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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128390
AMA Supermoto Championship W en it comes to motorcycle racing, Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Doug Henry has rarely come up short in the heroics department. During an illustrious career that has included an AMA 250cc National Motocross Championship after suffering a badly broken back, and more recently an AMA Grand National Cross Country victory after driving himself to the point of exhaustion at Daytona, and an AMA Supermoto win that saw him beat the World Champion during the 2005 series opener at Road America, Henry is more than deserving of a big "S" on his chest. During rounds three and four of the AMA Supermoto Championship at the beautiful USA International Raceway in Shawano, Wisconsin, the 3S-year-old Henry did it again, pulling off a heroic lastlap pass on Red Bull KTM's jurgen Kunzel to capture both Supermoto-c1ass wins on the day. They were his seventh and eighth in AMA Supermoto competition, making him the winningest rider thus far in the series' history. They also gave him a slight points cushion over main title rivals Kunzel and reigning AMA Supermoto Champion jeff Ward, the latter having an off day at Shawano. Henry now leads Kunzel 87-81 , with Ward third on 69. "That pretty much went like I hoped it would," Henry said at the end of the day. "Other than my second start... Well, even though, I won, and I'm still happy. It was a good day for me. I really have to thank Graves and Yamaha for this one. We came out early, we tested our butts off and tried a bunch of things and got the bike set up, and that was the ticket. We came here to win, and we won. It was a good day and a good week. So far, so good." In race one, Henry got off to a secondplace start from the second position on the grid, just behind Troy Lee Designs Honda's Chris Fillmore and just ahead of polesitter Kunzel. Henry then bided his time behind the 18-year-old Fillmore, who made a mistake in the dirt section on lap seven and surrendered the lead. Fillmore then dogged Henry for several laps before losing the front end and crashing off the track at high speed in a downhill left-hander on lap nine. From there, Henry managed his lead to cross the finish line with 2.415 seconds in hand. Australia's Troy Herfoss, GP Husqvarna's own 18-year-old boy wonder, rode a smart race to finish second, giving the brand its first AMA podium in the Supermoto class. Herfoss finished another 2.619 seconds ahead of a great third-place battle between Kunzel and HMC/Generations of Sonoma KTM's Benny Carlson, with the Wisconsinite Carlson pulling off a pass within the last couple turns and getting the nod by .30 I of a second at the finish to land on the podium. Race two at Shawano featured shades of race two at the series opener at Road America, as Henry came from behind to score the win. He got off to a poor start 32 AUGUST 10, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS (Top) Doug Henry (19) was unstoppable as he won both races in the Supermoto class during round two of the AMA Supermoto Championship at USA International Raceway in Shawano, Wisconsin. The wins were the seventh and eighth of his AMA Supermoto career. (Above) Chris Fillmore (11) got the holeshot and led the first five laps of race one before Henry passed him for the lead. Fillmore then crashed while running second. in the 16-lap race running fifth, behind Kunzel, Herfoss, Carlson and Fillmore. It appeared as though the double might not happen, as he remained mired there for several laps, while Kunzel began to gap Herfoss, who came back to Kunzel hard before stalling his Husqvarna on the Parts Unlimited Urbancross jump section on lap 10 and losing several positions. That handed Kunzel a 5.148-second lead, but Henry was on the charge, haVing worked his way into second place. Henry then began taking a half a second per lap out of Kunzel's lead, saving the best for the last lap, when he cut a I-minute, 32.932-second lap on lap 15, which stood as the fastest lap of the race, while Kunzel was stuck in the high 24s and low 25s. Henry drew up on Kunzel as they took the white flag and made the pass for the lead over the Parts Unlimited urban tabletop, pulling clear to score his eighth career AMA 5upermoto victory by .579 of a second over Kunze!. Team X3/Leo Vince USA Yamaha's import from Europe, Max Verderosa, came third after Carlson crashed and took out another strong-running Italian, JST Racing/Motostrano.com Honda's Massimiliano Gazzarata, who in race one had run fifth, behind Kunzel. The Troy Lee Designs Honda-backed Ward fought handling problems all day as he rode to sixth place in race one and fourth place in race two. Ward missed out on Superpole and suffered poor starts that left him deep in the back in both races. HMC/Generations of Sonoma KTM's David Baffeleuf was fifth in race two after crashing early in race one. The French Baffeleuf earned his second win in a row in the Supermoto Unlimited class, however, as did Graves Motorsports Yamaha's Mark Burkart ,in Supermoto Lites, the Ohioan absolutely running away with the race aboard his Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZ250F. SUPERMOTO RACE ONE The front row of the grid featured two 18-year-olds and two 30-somethings, as polesitter Kunzel won Superpole with a time of I minute, 24.643 seconds to land himself the first starting spot. Fillmore was second, clocking a I:24.643. Henry was third, with a I:24.832, and Herfoss was fourth, with a 1:25.342. Fillmore took control as the field rounded the banked left-handed turn one and then flicked right to head down the hill for the first time. Henry immediately jumped on his tail, with Kunzel and then Herfoss, the Australian being tailed by Gazzarata, Carlson, Red Bull KTM/Parts Unlimited's Eric Bostrom - the AMA Superbike star