The following press release deserves special attention for a couple of reasons. First of all, it describes the establishment of arguably the first factory-supported Supermoto team here in the U.S. aside from KTM. Together with its roadracing partner, Graves Motorsports, Yamaha is forming a team to contest both the 450 and the newly formed 250 classes in the AMA Supermoto series beginning June 4 at Road America.
The other item of note is the affiliation of Yamaha with Doug Henry in this effort. One of the most popular motocross racers in the United States, Henry won a national motocross championship for Yamaha several years ago. Henry has not only proven himself a capable supermoto racer (previously aboard a Honda), he is versatile enough to have beaten the former World Enduro champion Juha Salminen (KTM) at the Florida GNCC earlier this year. Salminen is dominating that series, but he could not beat a vacationing Henry who rode with virtually no preparation.
Henry will team with Mark Burkhart. Here is the press release from Yamaha:
Cypress, CA – May 17, 2005 – Yamaha Motor Company is proud to announce the return of the legendary Doug Henry – #19 – to the Blue and White team to spearhead a new Graves Motorsports/Yamaha AMA Supermoto effort. The announcement comes just in time to help Yamaha celebrate its 50th Anniversary.
Joining Doug on the factory-supported team will be Mark Burkhart, who will be returning this year after a 6th place overall finish during last year’s season. Henry will pilot the powerful YZ450F while Burkhart will compete in the new 250 class aboard the revolutionary YZ250F.
“We are very excited to put this team together” said Keith McCarty, Yamaha Racing’s Division Manager. “Henry and Burkhart are two of the most skilled riders in Supermoto, and we’re pumped to have them riding Yamaha’s. We are also thrilled to expand our relationship with Graves Motorsports in yet another racing arena, as their professionalism and excellent efforts with the R1 in capturing the AMA Superstock Championship shows.”
The team’s YZ’s will feature race-proven Dunlop tires and each rider will sport Thor Supermoto riding gear. The first AMA Supermoto National is scheduled for June 4th at the Road America race track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
