MOTOCROSS
A
MAIMAlDA TRUCK N TIONA
A LCHAMPIONSHIP
250cc MX SERIES
Final round: Steel City Raceway
By Eric Johnso n
Photos by Kinney Jones
DELMONT, PA, SEPT. 6
~
eavy meta l th u nd e r rang o u t
thr o u g h th e hills of De lmo n t,
Pennsylva nia, o n Su n d ay a fte rnoon as Doug Hen ry rod e h is Pete
Steinb reche r - tu ned
Ya m a ha
YZ400F to h ard -fo u ght 2- 1 m o to
scores to take the overall vic tory at
the 10th annu al Steel City Na tional.
And in fai ry-ta le fashion , th e Steel
City Nationa l, held in the deep-green,
tree-shro u ded o utskirts of Pittsburgh once one of the wo rld 's largest manu factu re rs of s teel - served as an ad ho c
retirement pa rty fo r Henry's longtime
mecha ni c and co nfi dante, Pete Stei nbrecher. The highl y respected tuner has
(Left) Yamaha's Doug Henry celebrates
his fifth win of the season at the series
finale at Steel City Raceway in
Pen ns ylvania. Henry, who had already
clinched the 250cc title a week ear lier,
went 2-1 for the overall .
(Below) Henry dedicated his Steel City win
to his longtime tuner, Pete Steinbrecher,
who is retiring.
16
decided to call it q uits after a long career
on the AMA Na tio na l circuit.
"I wanted to go ou t there and win for
hi m today," sa id the 1998 AM A 250cc
Na tional Cha m pio n, H enry, from within
the jovial Yama ha pits. "Jus t like every
w ee ke nd , there' re th ings th at can happen and go yo ur w ay, and so me times
th ere a re d a ys w h en thin gs d on 't go
your w ay. Tod ay, I was ju st lucky that
the race w ent my way.
"You know, at firs t it was definitely
kin d of ha rd to ge t u p for this o ne, "
Henry admitted. "This w eek I d idn 't do
much . I sa l o n m y front porch swi ng
and jus t kind of took it all in. I was jus t
real ha ppy and cou ld n' t believe I won
the tit le. It was to ug h thi s morning . I
d on 't kn ow what it was - it was jus t real
q ui et or so methi ng - a nd I ended up
slee pi ng till like eig h t in th e morning,
and I was jus t layi ng there in bed , thinking , 'Man, I rea lly do n't have to ge t up
to ride today.' It felt kind of weird, so J
needed something to g ive me incentive
to go. So I just kept thi nki ng of Pe te ou t
the re tod ay and how nice it w ou ld be to
give him that firs t-place trophy to tak e
ho me to Texas."
After watching his rider - and close
frie nd - outduel Te a m Suzuki' s Greg
-Albe rtyn to cla im the second moto and,
