Perseverance by Motocross Performance Magazine

Perseverance The Doug DeHaan Story By: Mike McGill

Perseverance (pur-suh-veer-uh ns) Steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. erseverance is a word that can be accurately used to describe the career of Canadian motocross professional Doug DeHaan. In the course of his eighteen year professional career, the Thorndale, Ontario native has seen and done just about everything you could possibly imagine within the sport. While he never won a National Championship, his results were impressive. He raced not only in Canada but in the US as well, and also spent time in Europe and even plied his trade in places as far away as Australia. He began his career during the two-stroke era. He finished it off on the four although to this day he maintains that he preferred the two-stroke. He started out racing the now defunct CMA National Series. He’s raced the outdoors, supercross and arenacross all over Canada and the world for a seemingly countless number of teams and manufacturers. His attitude throughout his career was that of a true professional, and because of that he developed a sterling reputation within the industry. A reputation, in fact, that continues to serve him well to this day. Of course things were not always roses for Doug during his career. He suffered his fair share of injuries, lost opportunities and plain old bad luck, just like every other motocrosser does, but in

Doug’s case his outlook always remained positive. You could say that he continued to persevere when perhaps others would not have and for that reason his racing career should be remembered as one of the great ones in Canadian moto history. DeHaan got his start in dirt biking much in the same way that many, if not most future professionals, have over the years. His older brother and cousin both had XR100s with which they used to cruise around the family property, and Doug made it his sole purpose in life to get himself on those bikes as much as he possibly could. The bikes were too big for the little guy but that didn’t matter to him, he wanted to ride. His parents, on the other hand, didn’t think it was all that safe for him to be riding the bigger bikes as much as he was and decided to get him a PW50 of his own. The boys had a great time riding the family property and trails. They would even make up little courses and race each other, although the thought of actually racing organized moto was not in the DeHaans’ plan at the time. That all changed however after an outing to the Toronto Supercross in 1988. Ten year old Doug loved the racing atmosphere so much that he decided right there and then that he was going to race motocross. So without any real

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Perseverance The Doug DeHaan Story

Above: DeHaan rode for many teams in Canada and was always thought to be a trusted rider who would arrive prepared and be a true professional.

Right: DeHaan at Walton, a track 45 minutes away from where he grew up, but rarely got to race or enjoy good luck and success.

idea of what they were doing, the family loaded up the RM80, which by this time he had graduated to, and headed to Moto Park for the beginning of what would turn out to be a long and successful career in the sport of motocross. Doug recalls that there were only five or six other riders in his class that day but he didn’t finish last. “I think I was second or third”, recalls Doug. “I do remember I got a trophy.” After that it was full steam ahead for DeHaan as he raced the Ontario circuit on virtually every weekend in the ‘89 and ‘90 seasons. It was 1991 when things really started getting serious for DeHaan and his family. Doug notched his first championship in the 80 class at the Canadian Amateur Nationals in Westlake, Alberta. He also made the trip to the two big American Amateur races that year. He scored a 3rd overall in the 80 class at Ponca City and was actually sitting in 2nd overall after two of three motos at Loretta Lynn’s when a mechanical failure caused him to DNF the third moto. Robbie Reynard went on to take the win. “Nobody was beating him that year”, admits DeHaan when speaking of Reynard. Yet had he been able to hold on to the second place position he was carrying going into the third moto he would have bested several future motocross stars including names such as Casey Johnson, Craig Decker and a young Kevin Windham. While the DNF relegated Doug to a 12th place overall finish, this did nothing to diminish his confidence and enthusiasm for his racing career. In fact, he felt so positive about his riding that he decided to forgo the Junior and Intermediate classes altogether and jump straight into the Pro ranks. In 1992, at the tender age of fifteen, DeHaan’s professional career began. This decision to turn Pro at such a young age would be something that Doug would come to regret to a certain degree in later years. While the Junior and Intermediate classes in Canada didn’t hold much in the way of competition for him at the time, by turning Pro he gave up his opportunities to go back to the big amateur events in the US. If he had gone back to

