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Doug Henry Debuts His Supermoto School at Oakland Valley Race Park

Cuddebackville, NY: Current AMA Supermoto Championship Series Points leader and Motocross Hall of Famer Doug Henry conducted his first ever Supermoto School sponsored by Yamaha, Dunlop, Monster Energy Drinks, Aim Sports, and Scott Goggles at Oakland Valley Race Park in Cuddebackville, NY this past weekend. Oakland Valley Race Park is the east coast’s premier karting and supermoto facility with a Doug Henry personally designed supermoto dirt section.

Although Henry had declined many opportunities to teach over the years, the timing, and the venue, was finally ideal. "Craig DeMaio who is the Director of Competition at OVRP was really enthused about doing the school, and handled many of the organizational logistics, promotion, and marketing so I could focus on putting together a good teaching program," said Henry.

The school, which sold out within two weeks of being announced, was tailored to provide an exclusive, personalized experience, and was limited to just about 20 students.

Henry began the morning with a track walk, emphasizing the importance of the proper racing line. The day progressed with race start and braking drills, techniques for "backing it in", body positioning, and mastering the dirt sections. After each discussion, riders headed to the track to hone their skills, while Henry rode his Graves Yamaha YZ 450 amongst the pack to observe how the techniques were being applied. Henry fielded a steady flow of questions from riders with a wide variety of skill levels.

"It was really thrilling for me to see students improve over the day as they applied the techniques," said Doug. "Even though I win races, after 3 years, I' still consider myself a beginner at Supermoto. Most motorcycling takes years of practice before you master it. It's tremendously rewarding to interact with students and share the questions."

Riders were served a catered lunch, and there was a cooler full of Monster Energy drinks handy to keep everyone properly hydrated. Goodie bags were given to all students, with deep discount vouchers for products from Dunlop, Aim, and Scott, as well as some Yamaha/Doug Henry swag. "OVRP is my home track, and this was a winning situation for everyone. We had great support from my sponsors Yamaha, Dunlop, Monster, AIM and Scott," stated Henry.

Oakland Valley Race Park, which has been a dedicated karting facility since the 1960s, has made a major commitment to Supermoto, recently adding a Doug Henry designed dirt section for the motards. "OVRP's has been the premier karting facility on the east coast for some time. Now we want to do the same for Supermoto," said OVRP Director of Competition Craig DeMaio. "In addition to the new SM dirt section, we have Cycle Performance of Litchfield CT, Motostrano.com, Help Me Ride, Spectro Oils, Vanson Leathers, Leo Vince USA, SuperMotard Magazine, and AdvancedPerforManceAccessories.com as our Nasmoto Northeast Championship Series sponsors, plus Yamaha has dedicated contingency money for the series, which we are hugely grateful for. Furthermore, Doug Henry is so down to earth and easy to work with - we support him 100% and hope to have the Doug Henry Supermoto School here as long as he's interested in doing it."

Henry summarized, saying "Supermoto as a sport is growing, and OVRP is growing with as well as helping to grow supermoto. OVRP is ahead of the curve, which is a great place to be, and it's great to be here with them."

The next Doug Henry Supermoto School at Oakland Valley Race Park is scheduled for Friday, July 14, 2006. For complete information on all of Oakland Valley Race Park’s supermoto activities and the Doug Henry Supermoto School please visit their web site at http://www.OVRP.com