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/128240
Doug Henry tripled aerm.n Jurgen Kunzel to win hls first AMA Supennoto event In on" his th ird try. past goi ng big to ca tch and beat the KTM ri nger, J urgen K unz el , to win roun d five at Irwindale Speed way . " D i d y o u ever se e t h e m ov i e Seabiscu it?" Henry asked. " It' s nice to chase. " O f f t he start , Su p er po l e -w in n er Henry got out front qu i c k an d into NASCAR turns one and two with points leader J eff Ward secon d, holding off a slew of KTMs. Heading onto the back straight, th ough , Ward ran int o trouble, and those KTMs - sp ec i fi cally B en Carlson and Kunzel - pounced. "My b ik e was laying down from the firs t lap on ," TLD Honda's Wa rd said. " I c am e through th e fir st turn and then I came up behind Do ug [H en ry] , and I came do wn the back straigh t , and lik e fou r KTMs go by me. I got eaten up . After that, it was j ust like someth ing was choking th e motor. It wasn 't pu lli ng at all. " We've been having prob lems all night, li ke it won 't sta rt, and it w as leaking oi l. " Kunzel moved into second , wi th Carlson th ird and Ward fourt h , but it wasn 't long before th e German World Supermoto regul ar moved by Henry . By S T EVE Co x P HOT OS BY R A YMO N D G U ND Y IRWINDALE, CA, NOV. 1 W e all k now the legend of Doug Henry . T he guy c hased the MX National s for years out of a p ic k up tru ck b efore g et tin g a su p p ort ri d e with DGY Yamaha. And as soon as he got a fac tory r i de - w ith Ho n d a i n 1993 - he started winning everything: tw o 12 5 cc National Ch ampio n shi ps and th e 1993 125cc Eastern Regional Superc ro ss title . The most important part of his tale, thoug h - th e one that seems to d efin e him more th an any other - is h is return fro m a broken back suffered in a ho rr endous crash at Budds Creek to win th e 199 8 250cc N ati o na l M o t oc ro ss Cham p ion sh ip j ust th ree years later. To m any , Henry is determ inati on personified. It' s his legendary co m petitiveness and determination that MotoDyn am ics was counting on ' w h e n i t put together his deal with Yamaha to rac e the AMA Supermoto National Ch ampionship. Hen ry hasn't disappointed , coming up with two podium fi ni sh es in h is fi r st t w o att em p t s and t h en 14 NOVEMBER 1 2, 2003' cue I ... nlEl!VIIs He imme dia tely started pu ll ing away. " I h ave good st art , th en I p u sh very ha rd, then I see Jeff Ward - ve ry good driver f ro m m y hea t - but I th in k m y speed at the beg innin g of the race, I giv e all ," Kunzel sai d. "I do my best , and then I see the dis tance was goi ng big ger. " Henry seemed to settle fo r second early on , although he le ft Ca rlson , Ward , B en B o st r o m and th e re st behind . How ev er , ju st p a st t he h a lfw a y po in t, with K unzel enjoying m ore th an 17 sec ond s' wo rth of c u shi on ov er Henry, he wash ed the front end in the first lefth ander following th e dirt sec tion - the l ef t si d e o f hi s t ires sti ll muddy as he brak ed for the tu rn. " Yeah, it w as big lea d, but at the end of the race, you see on th e podium I' m sec on d p lac e," Ku nze l said . "You can lead 20 seconds, but at end of race if you lose , th en it's shit. In the com er, I brak e, I don 't know why - I brake no t so ha rd - and the fro nt tire go. I do n't know wh y ; tha t' s raci ng ." K unzel got up still in th e lea d, but H en ry w as bear ing down - and Henry' s l ap t imes dropped c on sistently by almost two seconds. "I kind of go t into a lull j ust ridi ng ou t the re b y myse lf for a w hil e," Henry said . " Whe n he went down, I was like, 'Oh, there we go . I' m going to go after him and stay with him as long as I can and try to force h im into a n o th er mista k e.' He ran the oth er moto, and I think he was a little bit t i r ed out, an d I thi n k t h at 's w h at caused the first mistak e." Hen ry just tried to stay within strik ing distance of Kunzel for a couple of laps, and then with six to go , in the di rt section , Henry mad e h is move, tri p li ng ove r th e top of th e German , who w as doubling the jump. "Gett ing by him I th in k I k in d of put th e nail in the coffin," Hen ry said. "He lost his b rake a cou ple laps afte r that, so it j ust work ed out. Luck went m y wa y aga in. Every race so far this yea r, I' ve k ind of j ust wor ked m y way in there. Just pu tt ing in 20 fast laps is how I'v e gotten up on top." K un zel ga ve ch ase vali antly for a fe w l aps but t hen sta r te d dropp ing back dram atic all y . "I pu sh very ha rd , and the end of the speedway , I drive very nea r to the tire, and then my foot bra ke , 1 lose it on the corner haybale," Kunzel said. " A nd then it was five or 10 laps with out the foot brake." Without his rear brake, Kunzel was unable to keep pace with Henry, and the three -time National Motocross Champion whee lied ac ross the fi nish