1996 Kawasaki KX500
was anxious to park it in favor of his more
familiar factory KX2S0 race bike. And who
could blame him? As an accomplished 12Scc
specialist, Huffman will spend the 1996 season proving himself aboard a 250 - maybe a
500 was getting a little ahead of the game
plan. The location didn't help matters,
either. Shane Trittler's Castaic MX Park is
a supercross-style course with numerous
tabletop, double and triple jumps. Not the
ideal KXSOO testing grounds, to say the
least.
Huffman took to the track slowly, but
within several turns assumed his usual
graceful riding stance as he chugged the bike
through the corners. Then suddenly, something happened. Huffman took to the air
with the same style and grace that has
become his trademark, and he began to cu t
lap after lap aboard the open bike. Two laps
passed, then four, six, eight, 10. It was rJearly 25 minutes before we finally waved Huffman off the track.
And the first words out of his mouth? "T
wish they still had SOOcc Nationals, this
thing is bitchin'!"
What can be said about the almighty
Kawasaki KX500 except that it has won
it all? From the AMA 500cc National
Championship MX Series to the Baja·
1000 to the AMA National Championship Hare & Hound Series, the
biggest green 'machine has quite a track
record. On any given weekend, KX500s
can be found at local MX tracks, in the
desert, in the sand dunes, and maybe
even on a flat track or two.
Sadly, the demise of the AMA 500cc
National Championship MX Series has
By Donn Maeda
Photos by Joe Bonnello
fter struggling to kick start the
Cycle News Kawasaki KXSOO
test bike, two-time Western
Regional 12Scc Supercross Champion
Damon Huffman began to frown. Though he
had en thusiastically agreed to ride our bike
for a few photos, Huffman looked as if he
were changing his mind about his first-ever
ride aboard a big bore.
"You had better shoot these photos real
quick," he grumbled. "I'm only gonna ride
two laps on this thing, and that's it."
Apparently, Huffman didn't agree with
the girthy feel of the big green monster and
A
10
(Above) Two-time
Western Regional
125cc Supercross
Champion and new
Kawasaki factory
rider Damon
Huffman tried his
hand at open-class
riding aboard our
test bike, and came
away with a wide grin
on his face. "Maybe I
should get a KXSOO to
practice on," he said.
"This thing makes my
250 feel like a
minibike."
