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/783081
VOL. 54 ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 7, 2017 P109 of the first guys to realize that this thing was going to be a game changer." Enter Doug Henry. Henry was still on the comeback after break- ing his back in the jaw-dropping crash he suf- fered at Budds Creek in the summer of 1995. He signed with Yamaha in '96 and by the end of the motocross season he was starting to look like the pre-crash Doug Henry. In 1997 he actually led the early part of the AMA Supercross Series, having won rounds in Los Angeles and Seattle. Las Vegas Supercross fans probably would have never gotten to see the Yamaha YZM450F had it not been for a broken hand midseason that took Henry out of championship contention. Henry actually gave the YZM its American debut at Gatorback Cycle Park in Gainesville, Florida, for the opening round of the AMA Motocross Cham- pionship. He got great starts in both motos and finished eighth overall. The ever-diplomatic Henry said at the time the thought of being the guinea pig and racing the big four-stroke "made me nervous." He might be holding back a bit. On the inside at Yamaha, there were indications that things were a tad more contentious than Henry lets on today. Davey Coombs wrote in Cycle News in April of '97 that Henry threatened not to return to Yamaha for the '98 season if they forced him to ride the YZM400F during the outdoor motocross championships that year. Henry claimed he felt switching back and forth between the two-stroke and the four-stroke threw off his timing in the stadium races, effectively knocking him out of the title chase. But the Las Vegas SX finale would change his thinking. "Since we were already focusing on the out- doors by that point, I think we decided to just go ahead and race the bike at Las Vegas," Henry recalls. "The track suited the four-stroke because of the hard-pack conditions." Henry was feeling good about the bike be- cause, just that week in testing they'd figured out a major problem that had been causing the bike to cut out. He suddenly had newfound confidence in the machine. Henry showed up at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl with the YZM wearing red and white Yamaha liv- ery. As practice wore on the track became hard- packed, slick and actually formed a blue groove in many places, setting up perfect conditions for the four-stroke. Henry won his heat race over that year's champ Jeff Emig. In the main Henry nailed the holeshot and led from start to finish, making history by becoming the first rider ever to win an AMA Supercross on a four-stroke. In the final laps of the Vegas final it was looking obvious that Henry was going to win. "All I was thinking was I hope this thing stays together," he said. "We did all the testing and we thought we had everything dialed, but you never know under the strains of real racing in those conditions where you push it just a little harder." Today when a two-stroke rider is in the field fans cheer him on, reminiscing about the days of their youth, but it was just the opposite when Henry was on the YZM in Vegas. "Everyone was really behind me," he remem- bers. "I don't know if it was just the novelty of it, or maybe they were thinking I was an underdog on the four-stroke. You know most riders started out on four-stroke play bikes and I think the bike that night brought back a lot of memories for those fans." The victory that May night in Las Vegas was simply a win on a new bike for Henry. He never really knew the influence that victory would ulti- mately have. "I just wanted to show everyone that if I hadn't been hurt, I would have been right there," Henry says of that year's Supercross series. "I was happy to be back from my broken hand and win- ning races again. I didn't realize the impact that win would have." CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives