Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128371
Team ECC/Honda's Damon Huffman has been racing supercross and motocross for quite some time now. Last year, he was a member of Team Moto XXX for the Supercross season only, then went to Canada as a member of the powerful Blackfoot Honda squad. This year, he is doing relatively the same. We caught up with him at the Orlando stop of the AMA Supercross Series to see how he feels about the season and what he plans on doing once the show heads outdoors. en: How do you feel your season is going? damonhuffman: The season has been going okay. I've been healthy and strong the whole time, so that to me is really important. The team has been working hard. I've been with a new mechanic starting in Daytona - just made a change to there. But overall we've got the bike working well. It has been tough; there have been a lot of guys going fast and there have been relatively few injuries. The competition has definitely been stacked. I'm just looking to jump in the top-10 and have top-10 finishes. That is always my goal. damonhuffman: Yeah the privateer award, of course. I've won it twice, twice out of the last three or four years. But definitely that's one of my goals. But I try to look at the bigger picture, and if I'm riding well and getting top-10 results, that's how I'm going to win that award. I just try to just not concentrate on one thing and just take the overall picture of the whole series. And just try to get good results. en: Are you doing outdoors with ECC/Honda. or are you going to Canada? damonhuffman: No, I'll be going to Canada with Blackfoot Honda. en: Are you going to do any outdoor Nationals like last year? damonhuffman: Hangtown for sure, that will be with Blackfoot. I'll be on a 450 [four-stroke] riding for them. So, I'm looking forward to that, too. I've never ridden a four-stroke outdoors, so this will be the first year. It's [Canadian National title] another championship that I have a shot at winning, and I definitely want to win that, too. en: How does It feel to be in contention for the privateer award? Brendan Lutes John Ewert: A New Face Team Kawasaki's public relations man is John Ewert. In his first year on the tour, he definitely has had his hands full with keeping the media happy and getting the Kawasaki name out there. en: What were you doing before you started working for Team Kawasaki? johnewert: Prior to supercross and motocross, I started with the National Hot Rod Association in 1997. I was the media relations manager with the NHRA from 1997 to 2000. Then I moved on to Mitsubishi, and 1was a product information specialist!motorsports specialist with Mitsubishi. I worked with their SCCA Pro Rally programs, import drag racing programs and also SEMA Show, and various car design programs for the Gen X and Gen Y crowds to introduce the Lancer Evolution to the U.S. After that I took about three years off, and I was a firefighter up in Washington and also did quite a bit of extensive training with the Washington State Patrol as a trooper cadet. So, this opportunity popped up and it brought me back down here [California]. en: What made you give up flrefighting and come back to motorsports? johnevert: I've always loved motorsports. I've loved being around motorsports. I love the comradery of working with the team. I love the professionalism that Kawasaki has, and the reputation that the company has. I've also been a fan of supercross for quite some time, and I understand what it takes to make a team successful from the side of marketing and public relations. Kawasaki is a great organization with great people. Bruce has a first-class team, so it was an opportunity for someone with my type of experience, and my career. So, that's one of the reasons why I relocated from Washington back down to Southern California. en: What are some of your duties with Kawasaki? johnewert: Mainly handling the public relations efforts for Kawasaki's supercross, motocross and road racing programs. I also handle a little bit of the marketing aspects of it. Mostly it is advanced media relations and media relations with the supercross, motocross and road racing teams. en: What's the most interesting aspect about your job? johnewert: I think the most interesting job that people don't know about is the extensive amount of travel that goes into my job. Not only do I travel with the race teams to each event, but I also try to make an effort to, when I arrive to a city, work with the local media, as far as driving to the local newspapers, driving to the television stations, driving to the radio stations. And it's not just the cities that we race in, it's also the various outlying cities. For example, If we were racing in Houston, I would be traveling to San Antonio, Beaumont, Corpus Christi [Texas] and possibly as far north as Dallas. Because on top of wanting to promote the brand, so to speak, as far as Kawasaki, it's important to promote the sport, and it works well for all factors. So, that is one of the things that a lot of people don't understand as far as media relations and public relations. The travel is much more extensive on our side.