Troy Dog
I always love to see the privateer who grinds for years and years before finally breaking through into the top ten. That’s exactly what Henry Miller has done this season on his Ti Lube Honda. Yes, Miller has finished inside of the top ten in 450MX, but has never been there in Supercross before this season. He’s coming off of a 9th in Detroit and a 6th in Atlanta.
“That’s the first time that I’ve finished in the top ten,” Miller said. “I’ve been there, but I just couldn’t keep it on two wheels. It was nice to actually finish there. In Detroit I knew what place that I was in. This past weekend I didn’t have a clue what place that I was in. I started in 15th and I came off the track and asked somebody. I was like, there is no way because I started in the back! It didn’t feel like I passed that many people, but I was just moving forward and making quick passes.”
By this time in the Supercross season you start to see more dusty and slippery track conditions, which is what Detroit and the Atlanta Speedway provided. Miller said that he knows what benefitted him at the Speedway.
“I liked the track.I liked the whoops, both sets really favored me,” Miller said. With them being chewed out and kind of sketchy I feel like that really helped me. That’s where I made most of my time. I passed (Chris) Blose there twice. Other than that, the track was pretty basic. We all hit the same lines, but it was faster because we had more rollers. I was just on a high because I just had my best finish and you know how that goes. If you keep the momentum going it just keeps getting better.”
Miller made the move to Texas full-time a year and a half ago and trains daily with Mitchell Oldenburg, Grant Harlan, John Short, and Josh Cartwright. Many of them including Miller are having their best seasons and Miller thinks it’s no coincidence. Besides Oldenburg, all of these guys are on the same Troll Training program and Miller said it’s a difference maker..
“It’s been very nice, like even if you ride with a group of guys at the track together, but you guys do different things, it’s not as beneficial. We do our warmup together, we do our sprints together, and we do our motos together. We’re trying to beat each other. It makes you push that much harder. It’s like, you’re not going to catch me and I’m not going to catch you, so just go as fast as you can. We just usually end up doing the exact same thing, which is definitely helping. This is the best group of riders that I’ve had to ride with.”
I first interviewed Henry when I worked for Racer X and wrote a Privateer Profile on him. At the time he was a 17-year-old rookie that was driving to the races by himself. That’s always stuck out to me to this day. Here we have a guy who is fresh to driving going across the country by himself. It comes down to how bad you want it and Miller still definitely wants it.
“The last three or four years I’ve been hurt and fighting all different injuries. I had a broken shoulder, hip surgery, wrist surgery, knee surgery. I don’t need to prove this to anybody else, but I know I need to prove to myself that I have a lot more left. I’m not going to go out because an injury stopped me. You don’t just give up on something that you’re passionate about and love doing. This year is a really good year for me to build off of because last year I had a torn rotator cuff. I have nothing to prove to anybody else except myself and I’m not giving up until that point is proven. I’m going to keep my head down and keep trucking!”
Main image: Ti Lube Honda
