Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTERVIEW MotocrosserDamonHuffman ~ By Donn Maeda he n Team Suzuki's Damon Hu ffman sai le d across the finish line victoriou s a t the Pasadena Rose Bowl Sup ercross, the seaso n was effec tiv ely over for the rest of the 125cc Western Regional Supercross Series racers. No, it was n' t Hu ffman 's first win - that came at Anahe im Stadiu m severa l weeks earlier but more impo rtan tly, the w in ans wered a n im port an t ques tio n th at had be en stirring in the 17-year-old's head. "Even after I had won my first race at Anaheim, I still was n't sure if I was really one of the fas test guys," sai d Huffman. " Even my mechanic, Mark Johnson, wouldn't let me have my trophy from Anaheim until I won again. He wanted to make sure that m y win wasn't a fluke. My win at the Rose Bowl answered that question and gave me a lot more confidence." Armed with his new-found confi- . dence, Huffman went on to trounce his competition a t the remaining two rounds of the series in convincing, startto-finis h fash ion. After starting the season with somew hat med iocre (for him) finishes, H uffm a n gained both speed and tech n iq ue as the series wore on before breaking the ice at Anaheim. Had it not been for his "slow" start, Huffman wou ld have been a major player in the series tit le chase. At the series' end, Hu ffma n sat third behind his factory Suzuki tea mmate Phil Lawrence and ser ies champion Jimmy Gaddis of the Hot Wheels/Splitfire Kawasaki team. Huffman won four times, while Gaddis and Lawrence only enjoyed one win apiece. "Jimmy Gaddis won the title because he was consistent. He only won one race, but he got the title because he d idn't have any bad races," H uffman said. "I had a few bad races early in the W 6 year, a nd that's what held me back in the end. By the end of the series, I had a lot more confidence and I knew when I. arrived at the track that I was the fastest guy and that there was no single reason that I should n't win." The fastest, ind eed . While many of his eigh t-liter class riva ls s truggled at th e la s t three rounds, H u ffma n displa yed a smooth and effortless rid ing s tyle that saw h im p ull well away from the field . "Ever since 1 was little, peop le used to tell me what a smooth riding tech nique 1 had ," said Hu ffman of the seemingly err or-free riding style which has carried him to numerous wins and amateur Nation al cha mpionships . " I've never taken a riding school; my only teacher was my father. I've been able to develop my riding style through lot s and lots of riding." Like m a ny of todays top racers, Hu ffma n began riding at an early age . The son of Dave and Karen Huffman, Dam on firs t got on a bike at age five, w hen Dave bought him a Suzuki JRSO. "My dad was a pretty good desert racer," said H uffman. "He bought my sister Melissa and me a pee-wee bike so tha t we could go ridin g with him." Like fa ther, like son. Following in Dave's footste ps, the next natural step for Damon was to enter a race, and he did so a t age seven . " I really don't' remember a nything about racing pee wees," said Huffman, who went on to cap ture several amateur National titles before moving up to the 60cc class a few years later. "Bu t I've heard a story abo ut my mo m loop ing out my pee wee when she was warming it up." It was on the larger 60cc minibikes tha t Huffman go t his first taste of stadium su percross racing. "I have this picture of myself at the 1987 Anaheim Stadiu m Am a teur Da y, " Huffman sa id. "I'm going ove r the finish-line jump and I'm almost looping out, but 1 have my head way ove r the bars. I can kind of remember that jump, and 1 liked racing in the stad iums ever since then ." After winning a few titles aboard a 60, Huffman grew into the 80cc class and compe ted as a member of the thenpowerful R&D Suzuki team for two years before being recruited by Kawasaki Team Green in 1990. Duri ng his threeyea r stay in the 80cc class, Huffman captured numerous titles before moving up to "big" bikes in 1991. "I was gett ing pretty big for 80s in '90 . My kne es were starting to hit th e bars and all that stuff," Huffman said. "I was pretty anxious to get on big bikes. 1 remember looking in a magazine to see what the new Kawasaki 125s looked like and getting real excited. "It didn't ta ke too long fo r me to adjust to the 12Ss a nd 250s, but I d id have to learn a lot about how the bigger machines handled. In my first yea r in the 125 and 250cc Intermed iate classes ('91) I won just abo u t eve rything - the World Mini, Lake Whitn ey and Ponca," said Huffman. "I remember that I either won or almost wo n eve ry mot o th at I entered. It was fun picking up all those trophies, bu t I used to feel kind a' guilty because I was taking all of the first-p lace ones . I was real anxious to tum p ro." Huffman mad e that jump near the end of '91, a nd scored the w in in his first-ever pro race. "I beat Erik Kehoe in the 12Scc Pro class at the Tr ans Cal National at Baron a O a ks," Hu ffm an said . "I won $200. That was a lot better than those little pla stic trophi es! Racing took on a whole different mean ing after that. Now there was a better reason to race. My dream goa l since I was little was to become a factory rider. It wasn't until tha t day that I actua lly thought I could really be one." At the end of that year, H uffman was forced to make an important decision. " Team G ree n wanted me to s tay ama teur and race the Mickey Thompson Series and the Amateur Nationals . I had raced that stuff all of my life and I wanted to move on," said Huffman. It was then that Suzuki came into the pic ture. "I signed a one-year sup port contract to race the 12Scc West Coast Supercross Series and whatever Nationals 1 cou ld make it to," said Huffman. "I was really excited. " I lea rn e d a lot that nex t yea r. My firs t race wa s at th e Houston Astrodome. Everything was so d ifferent. I was used to being at the amateur races where everyone knew me, but suddenly I was at a real pro race and no one had even heard of me. It was a big chan~e." That year, Huffman's best finish es were a pair of fifth s, but many of his ho metown fans will remember that he was running a stro ng third at Anaheim before suffering a seized lower en d. "I had gotten the holeshot and led part of the first lap before McGrath and Buddy Antunez p assed me," Hu ffm an said. " Bu t after tha t 1 was comfortable in thi rd. I remember that my throat was real dry and I was a little nervous. Then my crank let go. I was rea lly let d own. " A few weeks la ter, Huffman again grabbed the holes hot and led the first lap o f the San Jose Supercr o ss 12Scc main. "I ca me ar ound in firs t and my throat was really d ry again," sa id Huffman . "My dad stuck the pit board right in my face and wh en I looked over at it I lost my line. I hit so me bra king bumps a n d s w a p ped in to a doubl e a nd crashed ." Despite his mishaps, Huffman finishe d th e se ries six th overall a nd left qu it e a n im p ression o n h is Suzu ki employers. "Tosh Koyam a from Suzuki called me up one day and offered me a full fact ory ri de for '9 3 - b ik es, a mecha nic, a box van and a salary - the who le'works. It was so mu ch more than 1 ever expected tha t my parents and 1 rushed down to Suzu ki and signed righ t away," said Huffman. "Looking back

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