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/126835
end, and they hung th e n ame 'Crazy Eric' on me and it stuc k for a long time. " I g uess it wa s natural th at I did some sort o f racin g since m y dad was a lwa ys in to co m peti tio n o f so me sort. H e was i nto dra g racin g ca rs for a w h i le. p art o f a team ca lled th e Fea rsom e Four. H e sw it ch ed to drag raci ng m o torcycl es, th en drag raced as well as ci rcle raced boats, a nd th en did so me a ma te u r m ot orcycl e raci ng. Now , he's the own er o f hi s o w n bike shop , Ma ico-Husqvarna Northwest in Taco ma . On ce I started racing , da d was behind m e all the wa y; he's never backed off, yet he never push ed m e. " T here was ac tua lly so m e pretty good co m pe titio n in Washington and Oreg on. I used to pi ck up so m e of th e m ini cycl e magazines a nd read about J eff Wa rd, Br ian Myerscough a nd A.J . Whiting - those guys wer e reall y g o d to me . I wasn't nearl y as good as th ey were a t th e time, but it seemed like an entirely different world in California and I never thought I co u ld be in there with them someday. We never traveled very far for ra ces when I was young." After winning "a few yea rs in a row " in the Washington Mini Nationals, Eaton graduated to the bigger bikes a n d in 1980, h e enter ed hi s first few National s. " I went to Colorado a n d was just too tense, to o nervous, a n d missed qualifying by one spot. I wa it ed unt il th e last 500cc National o f th e yea r to try a ga in, a t Washougal Strong ech o e s fro", Puget Sound By Tom Kolnow ski Eric Ea to n admits he has almost surprised himself at how well he has done on the Na tional Motocross circuit. The message he h as broadcast across the body of water Known a s Puget So u nd , o n wh ich his home of T acoma, Wa sh ingto n , I' . f f f I h re s , I S ar rom a a se ec o. Eaton , 22, ha s been on a stead y ·36 ascen t th ro ugh th e m otocross ra n ks for m ore t ha n 12 years , a n d wi th tw o ro u nd s left in the A:'vIA Natio nal C ha mpio n ship MX Ser ies, he finds him self a t h is h ig hest poi nt ever: a so lid th ird in th e 500cc poi nt sta ndings, 3 1 p o in ts beh ind seco nd -p lace Dav id Bail ey. Sin ce Yama ha's Bro c G lo ver has a lr ea d y cli n c h ed th e ti tle, Ea to n o bvio us ly wo n 't rea ch the su m m it of a Na tional C ha mpi ons h ip th is yea r, bu t he d ocs ha ve a mathemat ical cha nce o f surpassi ng H onda 's Bailey (the 1984 500c(' Na tiona l C ha m p io n ) in th e sta ndin g s by the end o f th e sea so n . T h at wo u ld ca p off what has been a banner year fo r th e privat eer , wh o h a s been ra cin g und e r th e auspices o f a Yamaha Pro S u p po rt package. _ • • £'al on ; ti kl: "m:l n r ·df ·Ith; ·I5e"'et~, "lras spe.nt a co ";siderabl e a m o u nt of ti~ e ra cing o u ts l~e the borders o f ~ he U n itcd States. HI S m o st recent In D, to th e so u th o f 'Fra nce in m id-Ju ly lo r a n International race (ru n under a fo urm o ro format ), sa w him wi n th r ee o u t o f the fo ur m or o s. A " la p se in co ncen tra tio n" a n d res u lt in g crash wh il e leadin g the fi nal m or o handed the w in a nd ov erall 10 Belg ian Ha rr y Everts, but Eaton says he' ll be going back fo r more. In hi s ea rl y racing d a ys, the so n o f Ma rga ret a nd Marsha ll Ea to n was kn o wn for hi s rad ical riding s tyle. " I had a H onda XR 75, a nd I went to m y first race (a t age 10) o n a Frida y ni ght . in O lym p ia , Wash ingto n . I ro d e th e J u ni o r class, a nd th ey put us in with the . Interm edi at es. It was hard to beli eve' but I won both m ot o s a nd, stra nge ly, I got a much sm a lle r trophy th an th e Intermedi at e cl ass winn er who I had beat both tim es. On Saturday, I sig ned up in th e Intermediate class a n d won both motos ' "agai t ~ UacM Ulcrea lffios N erf w'eH: ~ (Was h ing to n), a nd I fini sh ed 16th overa ll. I was pretty happy with th a t." Eaton got m ore serious a bo u t th e N a tiona ls th e following year. "I had been r i d i n g Mai co s a ll th e wa y th rou gh - sinc e 1978 - a nd for th e 1981 seas o n I had su pport fro m Mai co USA. They helped m e wi th ex penses, bik es a nd pa rts , a nd I was a ble to ride t h e e nt i re Na ti o na l c irc u i t. As a ro okie, I had trou bl e with m y nerv es./ I was a lwa ys aro u nd t he to p 15, a n d I broke into th e top 10 a few times. Wh a t m ade me hap p y was th a t I manage d to qual i fy for a co u p le o f superc ro ss fin al s; i t was a li lli e easier