From a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing:

HENRY EARNS 2004 AMA PRO RACING SPEED CHANNEL ATHLETE OF THE YEAR NOMINATION

PICKERINGTON, Ohio (Nov. 5, 2004) — Doug Henry is the sixth and final nominee for the 2004 AMA Pro Racing SPEED Channel Athlete of the Year. This year Henry, 35, of Torrington, Conn., began writing an epilog to his storied racing career by becoming a leading star in the AMA Supermoto Championship, this over a decade after he burst onto the scene by winning his first AMA Motocross Championship in 1993.

Henry first took up supermoto racing in the middle of last season and quickly became a leading contender in the series. He won the 2003 race at Irwindale Speedway in only his third event. This year Henry really began to hit his stride by becoming the wins leader in this year’s AMA Supermoto Championship, winning four of the six rounds leading up to the series finale in Las Vegas on Nov. 13. He runs second in the standings to Troy Lee Designs Honda teammate Jeff Ward.

“Becoming a part of AMA Supermoto racing has been amazing,” Henry said. “I still had competitive adrenaline left in me after motocross and I was working towards a move to road racing and then supermoto came along and it was a perfect fit. It feels good to be recognized as an Athlete of the Year nominee. I think more than anything else it’s an acknowledgment that AMA Supermoto is really growing.”

Henry is in his 16th year of AMA Pro Racing. This is the second time he has been nominated for the AMA Pro Racing SPEED Athlete of the Year. He won the prestigious award in 1998 after becoming the first rider to win the AMA 250 Motocross Championship on a four-stroke.

Henry joins Mat Mladin, Ricky Carmichael, Jeff Ward, Chris Carr and James Stewart as 2004 nominees for Athlete of the Year.

AMA Pro Racing will honor the champions of American professional motorcycle racing at its 30th annual AMA Pro Racing Awards Banquet on Sunday evening, Nov. 14 at Paris Las Vegas. The annual event attracts not only America’s best professional racers but also leading executives from the motorcycle industry.

The banquet is the conclusion of the nearly year-long AMA Pro Racing season comprised of nearly 80 professional racing events.