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Interview: Motocrosser Jeff Stanton
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Leaping toward the
! top of the ladder
ByNateR. . .
Photos by Kinney Jones.
Ken Faught • Raube
J
eff Stanton says that he's just
starting to climb towards the
top of the motocross ladder, but if
his performances this season are any
indication, he's already taken a giant
leap toward the top.
In all but one of the nine rounds
of the Camel Supercross Series run
so far this season, 20-year-old
Stanton has finished better than his
best supercross finish last season,
which was a sixth at Seattle. So far
this year, he's been to the rostrum
at all but three rounds, taking three
wins in a row, a pair of seconds, one
third and a pair of fourths at the twoday Seattle event. The only thing
that's slowed him down was a broken
transmission which prevented him
from
finishing
the Tampa
Supercross.
In the 250cc National opener at
Gainesville, Florida, Stanton bettered his best '88 finish in that series
with a second overall.
And with Honda teammate Rick
Johnson out for up to three' months
with a wrist injury, Stanton suddenly
finds himself in the lead of the Camel
Supercross Series with a healthy
points advantage over the next active
rider, third-place teammate Guy
Cooper.
So what makes this season so
different?
"The bike has helped out a lot,"
says Stanton.
At the end of last season Stanton
left the Yamaha team to sign a twoyear deal with Honda, and the switch
. seems to have done wonders for
Stanton.
"It was the best thing I ever did,
it helped out 100%," says Stanton.
"From talking to everybody and my
prior experience with Yamaha I just
decided to leave on good terms. I
didn't treat them bad and they didn't
12
treat me bad. I just decided it was
time to move up to bigger and better
things.
"Honda has been winning for the
last ... how many years? They just
know what it takes to win," Stanton.
explained. "Roger DeCoster is there
and he helps out a lot. (Team