Ponca City and Loretta Lynn’s for a couple of more seasons who knows what might have happened. He could have possibly caught the eye of one of the factory talent scouts. He could have possibly scored himself a solid ride south of the border. Hindsight is, as we know, always 20/20, however Doug has no real regrets about turning Pro when he did. The CMA National Motocross Series was struggling in 1992. The competition was still extremely tough however and Doug battled to a 9th overall standing for the season. Not bad for a fifteen year old kid in his rookie season up against a roster of seasoned veterans. With a small amount of support from Suzuki Canada, Doug travelled the circuit with his mother and older brother Brad who served as his mechanic. Back then your overall standing was based on your results in all three classes, which meant that Doug had to ride an RM 250 with a 350 kit in it in the 500cc class as Suzuki no longer made an Open class bike at the time. The following year was much the same as ‘92. Doug concentrated on the CMA series and his results were beginning to improve. He made the podium at a few rounds and almost won his first overall at the Molson Park round in Barrie, Ontario. The track was a supercross-style, man-made affair, which suited Doug to a tee. “I was in the lead with a couple laps left. I thought I had it,” recalls Doug. Canada’s all-time great motocross racer Ross “Rollerball” Pederson, who was nearing the end of his storied career, had other ideas however. “Apparently Ross didn’t take too kindly to being beaten by some punk kid,” laughs DeHaan. With one lap to go, the Rollerball lived up to his nickname once again and absolutely cleaned out the sophomore Pro in one of the final corners of the race. “He just didn’t shut off”, exclaims DeHaan. “Even when I was on the ground and his bike was on top of me he held it wide open!” Pederson went on to take the win as he had done countless other times while Doug managed to limp home in 10th. Lesson learned.

By 1994 the family coffers were running dry. The support that Suzuki Canada was offering was just not enough and DeHaan was on the verge of taking up a spot on the unemployment line at the age of seventeen. Fortunately for Doug, Chris Morgan offered him a ride for the ‘94 season. It was a season that turned out to be a whirlwind of different series and races for the Morgan Racing Team, who was like the hired guns of Canadian motocross at the time. They had no allegiance to any one series; they went where the money was: CMA Nationals in the west, the fledgling CMRC series in the east, Arenacross in Quebec, Supercross in Montreal, and even the odd

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US Supercross and Arenacross. Doug spent the next few years criss-crossing the country and honing his race craft with the Morgan Racing Team. It was while on that team that he hooked up with the old Pro from Delmont, PA, “Mad Mike” Jones. He actually wasn’t that mad at the time and he set Doug up with some of his contacts for racing overseas. It was through these contacts that Doug eventually got to travel to Australia and Europe to compete. These would prove to be some of the most lucrative years in Doug’s career - more on that later. In 1997, Morgan decided to take a crack at the East Coast 125cc Supercross Series in the US. Marco

Dubé and Jean Sebastien Roy had been hired by Chris Morgan to contest the series but when both of them went down due to injury Doug got the call. “Some of the best racing experiences in my life have come due to fill-in rides” states Doug. That year was the first of many call-ups Doug received over the years. Coincidentally, 1997 was also to be the rookie season for a young Ricky Carmichael in the Pro ranks. Other notables lining up for the East Coast swing of the tour included Timmy Ferry, John Dowd, Stephan Roncada and Scott Sheak. Doug feels that the four race stretch that he did for the Morgan Team could have been the best of his professional career. “It

was just me on the team”, remembers Doug. “I was a fill-in and there was no pressure really. I just went out and rode and had the best results of my career.” Doug nailed four top ten finishes, and even though he only rode four rounds he ended up 14th overall in the final point standings. You would have thought that results as impressive as these would have landed Doug a shot on an American team for the outdoor nationals in ‘97 but that was not the case. “I was definitely on their radar,” remembers Doug. They knew who I was. Nothing really materialized for Doug however and he was forced to scramble for rides wherever he could get them.