to do back the n than i t is now." T he next seas o n was o ne o f co nva lescen ce fo r Eato n . " I h ad p ick ed u p so me sp o n so rsh ip fro m Husq va rna , bu t I broke m y leg reall y bad before th e Na ti o na l seaso n even sta rte d a t the Wnshingt on Deal ers Chall en g e race. I was o u t for a lmos t th e wh ol e season , a n d recu p era ted in tim e to r ide just th e last N ational at Wa sh 'o uga l - I fin ished six th o ver ll th ere. a I lo ved it. " The 1983 seas o n brought Eaton back a boa rd a Mai co. a n d he co ntinued hi s ascent to th e top . " I had a few cha nces to run near the head o f th e p ack . At the New York National, I was running second for quite a while behind Glover (in the 500cc cl ass )'arid I rea' I; llidri'Tex p~ct'to'~e th ere. I even crashed and pulled back a way from third, and didn't believe wh at was g o in g on. Th e tr ack suited m e and I got good sta rts, a nd while I en de d up fini shing l l th o vera ll, my co n fide nce started building at that point. Mo st peopl e don 't reali ze how far yo u ca n go w ith co n fidenc e." The season o pe ne r in 1984a t Gainesvill e, Fl orid a , where Ea to n wa s o n shop -supported H on da , proved to be o ne o f hi s best. H e fin ished fourth o n · th e day, " and st a yed in the top five in th e standings th rough the first three races. T eam T arnrn sig ned me right a fter Hangto wn , a n d things actually went better for m e in the stadiums th an in th e National s. Th e Honda CR500 I rode in th e National s wa s a go od bike, but it needed some work , and the thing s we wer e doing to it at Tea m Tarnrn wer en 't quite what I need ed. "I started coming up with DNFs in rnotos, and not long after th at, Tamm got into finan cial trouble and th ey started CUlling back. They cut me off th e team, and at the time Honda's en tire su p po rt effort was basically in the hands of Tarnrn so I was really sta rt i n g to worry about where to turn for help. I wanted to keep on with the National s, but I really co uld n ' t do it without so m e good support. "On th e sam e day I got cu t from T arnrn , I g o t an offer to go to Europe. I took it, a n d whi le it was a quick decision, I did think about i t and called my dad to see what he thought. I ended up racing in Europe for three months. " T he deal wa s through Motocross Ma rk eting, wh ich is a co m pa n y located in Fran ce. They a rc very similar to on e of my sp o n so rs in th e U .S., Hi-Point R acing Product s, a nd have a lin e of ra cing apparel a nd o ther products . It took m e a bo u t a week a n d a half to g et adj usr ed to Europe, a nd I went ov er with two other American s, Eric McKenna and Phil Larson. It was hard raci ng with th em , si nce we wer e a l wa ys co m pe tin g aga inst o ne a nother, a nd it wa s hard to be friends . But I th ink we did a pretty good job under th e circu m stances." Th e fir st race, a n International in France, didn't go as well as Eaton would hav e liked . "I was leading th e race, foll owed by Hakan Carlqvist a nd so me o the r top Europeans , wh en I broke mv foot. I was forced to sit o u t a co u p le m ore Internationals a nd o ne of th e GPs we had plann ed on riding. . " Be twee n th e three o f us, we won every International race we entered a nd a few ti m es we finished 1-2-3. We raced m o stl y in France, Switzerl and a nd It al v. "A t t';e Bel gi an 500cc GP , I didn 't do very well in th e fir st m ot a , fi n ish ing l l th , a n d in the seco nd m oro a ll three o f us go t di squali fied because we were la te gell ing o u r bikes in to the pa re Ierrn e (sta g in g a rea ) by o n ly two m inutes. T ha t was reallv bad, a nd we had to sit a nd wat ch rhemor o. " Alte r the Ital ian G P , I was rea lly pu mped beca us e I fin ish ed fi ft h o vera ll th ere, a nd evervo ne wa s su rprised th at a g uy o n' a p r ivatel ybacked H onda co u ld d o th a t wel l. T ha t's been o ne o f m y best races , w h er e I co u ld si t ba ck a nd sav I' ve rea lly d one so me th ing." . Financiall y spea ki ng , th e European j u n ke ts ha ve been ver y beneficial for Ea to n , "Motocross Market ing basi ca ll y pa ys m e a sa la ry while I'm o ver th er e, a nd th e Internation al ra ces pay pretty well. Whil e you don 't hav e the manufacturer co ntin gency programs like yo u have in th e U .S., the Internationals have sta rt money which can range lrom $1 500 to $2000. The Americans tend to m ake out pretty well because the promoters are very 'ha p p y to ha ve th em'. lfHa. 's'gobd fot a