P132
CN
III EMPIRE OF DIRT
BY STEVE COX
I
t's been since 1990 that team-
mates ran 1-2 this late in an
AMA Supercross Champion-
ship. At that time, it was Team
Honda's Jean-Michel Bayle and
Jeff Stanton. Now, it's Red Bull
KTM's Marvin Musquin and Coo-
per Webb.
Back in 1990, Stanton ended
up beating Bayle by seven points
for the title, but it sparked a
rivalry that has become legend-
ary. Stanton and Bayle hated
each other's guts. Bayle was an
astonishing talent on a motorcy-
cle and could do things Stanton
couldn't ever dream of doing,
while Stanton had the heart of
a lion and had to defeat Bayle
by sheer force of will—when he
could beat him at all. With Bayle
being so good on a motorcycle,
he would often find settings
during testing that worked well,
and then he would sit and watch
while Honda gave those same
settings to Stanton. He was
employed by Honda, after all,
and Honda didn't care who won
as long as Honda won. This took
away one of Bayle's weapons
for defeating Stanton—the ability
to create a perfect base-setup.
By 1991, Bayle figured out a way
to use it to his advantage. He'd
test new chassis/suspension
settings, and if they were didn't
work, he'd say they were great,
and Honda would give Stanton
those settings. Bayle was so
talented that he could still be
competitive, and win races, on
these settings, but Stanton had
a much harder time.
Bayle ended up winning a
record (at the time) eight Super-
cross races in 1991 to take that
title, and he retired from moto-
cross after the 1992 season hav-
ing proven his point, then went
road racing. Stanton won the
1992 title, then retired after the
arrival of a young man named
Jeremy McGrath—once again,
on the same team, but there
was no stopping "Showtime" for
anybody.
However, there are a few key
differences between Honda in
There is a lot on
the line for Marvin
Musquin.
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE
