Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AVIEW FROM THEERIC JOHNSON FENCE BY ith no one around watching it, the mud-splotched, electric-blue Yamaha YZ250 leaned up against ne of the ancient concrete pillars of the as Angeles Coliseum. Meanwhile, a ew yards away on the top steps of the eristyle, Doug Henry was spraying hampagne on the adoring throng of riends, family and journallsts that had athered below him. While snapping pictures of Henry's ictory celebration, 1 had wandered ack behind the podium to get another hotographic angle on the proceedings. hile. looking at the YZ, and the genine looks of happiness displayed upon e faces of the excited paparazzi, the agnitude of Henry's victorious accomIishment hit me upside the head-hard. Doug Henry had made it all the way ack from a very dark and bleak day in 995. . On Sunday, June 8, 1995, at" the udds Creek, Maryland, AMA 250cc ational, Doug Henry was on a ramage. Riding in tandem with teammate eremy McGrath, the two Honda pilots er.e attempting to gun down mota eader Mike LaRocco. As the laps ound down, Henry turned up the .ck and set out after the Team Kawasa. rider. With just a few laps to go, Henry 'ailed through a rutted-up, whoopedut corner that led up to a large ski lope, drop-away jump. After hitting the pex and exiting the corner, Henry, hose arms had begun to pump up 'rom muscle fatigue, inadvertently ocked the throttle to the stops and aunched off the lip of the jump at an ncred ible rate of speed. What happened next depends on hom you talk to, but as video tape and agazine photos will attest, Henry ped out into nothingness, shooting ut over the lip and landing at the very attorn of the jump, thus completely colapsing the motorcycle on impact. enryand the factory Honda hit the ound with such awesome force that he gravitational impact broke his. back. By all accounts, it was a horrific 1 oYEARS AGO... EBRUARY 16, 1967 n the cover of CN, Steve McLaughlin lides on the round as Walt nlton (66r) and ave Damron ake evasive chon at an Sportsmen oad Race at arlsbad Raceay in Califoria. McLaughlin got fifth in the 'SOcc class, Fulton won the 50cc class, nd Damron won the 126-250cc and IOduction 250 classes during the weeknd...Don Harris won the Top Fuel class t the Irwindale Drags in California on a riumph with an i1.37-Second ET at 123.96 mph. Bob B.raverman won the op Gas division on a Yamaha with a '2.46 at 104.23 mph, Vince Rowles won e Top Street class on a Suzuki with a 3.77 ET at 94.53 mph, and Nira Johnon won the B Gas division on a Triph with an impressive 11.66 ET at 17.34 mph ... Frank Morgan took his odaka to the win in the Trailbike rain-soaked Dallas Supercross, and took . the verdict of the field with a hardfought victory at the Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, outdoor National. In fact, after winning in the Appalachian foothills of southeastern Pennsylvania, Henry had put himself into position to make a serious run at the AMA 250cc National Championship. But it wasn't to be, as it all went out the window in Maryland. After some serious soul searching, and no doubt bolstered by the amazing support and courage displayed by his wife, Henry announced that he was going to return to the sport upon getting it all back together. Meanwhile, the American factory teams were beginning to sort out their respective racing programs for the 1996 season. Henry, who threw his hat into the contract negotiation ring, soon realized that he was not going to be able to come to terms with Team Honda. So instead, he signed on with Team Yamaha, which had shown confidence in Henry's ability to return to the sport in full form. Healed, confident and eager to reenter the fray, Henry returned to the sport -midway through the '96 season and, while he experienced some challenges with fatigue and conditioning, the brilliant flashes of his unique, aggressive, take-no-prisoners form were very much in evidence. In fact, Henry scored a hugely popular mota win at the August '96, Washougal National in Washington State. Truth be told, heading into the 1997 AMA Supercross season, not many prognosticators chose Doug Henry to win the ser.ies championship. In fact, one might be hard-pressed to find a supporter that would predict Henry to win a single event in '97. It seems that everyone had it a1l wrong. At the season opener at the Coliseum, Henry won his heat race and reeled off a very impressive second-place finish to Greg Albertyn in the main. While many pundits and railbirds called the race a bit of a fluke due to Albee's shocking win and Henry's serious charge at the front, many insiders whispered quietiy that Henry was for real. While the hoopla surrounding Jeremy McGrath and his new Suzuki team reached fever-pitch levels at round two of the series, Henry quietly went about his business. When the gate dropped on the main event, he found himself in second place behind a fast-starting Larry Ward. A few taps later, Henry outgunned the Honda of Troy rider through a whoop section, dived inside him and rode off wit!). the lead. And so it began - Doug Henry's ride of glory. Clicking off one strong, consistent lap after another, Henry brought the win home-and with it, one of the most popular victories in the 20 years of running AMA Supercross. As he crossed the finish line, his fist punched in the air, Team Yamaha members jumped up and down with joy. +n fact,. more than a few people present had damp eyes. For Yamaha-and Henry in particular-the win was a success beyond any type of measure. When one takes a step back and looks at what Henry has accomplished, the task is truly stunning. As far as contemporary motocross history is concerned, no rider has been able to leave the sport for any extended period of time and come back again to win. Damon Bradshaw, with all of his talent and support, has not been able to pull it off. Mike Kiedrowski is still a ways away from making it happen. And after coming out of retirement, the great Johnny O'Mara was never able to take the top step of the victory podium. What Henry accomplished at the Coliseum that Saturday evening-and has since been able to back up with a win at the Seattle Kingdome this recent Saturday-will undoubtedly go down as one of the most impressive personal feats in the history of the sport. The courage, tenacity, hard work and will to win he has displayed should serve as inspiration to anyone who has had to overcome adversity, disappointment and despair. When the going got tough, Doug Henry got going. Viva Doug! fN place overall...CN continued its motorcycle safety articles by examining tires, fij7rrF~"'i"'\""',-",,_ braking techniques and the helmets of the era... Yamaha had a great opening round of the Florida Winter AMA MX Series as riders Broc Glover, Bob Hannah and Rick Burgett won the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc Pro classes, respectively, . on production bikes. Ingram got third, while David Hebb's fourth-place finish gave him the series championship...Team Husqvarna's duo of Dan Smith and Larry Roeseler kept up a fast pace for more than five and a half hours to win the 14th annual Parker 400 in Arizona. Kawasaki's Ted Hunnicut and Derrick Paiment finished second and the Honda team of Dan As1:lcraft and Randy Morales finished third overall. I:N sight, with the one redeeming factor' being that Henry was able to give the concerned crowd the thumbs up while riding out of the circuit in the back of an ambulance. It was from that point that Henry's long journey back began. From the dark hours of sitting in a hospital bed in Maryland-probably believing his career was over-to the grueling task of getting himself back into shape, Doug Henry and his brave wife were now back to square one. While the injury Henry suffered was terrible enough, the fact that his career was now in doubt was double jeopardy. Immediately prior to the incident at Budds Creek, Henry was fast becoming one of the world's pre;nier motocross racers. Race after race, and on any given Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon, Henry was among the front-runners, capable of a pulling down a mota win or overall victory. Now, with the injury, Henry was in no man's land. In fact, the runlors soon began that the Connecticut native's racing career was over. No one will argue that Doug Henry has earned every single thing he has gotten from the sport of motocross. As a New England~based privateer, Henry came to prominence upon signing with the Downers Grove Yamaha support team. With its support and backing, Henry was able to hit the National circuit and ride against the best riders in the world. In ·the sink-or-swim world of bigtime professional motocross, Henry kept his head above water, managing to generate some very strong results and capturing the attention of Team Honda. Once he joined forces with the Big Red Machine, Doug hit full stride, thus delivering Honda a 125cc Supercross title and two AMA 125cc National Championships. For the 1995 campaign, Henry was promoted to Honda's 250cc program, where he continued to develop into a winner. Getting up to speed quickly was no problem for the former NESC standout as he ran off with the win at the 20 YEARS AGO... FEBRUARY 16, 1m N ran an in-depth interview with the new kid on the motocross block, Yamaha's Bob Hannah, and his tuner Bob Buchka. Hannah broke into the scene by winning the 500cc Florida Winter AMA Series Championship and by dethroning twotime 125cc National Champion Marty Smith to take the title in 1976. He also had mota and overall wins in the 250cc and 500cc Nationals...The duo of Tom and Cordis Brooks finished one-two at a DRA Hare Scrambles in Red Mountain, California. Tom was on a KTM400 and Cordis was on a Bultaco 250. Mark Zoller piloted his Yamaha 250 to third C 10 YEARS AGO... FEBRUARY 18, 1987 N Associate Editor Kit Palmer put the 1987 KX250 through its paces on the cover and in a full test inside... Team Kawasaki's Jeff Warp ran away with the 250cc class win at round two of the AMA Supercross Series in Houston, Texas. Yamaha's Keith Bowen finished second and Suzuki's Johnny O'Mara got third. Suzuki's Keith Turpin won the 125cc class, followed by teammate Willie Suratt and Eddie Hicks on a Kawasaki ... Garth Brow took his Honda to the checkers first at the final round of the AMA Invitational Pro Ice Race Series in Troy, . (Jhio. Ed Morris got second and Dan C 55

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