There's been (another) last-minute change to the ISDE Trophy Team roster - a move that became necessary when Six Days veteran Jimmy Jarrett recently broke his wrist - with Monster Energy Kawasaki's Damon Huffman set to join his teammates Destry Abbott and Ricky Dietrich and Timmy Weigand, Nathan Kanney and team captain Kurt Caselli.

Mike Brown was also considered for the spot, but Kawasaki was the first to step up and offer Huffman.

The rush to get "Huff-daddy" on the team was especially tight since the container of bikes and racing equipment is scheduled to leave next week. While the rest of the team has had the better part of a year to prepare, Huffman has only had several days. Still fairly fresh in the world of off-road, Huffman has never competed in an ISDE, nor in a World Enduro. He still has a lot of questions, and a lot of preparation to do, but one thing’s for sure – he plans on being prepared. It’s a lofty goal, but for one of the top off-road riders in the country, it’s certainly not out of reach.

We talked to Huffman about his decision to join the Six Days team, and also to his Monster Energy Kawasaki teammate, Destry Abbott, who is starting to handle some of the team’s managerial duties.

Abbott explains where the situation started.

“Jimmy [Jarrett] broke his navicular – the wrist – which is a really bad one. It was going to be questionable. The doctor said he might be able to ride the week before he leaves. That’s if he was 100%. And if he wasn’t, then we’re going to have to pull from either the Junior team or a club rider because we can’t bring an alternate then. We were kinda like, ‘That’s going to be a tough deal to do.’ Jimmy was really good about it. We decided to move forward.”

At that point, Huffman got the call, and had to make a quick decision.

“We’re in stress-out mode now, I guess,” Huffman joked. “I guess it’s been about a week since I’ve known for sure.”

It wasn’t too long ago that the idea of Huffman on the Six Days team was a joke – at least to him.

“When I got into the off-road racing last year, and a bunch of the guys were getting ready to go over there, I would just jokingly say to a couple friends, ‘Oh yeah! 2009 ISDE, here I come!’” Huffman said with a laugh. “I still have a ton of questions to ask about the format and the rules and the best way to approach every day – a lot of questions. Being good friends with Kurt Caselli really helps. I’ve already met with him a couple times and talked to him about a lot of things. But right now it’s pretty much, ‘How can I raise money and have fundraisers so I’m not forking $10K out of my pocket to go do this event?’ Just looking into different ways to tackle that first.”

It was news to Huffman that he would have to dip into his own pockets for the ISDE. But fortunately, he’d already heard about the part where you have to work on your own bike.

“15 minutes is perfect! I work on my bike about 15 minutes anyway,” Huffman said. “I’ve already joked around with the guys, saying I’m only going to change my front tire every other day. And Caselli just shakes his head and laughs and says, ‘No. You’re doing your oil every day, you’re doing your tires every day, you’re doing your filter every day.’ Gotta do it right!”

Huffman will be riding in the E1 class (on a 250cc four-stroke), which is what he rides in EnduroCross. One of the biggest challenges in ISDE, especially on a 250F, is saving the machine throughout the Six Days. Huffman feels this is one area where he will excel.

“That is one good thing, I guess, of having me on the 250F,” Huffman said. “I am pretty easy and pretty light on my equipment. Hopefully that will help me out in the end.”

A big helping hand for the Trophy Team will also come in the form of Jimmy Jarrett. Although he won’t be riding, he still very much plans on being part of the team.

“Jimmy’s still going [to Portugal] to help out, which is awesome of him to do,” Abbott reported. “He basically said he’ll go over there and help out the Trophy Team with whatever he can. That’s pretty awesome thing for him to do. It’s a huge help to have someone out there pointing out lines. Last year when Kurt was out, it actually helped out huge for us. So to have Jimmy there to do that is really cool.”

In the short term, Huffman and his teammates, Abbott, Caselli, Dietrich, Kanney and Weigand, plan on getting the container on its way next week, and then working on fundraisers in preparation for the trip to Portugal in October.

“The bottom line is it’s an opportunity for sure can’t pass up,” Huffman concluded. “Never being part of a Motocross of Nations team, this is going to rank right up there on that list of great accomplishments. [The ISDE] is uncharted territory that I have a little anxiety about, but believe me, I plan on showing up prepared.”