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/128370
Moose Racing Orange Crush GNCC DeLeon Springs, FL Suzuki Grand National Cross Country Series T Avacation ride turns into a GNCC win for Doug Henry Doug Henry decided, at the last minute, to ride the Oronge Crush GNCC and left as one of the first motocrossers ever to win the event. e Florida round of the Suzuki Grand National Cross Country Series sticks out as a sore spot among the off-road talent that contests the GNCC Series. While the race has moved through a variety of venues over the years, it always features fast, sandy, whooped-out trails and very few of the technical sections that line a typical GNCC course. As a result, many of the series' top racers don't expect to do well. And occasionally, a star motocrosser comes in to wreak havoc and try to win the race. The motocrossers have come close time and time again, but the GNCC regulars are usually able to stop them. Larry Ward ran strong in 200 I, and even last year Ryan Hughes showed up and led the race early on. Another threat showed up this year, and while he wasn't very prepared, he had enough heart and smarts to be a contender. Sprinkle in a little of his legendary magic, and you had the recipe for a victory. Three hours after the start, three-time AMA National Motocross Champion Doug Henry added another chapter to his legacy when he collapsed into the record books by winning the first GNCC he ever entered. He collapsed because winning the grueling three-hour event took every last ounce of energy he had in him. "This was the toughest thing I ever did," Henry said, to cheers of possibly the largest crowd ever gathered at a GNCC podium. "This makes two motos at Southwick look easy! ''A couple of friends of mine wanted to come down to Florida to do some riding," he added, "and they wanted to come out and do the GNCC. I always wanted to try one, and everyone said this one in Florida would be a good one because it's rough and sandy, and it suits my style. It would have been good if these guys didn't push me. But this guy Uuha Salminen] just wouldn't stop pushing me." Henry battled to the death with Salminen, the IO-time World Enduro Champion who cleaned up at the GNCC opener in Texas. After passing and pushing back and forth for three hours on one of the roughest GNCC tracks ever, Salminen ended up second. "It was great to ride against Doug Henry," Salminen said. "Early in the race, the pace was too much and I thought we might get tired. But we kept going. It was a hard race, and I was happy to almost win the hard race. He [Henry] rode great." Henry was so tired after the race that he couldn't hold up his GNCC victory trophy on the podium and had to get an IV from the trackside medics instead of shaking the champagne. Henry rode a painfully stock-looking Honda CRF450R, which makes him the first rider to ever win a GNCC on that bike. The day before the race, he slapped an oversized gas tank on the bike, and that was basically it as far as preparation. As for his race strategy, a few people told Henry to basically follow the number-I I I machine of Salminen's until the last two laps, and then floor it in a sprint to the finish. And that's basically what he did. Henry was able to make up major time in a section near the finish called the Gator Pit. The Racer Productions staff piled up three logs in the sand in an attempt to get riders stuck and give the spectators something to watch. And Henry gave it to them when, instead of getting stuck, he jumped the section, tuming the log pile into a triple jump. Late in the race, Salminen started jumping the logs as well, and the two raced to the finish. Henry hung on to win by just five seconds. As hard-fought a win as it was, it didn't match the emotion of the third-place rider, the embattled former GNCC Champion Shane Watts. Wattsy broke into tears on the podium, elated to finally get back toward the front of the GNCC pack. "It helps heaps to have people like this behind you," Watts said of the huge crowd. "People just don't know how far down I've been. Things have changed so much for me. I'm married now, and we're expecting a baby. Believe it or not, I have to leave the track so I can go to class tonight. I'm in school now. Things have changed so much." Watts is attending classes to earn a real estate license. He's not even sure how much racing he will do in the future, but he was happy to have at least one more podium finish left in him. "My wrist just gives out after two hours," said Watts, who broke his wrist in 2002 and has had trouble ever since. "People don't understand. They look at you and think, 'Oh, a wrist, he should be okay in six (103) grabbed the hol..hot, 15) and the ...sf of the Pro fIeI