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Perseverance The Doug DeHaan Story Doug even signed on for a ride with the SMP Freestyle Motocross Team. “Yeah I got to wear the baggy pants for a while,” laughs Doug. “I’ve pretty much done it all.” During his brief tenure with the SMP team, Doug would spend most of his non-racing time out in the California desert with his teammate Tommy “The Tomcat” Clowers. “Every day we would just head out to the desert and jump sand dunes,” recalls Doug. It was during this period that Doug crossed paths with many of the luminaries of the freestyle movement, which was just beginning to take off at the time. “That’s when I first met Twitch, Linkogle and Deegan. Even that Seth guy would be out there. Tommy was definitely the best of the bunch at the time though. Most of them were just learning and a few of them were just complete goons,” laughs DeHaan. Doug actually appeared in a couple of the early freestyle videos and sometimes wonders if he should have taken that route in his career. “The money certainly would have been a lot better,” states DeHaan. “I’m a racer though. That just wasn’t for me.” Doug’s desire

to do whatever it took to continue racing helped land him a spot on Ron Ashley’s TwoWheel Motorsport Kawasaki Racing Team for the ‘99 CMRC National racing season. Ashley had assembled a bit of a powerhouse squad for the ‘99 season as Doug would be teamed up with Blair Morgan and Darcy Lange for the summer. Indeed, Doug and Blair would swap moto wins and podiums throughout the summer. In the end, Blair just managed to edge Doug out for the title while Doug slotted into a very respectable number 2 overall spot for the season. This would be Doug’s highest overall series finish for his career. Doug’s excellent results in the ‘99 campaign earned him a contract with the newly formed Blackfoot Motorsport Team for the 2000 season. The CMRC National series was really starting to come into its own in 2000 and the addition of Blackfoot Honda to the mix only helped to enhance the reputation of the series. Teamed up with American Pros Jason Thomas and Sean Hamblin, Doug had a solid season. Interestingly, this would be Doug’s second

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COMMON GROUND It’s been a wild 2013 Supercross season so far. Multiple riders have claimed victory in the 450 class, and the 250 series have been just as competitive. Yet throughout this ferocious racing involving many different makes of bikes, these winners all have one factor in common: Even though the Supercross paddock is open to all tire brands, every winner and every rider who has climbed the podium all chose to race on the same brand of tires. Dunlop Geomax tires—the common ground among the best Supercross riders in the world.

® SAND/MUDTERRAIN

SOFTTERRAIN

INTERMEDIATETERRAIN

HARDTERRAIN

Scan to play the How to Choose A Tire video

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Perseverance The Doug DeHaan Story major encounter with “Rollerball” as Ross had been hired by Blackfoot to be the Team Manager/Coach. Doug remembers Pederson as an extremely intense individual when it came to his management style. “It was his way or the highway,” remarks DeHaan. Unfortunately, or perhaps not, depending on who you talk to, Rollerball found it difficult to work with the younger riders. His old school techniques didn’t quite mesh with the new breed and after three rounds of the series it was Ross who ended up on the highway. Doug’s results were strong however, and while he wasn’t able to equal his second overall placing from the previous season, he finished up fifth overall for the year and made the podium on several occasions. This is of course the season that will be remembered as the year American Vet Doug Dubach came up to Canada on the Richmond/Gowland Yamaha YZ400 4-stroke and basically spanked everybody. Blackfoot was pleased with Doug’s performance and re-signed him for the 2001 season. In a move that can really be considered historic in the annals of Canadian motocross, Blackfoot decided that year to take the plunge and contest the entire US Supercoss season with Doug and Jean Sebastien Roy as their riders. Doug spent his prep time in the fall and early winter that year training in Lake Havasu, Arizona with Heath Voss. Voss had always been known as one of the hardest trainers in the business and also had the unusual reputation as being pretty much the fastest practice rider in the world. It didn’t always work out for him when it came to the actual races but “he was a fantastic person to train with,” remembers Doug.

Below: #9 DeHaan raced some of Canada’s very best in the early ‘90s.

