Yamaha racing legend Doug Henry returns to the ESPN Winter X-Games Adaptive SnoCross track with high hopes of adding a fifth X-Games medal to his extensive motorsports trophy case.
During the 2005 ESPN Summer X-Games, and aboard his signature #19 Yamaha, Doug earned a gold medal in the highly competitive Supermoto event. He followed that up with a bronze medal in the same event at the 2004 Summer X-Games.
Four years later, and after recovering from injuries that left him a paraplegic, Doug heroically returned to the X-Games, this time during the winter where he raced his #19 Yamaha snowmobile in Adaptive SnoCross.
He earned a bronze medal in 2010, and then he struck gold in 2011 when he won in the paraplegic class.
“It feels great to compete on a world-class track against a field of talented riders like Paul Thacker, Mike Schultz and Jim Wazny, who did not let their circumstance keep them down,” said Doug, himself a shining example of determination and spirit in the face of tremendous adversity.
As the name implies, Adaptive SnoCross rules allow riders to modify their sleds to adapt to their particular physical abilities, with separate classes for amputees and paraplegics (racers with a spinal injury resulting in lower body paralysis).
Doug turned to longtime friend Steve Serafini at Fab-U-This to develop a pivoting swingarm seat for his Monster Energy/Yamaha FX Nytro race sled. The setup allows him to lean into the corners as well as hit the big doubles with confidence.
“Everything at the X-Games is bigger than you’d find on a normal track,” Doug explained. “Steve and I have been refining the suspension design of the seat to soak up the impacts and big landings. We have that dialed.”
Aside from the special seat, Doug’s Yamaha FX Nytro has some additional bracing and chassis reinforcements to make it suitable for top-level SnoCross competition.
“Yamaha has always been good to me,” Doug said. “The snowmobile guys have been great to work with and have really helped me get my sled ready to race.”
“As a lifelong race fan, I love seeing Doug line up for the green flag on any Yamaha product,” said Yamaha Snowmobile Racing’s Eric Josephsen. “But, to have him competing on our four-stroke FX Nytro carries a special meaning to us. He’s the racer who single-handedly proved to the world that four-stroke engines can compete and win at the highest levels of motorsports competition.”
The Adaptive SnoCross final will air live on ESPN at 1:15 PM Mountain on Sunday, January 27.
The Monster Energy/Yamaha SnoCross Racing Team would like to thank its Racing Partners for their valued support and commitment to the X-Games SnoCross program: Monster Energy, Planet Fitness, Fab-U-This, GYTR, Dynojet, Fly Racing, Woody’s, Speedcell Batteries, Yamalube, Hindle Exhaust; HEAL Clothing, and Brownell’s Yamaha.
