Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SUPERCROSS U.S OPENOF SUPERCROSS . II! .u , ,." ,~ to ~. '" ",:- By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones ••F .,..... , C'l l-< ClJ .0 o ..... u o 6 LAS VEGAS, NY, OCT. 10-11 rom being down and out to bam! in the spotlight - a hundred grand - it's unreal." An e mo t io n a l D a m o n Huffman spoke these words following his surprising win at the single richest supercross even t ever - the inaugural Fox Racingpresen ted U.s. Open of Supercross, held a t th e s m a ll and cozy Gra nd Ga rden Aren a o n the grounds o f th e MGM Grand H otel in Las Vega s. A grand total of $25 0,000 wa s up for g ra bs, w ith $100,000 o f it going s tra ig h t in to the overa ll winner's pocket. "This is my bi ggest w in ," Huffman sa id after postin g cons istent 2-2 finish es to nail the overa ll victory after two days of racin g. "W in ning the Atlanta Su pe rcross, the (Su percross) World Champio ns hip and th e 125cc titles we re good, but this is th e biggest , for sure." Hu ffm an co u ld n ot quite d ecid e w hat mad e thi s win so specia l. Was it the $100,000 he got for winning? Was it the fact that this was his first major race - and win - since breaking his leg nearly half a yea r ago? Or was it the hand made tro ph y he was presen ted ? "Th e trophy," th e Te am Kawasaki rider said . "I have a nice trophy room at home. Every week 1 race, I try to wi n a trophy and put it in the room. This one (trophy> is absolu tely coo l - it's hu ge, "'// ""• I , I /11. ~ I " (Above) Kawasaki's Damon Huffman rode a smart and methodical race at the U.S. Open of Supercross at the MGM Grand Garden Arena . A pair of secondplace fin ishes earned him 5100.000 from the 5250,000 purse. (Right) The moment of tru th : Huffman (15) puned an extremely import ant holeshot in th e weekend' s fi nal. Here he edge s out teammate Ryan Hughes through the first turn. Hug hes, ho wever, had a prof ita ble weekend as well , going 3-3 for second overall, which earned him 535,000. ( I < ' . "' ,,. I I ft ,) 0- f' heavy, high-d ollar, it's ev erything. But the money is nice, too. So is the confidence this gives me go ing int o next year. It's all of it 1guess." The key to Huffman 's success in Las Vegas was his ability to get good starts throu gh out th e w eekend o n th e tin y track, which produced lap tim es around 33 seconds. As fiv e-time AMA Supercros s Champion Jerem y McGr ath put it, " If you don 't get th e s ta rt, you can't win. " McGrath, the favorite go ing into the race, wa s proof of th at. A bad sta r t on Saturday night relega ted the Chaparral Yamaha rider to seven th in the final , w hile a good start on Sunday netted him the w in. His com bined w eek end pe rformance gave him third place overall . Almost as surprisi ng as Huffman's w in was Rya n Hu ghes' runner-u p per forman ce. Like Hu ffman , H ughes used cons istent starts as a too l to build a pai r of t h ird - pl a ce finishes a nd a cool $35,000. " I haven't ridd en su pe rcross in si x mon ths - since Dall as (the Dallas Supercro ss) - and 1 reall y didn't know what to expect," Hughes said . " I knew 1 was rid ing good, and 1 felt confident, a nd that's the mai n thin g for m e. You kn ow, 35 g rand isn't sh abby - T'rn happy." For hi s third-place fini sh, McGrath w as awa rd ed a check w orth $17,500. As with any sport. one's man gain is usually ano ther man 's loss. Whil e Huffman w as ce le b ra ting in the Kawasaki pits, Robbie Reynard was despon d ent in the Su zuki pit s, pondering w ha t might ha ve been . After th o rou ghly trouncing the 16-rider field the night before, Reynard could n' t pull off ano the r ali-important sta rt o n Sunday. Thi s mish ap w as foll owed by a co ll is io n with a no ther rid er that left his bike lea king oil. Things s im p ly fell a pa r t o n Sund ay for the Oklahoman, who a t one point in the rac e was for ced to pull over to the pit, whe re he watched the w in and th e $100,000 slip away. " J'rn p re tty pissed ," Reyna rd said w ith a chu ck le . "I want ed to win the .

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