Coming into the season opener at Anaheim in ’01, Doug’s confidence was at an all-time high. He was finally in the big show with a proper team. He was fit and fast and really felt that this was going to be his year. As we all know, motocross can be an extremely cruel mistress and 2001 turned out to be the year that Doug suffered her wrath on more than one occasion. As mentioned, Doug felt totally prepped for Anaheim 1 but in his opening practise session for the event his front sprocket popped off on the face of a big double and he crashed hard. He was able to ride the rest of the night but his wrist was killing him. Upon further inspection, it was discovered that he had torn several ligaments in said wrist and just like that his dream supercross season was over. “It was extremely disappointing,” remembers DeHaan. Doug was able to come back for the summer and the CMRC series, but his wrist was still sore and his results were mediocre at best. Then at the Grunthal, Manitoba round he went down in the first corner of the first moto. Marco Dubé had nowhere else to go and ran right over his head. The result for Doug was a broken jaw and the loss of many teeth. DeHaan and Dubé had a few dust-ups over the years. It seemed like ever since they were rookies they had always been battling, not just on the track but for actual rides and sponsorship opportunities as well. “We didn’t really get along for the first couple of years,” recalls Doug. “Maybe it was the language barrier or the fact that we were always in competition, I’m not sure.” That being said, Doug holds no hard feelings towards Marco for the Grunthal incident. “I know he felt bad about it,” says DeHaan. “And I know it was just an accident.” Doug considers Marco to be a friend today. As for the track itself, ironically, DeHaan now lives a short distance from Grunthal where the accident took place. “It’s funny, I always hated that place when I raced but now I ride there all the time and love it,” laughs Doug. While he may be able to laugh about it now, the 2001 season was no laughing matter for DeHaan. For something that had begun with so much promise, it really went down in flames in a hurry. “It turned out to be a year I would rather just forget,” says DeHann. Unfortunately, at least in terms of his CMRC National performance, the ‘02 and ‘03 seasons were not great for Doug either. He signed to ride Hondas for Manager Andy White and the newly formed Diablo Racing Team. Teamed up with none other than Marco Dubé, the results for the team were what Doug refers to as “so-so.” They just didn’t have the resources to go up against the mighty Blackfoot boys at the time. While Canada was a bit of a struggle for Doug in those years, it was during this period when he achieved his best results in Europe. Racing primarily the German Supercross Series for the Meyer Honda Team, Doug had excellent results with 2nd and 3rd overall placing in the series in ‘02 and ‘03. “It was very lucrative”, recalls Doug. “They paid series money, start money, purse money and all my expenses.” Doug mixed it up on a regular basis in Europe not only with the series regulars but with other North American stars as well such as Jason Thomas, Jason McCormick, JSR and Marco Dubé to name a few. While the Diablo Honda experiment had mixed results, Doug experienced somewhat of a renaissance season in 2004. This was the year that Blair Morgan, with the help of Yamaha Canada, formed his own team to contest the Canadian Nationals and he specifically wanted Doug to be his teammate. “That was just a great year,” recalls Doug. “It was just so much fun.” Since Blair was the boss that year he made all the decisions so if Blair wanted to go to Red Bud to race on an off weekend, they loaded up the hauler and off to Red Bud they went. “The atmosphere was really great,” recalls Doug. The positive vibe around the team also paid off in the form of results as both Doug and Blair had excellent seasons. Unfortunately, the financial pressures of running his own team were a bit much for Blair so he jumped at the opportunity to return to Blackfoot in 2005. Doug was able to pick up a Yamaha Canada ride however and interestingly enough was one of the final riders to race a two-stroke in the MX1 class that season. That was actually Doug’s last year of full-time

“Most of them were just learning and a few of them were just complete goons.”

