second win of the year, a wire-to-wire run in Friday’s 125cc main, while Lange worked up to second from one of his sub-par starts.

With only four rounds remaining in the series, Lange still holds an almost insurmountable points lead, a full 122 points ahead of Northrop, with Jesseman another 33 points back.

Shan Moore | Contributing Editor

Moore covers all facets of off-road racing for Cycle News – from AMA Supercross and Motocross to GNCC and National Hare Scrambles events.