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HENRY MILLER
450 MX / 15TH
MAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / TILLS
>> Henry Miller sure has made a splash in his 2017 campaign. The second-year pro privateer out of Minnesota started the year racing a 250 in the East Coast Supercross series. He did not find much success only coming away with a pair of top fifteens but looked for better results outdoors which is more his style. After failing to top twenty at his first two races, he decided to make the jump to the 450s for economic reasons and to be more competitive. And boy did that switch help. He finished sixteenth at his first 450 race at Tennessee but since then, he has not finished outside of the top fifteen and even earned a stellar ninth overall at Southwick, one of the toughest courses on the circuit. He has raised eyebrows across the industry and with three rounds to go before the offseason, he will be trying to earn himself a ride for 2018.
Aboard his Yamaha 450, Miller hammered out the thirteenth fastest lap time in qualify- ing practice. His raw speed is something to take serious and he would go out to prove that in the motos.
Miller got a decent start in moto one ending the opening lap in fifteenth place. He got bumped up to fourteenth a few laps in after a Matt Bisceglia crash. From there he tried latching onto the rear end of Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM’s Dakota Alix. He stayed close for the remainder of the moto even after torrential rain and wind beat down on the track. The conditions turned sloppy quickly and they ended up calling the race off early. Miller would keep that fourteenth-place finish and try to better it in moto two.
Basically hydro-planing down the start stretch at the beginning of moto two, Miller came out of the first turn in thirteenth place. He would get knocked back to fourteenth on lap two by Benny Bloss and he’d settle in there. The track was in rough shape with thick mud and standing water all over the course and it required intense consistency and stamina to conquer. Miller would keep it steady there in fourteenth all the way to the end. His 14-14 moto scores would earn him another top fifteen with fifteenth over- all. He put forth great performances in the mud on a privateer machine and will look to have even better ones, hopefully in better conditions at the final two rounds.
66 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 13, 2017