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Perseverance The Doug DeHaan Story racing in Canada, and in an attempt to finally get that National Championship that he so badly wanted, and many felt that he deserved, he dropped down to the MX2 East class for Yamaha. Yamaha felt that Doug had his best shot at winning in that class. Blackfoot had other ideas however and brought in US rider Donny McGourty. McGourty dominated the series and went on to win the title. Of course Doug didn’t know at the time that this was to be his last full season of racing in Canada. While he has very few regrets about his racing career, he does admit that it sure would have been nice to have earned one of those number one plates. “I’ve had a few seconds and that’s great,” says DeHann “but a number one sure would have been sweet.” Doug did end up finishing the season on a high note that year by hitting the podium at the final race of the season at Walton. The 2nd overall he scored that day behind winner Damon Huffman could have very well been the last podium for the YZ 250 two-stroke in Canadian moto history, maybe even professional motocross in general. “For some reason Walton was never really a good track for me but it was nice to do well that day,” reflects DeHaan. As the 2006 season approached Doug had no solid rides lined up. The overseas money was still good but things in North America were starting to dry up a little bit for the now veteran rider. As luck would have it, a new outfit in the states, Butler Brothers Racing, needed a fill-in rider. Just as he had on several occasions in the past, Doug got the call. The Butler Brothers situation was really the dream that Doug had been working towards his whole career: a fully sponsored ride for the US Supercross Series and the Outdoor Nationals. “I could have possibly made a bit more money in Canada,” recalls Doug “but that was what I always wanted. To be honest, I was beginning to think it was never going to happen for me. I would fly to all the races, everything was looked after, it was very professional and I was a regular in the best series in the world.” Doug spent two complete seasons with the Butler Brothers but by the end of ‘07 things were definitely starting to wear on him a bit. “It was tough,” recalls Doug. “The competition was just crazy and it was difficult to accept that I was going to be battling for 15-20th every week outdoors and maybe not even be making the mains in supercross. “ Doug also had something else which was pulling him away from the North American racing scene at the time. While racing in Germany he met a girl and they eventually married. The marriage itself was, as Doug puts it, “brief” but it did result in a son being born. As any father would want, Doug wanted to be in Europe with his family. A funny thing happened though once Doug

left the AMA Series and located to Europe full time - he couldn’t get a ride. “Now that I wasn’t a regular on the AMA or CMRC circuits, the teams weren’t interested in me anymore,” recalls Doug. He got work doing some testing for KTM and raced a little bit for a small KTM team in ’08, but there were no longer any real opportunities for him. He was forced to make the decision to return to Canada although he does maintain a relationship with his son Kobe. Today when Doug looks back on his career, he thinks mostly about all of the great racing he has seen over the years. “I was there for McGrath, I was there for Carmichael and I was there for Bubba,” states DeHaan. “I saw it all first hand and it was great.” He also represented Canada twice at the MX Des Nations. “Once was a gong show, the other time we had a good team but it was great just being there.” He has more friends than he can count and connections galore within the industry. “I owe all that to motocross.” When asked if he has any regrets he mentions the lack of a number one plate and also compares his career to that of his friend Nathan Ramsey. “Back in ’93, Nathan and I practised and raced together all the time. We were pretty much equal and then he decided to head to California to be close to the action.” Ramsey ended up securing a ride with the powerful Pro Circuit team and won an East

Below: Canadian Champion Jean Sebastian Roy and Doug DeHaan pose for a photo when they were teammates in Germany.

Coast Supercross title. “I sometimes wonder what would have happened to me if I had made that move,” laments DeHaan. “But all in all I’m very happy with the way my career turned out.” The thing that stands out the most about Doug DeHaan and his career is the fact that he absolutely loved what he did. He loved motocross and he loved to race. He was always willing to do what it took to stay in the game. Be it the training or the travelling, he was always up for it. Any young, aspiring professional today would do well to emulate him. He may not have been the most talented rider out there but he was close, and he was willing to do what it took to achieve his goals. When things got tough, as they always do, he persevered. Currently, Doug resides in St. Anne, Manitoba with his wife Kristen. He works for Fox Head Inc. as a sales rep. He is thirty-seven years old.

“I was there for McGrath, I was there for Carmichael and I was there for Bubba. I saw it all first hand and it was great.”

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