Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

··INTERVIEW Damon Huffman e By Donn Maeda f all of today's motocross heroes, Damon Huffman is probably the quietest and most easygoing.' In the pits, Huffman keeps to himself, often opting to stay put in the back of his box van with a couple of his closest friends. On the track, however, the 19-year-old puts on his race face and undergoes a lBO-degree personality change. After decimating the competi tion in the Western Regional 125cc Supercross Series, the baby-faced Suzuki rider from Acton, California, went on to take the early lead in the 125cc National Championship Series. Though Huffman remained winless throughout the year in the outdoor series, his finishes were consistent enough to keep him within striking distance in the final series point standings. Huffman ended up third behind Steve Lamson and Ryan Hughes. In stark contrast, Huffman's performances aboard a 250 were far from impressive. At several of the East Coast Supercross races in which he could not compete aboard a 125, Huffman mounted a larger machine and attempted to do battle with the big boys - "attempted" being the key word. While Huffman looked unbeatable on his factory RMl25, he looked painfully unsure of himself on the bigger Suzuki and most of his 250cc lass performances were forgettable. Though Huffman won the preseason GFI Perris Invitational Supercross aboard a 250, it would be his sole shining moment in the quarter-liter division. Having won two consecutive 125cc Supercross Championships, Huffman must make the jump to the 250cc class full time in 1996. Touted by many as the most naturally talented rider to come along since Jeremy McGrath, most have high hopes for the tall, lanky rider in spite of his '95 250cc-class performances. Several changes have taken place in Huffman's race program - ones that he hopes will help him make a successful O Lf) 0\ 0\ T'"""i 00 T'"""i l-o 0) .D o ...... u o 22 • 'Y IS jump into the 250cc Supercross Series. After the conclusion of the '95 125cc National Championship Series, Huffman signed a three-year contract with Team Kawasaki. A graduate of the Kawasaki Team Green amateur program, Huffman is well aware of a green machine's capabilities, and feels that the change in machinery is just what he needs to make a splash in the premier indoor series. Preseason testing results have thus far been positive, with Huffman turning in some blazingly fast lap times at Kawasaki's private test track. Huffman's tuner of several years, Tony Berlutti, will not accompany Huffman as he ventures into the Kawasaki semi, instead opting to stay on at Suzuki. So far, it looks as if Brian Lunniss will spin the wrenches for Huffman in '96. Looking back on the 1995 season, how do you feel about your performances in comparison to '94? Well, supercross was definitely a lot better for me. I won six in a row and got two.seconds. I wasn't disappointed in that one bit. You clinched the Western Regional 125cc Supercross title at San Jose this year, but you finished second in the race and saw your win streak snapped. You didn't seem to be too disappointed about not winning them all. Well, when I won four in a row, people were like "Hey, you can win them all!" Then I won five and then six. Then they said; "Only two more to go!" Then when I finally lost, instead of thinking about what I didn't do, I realized that I had already accomplished a lot. The year before it was sort of the same thing. I got taken out at the start and didn't win the race that I clinched the title at, and at the time I was upset. I didn't realize that I was the champion until later after I had cooled off. Some people gave me a hard time about that, and I think that I grew up a lot between last year and this year. What was greater, the pressure that you put on yoiJrse11. to win every racl:!, or ood the pressure from those around you? I think it was all the people that I associate with that put the pressure on me. I don't know. I thought that maybe I could have won them all, but I knew that if I didn't, I wouldn't be too disappointed. To do that would be really something, you'd have to be perfect every time. I wasn't really putting a lot of pressure on myself. Especially at Dallas in the rain I wasn't expecting to win there. I looked at that race as just going out and having fun. I mean, I was on the s!Mting line laughing. I was next to Hughes and we were like, "Man, this is going to be gnarly!" So which of the two titles was more satisfying? This year's, for sure. I won more and my worst finish was second, which isn't that bad. All year long, you were obviously the fastest rider on the track. What makes you so much stronger than the other guys in that class? On a 125 you really have to be smooth. An yea" 1 never really made any mistakes on my own. There were some races where I got the holeshot and went all 15 laps at £uJl speed and never made one mistake. That's pretty hard to beat. On 125s you really have to carry your speed, you have to be precise. Would you describe yourseU as a pretty-precise rider? Yes. On that note, what happen.ed to you when you threw your leg over a 250? Your results were far from good. How do you explain the contrast in your performances on the 125 and 250? Well, I hate to bad-mouth anyone, but I never felt comfortable on a Suzuki 250. That's pretty much what I tell everyone, and that pretty much explains it. We just weren't prepared to race the 250. You said at one race that you had to hold on real tight on the 250... Yeah, when I would do a triple jump on my 125 I could relax in the air. On the 250 I would hold on as hard as I could because the' bike would do something different every time I landed. Sometimes it would head shake, sometimes it would bottom, sometimes it would try to throw me off. Something wasn't right on that bike. After I won the first preseason race of the year at Perris Raceway, we were like, "Yeah, man! We're ready to race the 250!" But that track is more like an outdoor. It's not tight like a real supercross. After that, it just wasn't right. You had a few spectacular crashes on the 250. Did they start to affect your confidence? Maybe on the 250 only, but not on the 125. I mean I would have a crash on the 250, but the next week I would go out and win on the 125. I knew that it wasn't just me, because how could I go out and do what I do on a 125 and then do bad on a 250? They're very similar, there's just a little more power. There was something wrong. When you would complain, did Suzuki try to fix the problem? They told me that I needed to get stronger. But I would watch other riders do things on the track. and just know that I couldn't do it on my RM250. Even when I was sitting on the line revving up my bike, "Bbbbrruuuum...." And the guy on the line next to me on a Honda is like, "Braaaap, braaaap!" I just knew right away on the starting line that man, my bike sucks. I knew right then on the starting line that 1 wasn't gonna do good. What about the 125cc National Championship Series. You led the series point standings for a good part of the s'eason, yet you didn't win any races. Was this season better, because you were consistent? Or was last year better, because you won some Nationals? Well, last year was good because I finally won a couple Nationals and that was pretty nice, but I was inconsistent. This year I was very consistent and that showed me that I could stay at the front of the pack. But then I started thinking about the points lead and all that. I actually expected to get taken over before I did. But this year I learned a lot, and learned that 1 can be a title contender. Towards the end the points-lead thing started to get to me, and so did all the contract-negotiation stuiL . So you were a little distracted by your contract negotiations at the end of the season? Yeah, possibly. There are a couple tracks that I still don't like, and then there's the ones that I really like. Washougal, Hangtown, Binghamton, I like those, and I always seen to do good there. As for your overall speed, were you faster last year when you won a couple races, or are you faster this year, and the competition' is tougher? I don't think I'm slower, I don't think that's possible. But this year there was a couple fast guys that surprised me. Guys like Ferry, Brown and Pichon. There's always a bunch of competition, but I think this year the guys were more consistent. Last year Emig had some DNFs and maybe Hughes crashed out a lot more. This year I would go 2-2 and get second, or 4-4 and get fifth, or 4-3 and still get fourth. It's just because the top five guys were so close all year long. You mentioned Hughes a few seconds' ago. Is the animosity between the two of you really as bad as it's hyped up to be? Umm, no. Well, lately we've been testing together and we're really cool. This year there wasn't anything that happened between us. There weren't too many races where I raced with him. Well, at Vegas r raced with him for like

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