Rider Bios

Ryan Huffman, Vet Pro

You might recognize the name Huffman as a steadfast title in the motocross industry. Not only was Ryan a competitive pro himself, but so was Damon Huffman, another factory rider who, as it happens, has nothing to do with Ryan. Anyway, Ryan's folks own Washougal Motocross Park which is one of the most beautiful tracks on the National tour. We actually tore Ryan away to conduct our testing while he was up in Washington renovating the storied facility.

Figuring it's always good to be neighborly, we offered to bring the bikes to him and trucked our crew up to his private practice facility in Roseburg, Oregon. Having access to a pro-level supercross and motocross track was pretty damn cool to say the least, and after 174 text messages even managed to coordinate it so we missed the shoddy weather.

Mike Horban, Pro

Ol' Mikey-boy is back again for another exhausting round of MotoUSA testing. He got the hang of this shootout stuff while in California for our 450 comparo. Ever the glutton for punishment, he came back for another session only this time closer to home. He was the only one out of our group who had already been to Huffman's practice tracks. Needless to say, he felt exceedingly superior to the rest of us and had to loosen his chest protector a few notches to contain all that chest puffing.

Randy "Boney" Pekarek, Pro

No, we didn't give him that nickname, and no, he wouldn't tell us where it came from or what it meant. All we really know about the guy is that he works at a local Harley Davidson dealership and happens to go fast on about anything with knobbies. Maybe that makes him the perfect candidate for a test of the rumored Buell motocrosser, eh?

Anyway, since we were riding locally and since he's about the only person around who can keep Horban in sight for any length of time, he was hired. We've also seen him on the mini track and taking a turn on the supermoto course. A few weeks of dealing with the Hog specialist has proven that he is indeed a speedy bastard and is as nice as he is fast. You'll be seeing more of him on MotoUSA.com.

Ian Martin, Intermediate

Ian is another of our guys doing double-duty in 2007. He's been riding a KTM 250 SX-F so this shootout was an even better fit for the little guy than our 450 test. In the time between shootouts, Ian has been on a quest for self-improvement. He loaded up his trusty Katooms and headed off to SoCal for a week-long moto training camp. He is getting faster. Watch for future videos to see just how much.

JC Hilderbrand, Novice

The lowly scribe had been dying to get back on some 250Fs. Oh, he likes the burly 450s all right, but the light, maneuverable and manageable quarter-liters are more his style. Bikes weren't the only thing he was testing; he also had a set of the new Scott Genius Boots to break in at the same time. The kicks got him more attention than his riding did, that's for sure. Unfortunately, the only response he got from trackside chicks was a rather un-ladylike request to remove himself from their presence and stop squeaking so much. So much for the suave Luke Skywalker angle.


Back to the 2007 250F MX Shootout.