Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Jeff Stanton Career Highlights RACERX·:· 1993-2nd SOOcc National Championships 1993-7th SOOCC National Championships 1993-3rd AMA 2S0cc Supercross Series 1992 250Cc AMA Supercross Champion 1992 250Cc AMA National Champion 1992-2nd SOOcc National Championships 1991-3rd AMA 2S0cc Supercross Series 1991-2nd 2S0cc National Championships 1991-3rd SOOcc National Championships 1990 2SOCc AMA Supercross Champion 1990 250Cc AMA National Champion 1990-2nd SOOcc National Championships 1989 2SOCc AMA Supercross Champion 1989 250CC AMA National Champion 1989-2nd SOOcc National Championships 1988-4th 2S0cc National Championships 1988-3rd SOOCC National Championships 1988-10lh AMA 2SOCc Supercross Se ries 1987-2nd SOOcc National Championships 1987-5th 2S0cc National Championships . 1987-10lh AMA 2S0cc Supercross Se ries By Davey Coombs ... .. • h e season-ending St ee l City Nationals in Delmon t, Pennsylvania, marked the end of t he brillian t motocross career of Team H onda's Jeff Stanton, the 26-year-old native of Sherwood, Michigan. Long rega rded as "the hardest working man in motocross," Stanton captured six Na tional Championships in a pr ofessional career that has lasted m uch longer that than his relatively young age suggests. Stanton was around when Yam ah as wer e s till yell ow, he lme ts we re op enfaced and Hi-Point clothing was all the rage. He battled with Bob "Hurricane" Hannah, Rick Johnson, Jeff Ward, Broc Glover and Jean-Michel Bayle. He sp ent almost ever y season comp etin g in as many even ts as physicall y possible, crisscrossing the planet numerous times simply to ra ce. For examp le, in . 1992 al one Stan ton compete d in 57 int ern ational and national racing eve nts. Stanton himself adm it s th at such a b usy schedule mig ht have contrib uted to the "maj or burnout factor" he now fee ls, bu t, like baseball's Cal Ripken or football's Walter Payton, he alwa ys appeared tireless and enthusiastic about his spo rt. In other words , Jeff Stanton was a great ambassador of this sport. On the track, Stanton was never the supe rstar showman that some of his fellow legends were. In fact, Stan ton never rea lly even look ed like he was going tha t fast. His methodical, exacting style - called "bulldog" by some of us media peo ple - never won h im any style points. He was thought to be na tu rally talentless, the polar oppos ite of the perfect and elegan t Bayle, his teammate for th ree years at Honda. But no amount strength or dedication can win even one title witho ut some large d egree of talent. Let the record speak for itself: Stanton won three 250cc National Motocross Championships and three AMA 250cc Supercross Cha mpionships. He won the ·notoriously rough Daytona Sup ercross every year from 1989 to '92. He won the ob scure World Superc ro ss Champ ionship in 1992. He won the 250cc United States Gran d Prix at Unadilla thr ee years in a row and three times led Team USA to the Motocross des Nations team win. Stanton personall y upheld th is country's rec ord wi nning streak one year in Sweden, when he "p arke d " a rider from the rival Belgian team on the crucial final lap of the race. In fact, when other riders were begging off the p ressure-packed team , Stan ton would often campaign to re p resen t Am erica. A career big bike rider, he once entered and won - the 12Sec support class at the 250cc U.S. GP just to prove that he could ride a sma ller bike if Team USA needed him in that class. Even with so m a n y accomplishments, Stanton was always one of the most underrated - and under-ap preciated - riders on the plan et. When success came his way it was always said to be a result of ba d luck to others, like an injury to Johnson ('89) or burnout by Brad shaw ('92). But six times? Stanton's patented lack of flash, flare and show- manship often allowed others to s tea l the spotlight from him throughou t his raci ng ca r ee r . For ins ta nce, the "Stanton Er a " a t H o n d a began the mo me nt Johnson broke his wr ist in Gainesville, Florida , in 1989. But that day will instead be remembered as th e day tha t Bradshaw, Bayle and Mike Kiedrowski all won their first National motos . . . and the day Johnson broke his wrist . Th en, four years lat er, w hen Stanton was putting the wr aps on his sixth career title - the '92 AMA Supercross Championship - fan s and the press see m ed m ore co ncerned about the self-d estruction of Bradshaw. Somehow, Brad sh aw was a much more popular figu re in the motocross world than Stanton, even ' - - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - - - - -- -' demanding sport as motocross, he never though Dam on never won a spent a long time on the sidelines with major title. But Bradshaw qu it. an injury. When he cracked a bone in his And Bayle quit. And Johnson back after a horrific end-over-end crash quit. And Jeff Ward quit. That at California's Hangtown Nationals this should have left the headlines past May, Stan ton only spent two weeks to Stanton, right? Wrong . Now on the disabled list. He came back and Sta n to n's you nger Hon da subsequen tly crashed on his back again tea m mate Jeremy McGrath in Maryland; this time he only missed gets more credit -for his two on e race. His working-class approach stadium championship than towards racing would no t allow him to Stanton ever got for his three. miss any more time than necessary. Why couldn't this guy get Even in announcing his retirement in any res pect? Maybe be cause July at the Red Bud Nationals in MichiJeff St anton always wen t gan, Stan ton did it without much pomp abo u t the bu sin ess of superor circumstance. In the winner's circle cross and superstardom with for third overall , his wife Sa rah at his the intensity of a true athle te, s ide; Stan ton surprised his adoring • not a crowd -pleasing, tr ashhome-state fans at the trop hy p resentatalking supers tar daredevil. If tion by stating that he would not be he had been a football player coming back next year. He also said tha t instead of a racer, you can bet he did n't want any "farewell tour" fesStanton would be the guy who tivities to get in the way of competin g scored all the touchdowns but, for the rest of his final season. Inst ead , rather than spiking the ball . Sta n ton wanted to concentra te on the and d ancing around the end thing that mattered mo st to him. Said zo ne, wo uld han d the ba ll to Stanton, "I've been doi ng this (racing) the referee and thank his for 22 years, and all I've ever wan ted to teammates. do was win." When you think about it, Sta n to n was to ugh, to o. that's all he ever did. CN Even in such a phys ically 25 YEARS AGO... National Championship / Winston Pro Series at the Syracuse Mile in New York Sta te. Morehead beat Cork y Keener and Jay Springsteen. Championship point leade r Steve Eklun d finished fourth as Sp ringsteen was only ab le to gain two p o in ts on the Californian ...M a riand Whaley won the seventh ro und of the AMA /NATC National Cha mpionship Observed Trials Series, and wrapped up the National Championship in th e proces s.. .Suzuki factory r ide r T e rr y Vance wo n the nation 's largest and richest d rag racing even t, the 25th annual Silver Anniversary U.S. National s at In di a napolis Racew ay Park. The 24-year-old Vance .... . upset Bob Carpen"j ] ifK:} ·':'i'i;';·:-;.·! te r to record his ". ~ ~ ' "i.:j , f' s t NH RA .. __ Ir way Championship with a victory in the World Speedway Final held in Katowic e, Poland; the top American wa s fourth-placed Kelly Mora n ...The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. announced that th e Grand Nationa l Champ ionship p oint fund would be r a ise d from $100,000 to $125,000 for the 1980 season ... T September 23, 1969 record crowd of 30,000 peop le attended the Sacramento Mile and they witnessed a thriller as four men fough t to th e bitter end of the 25-mile AMA National. In the end it was Chuck Pal mgren taking the victory over G ene Romero, Jim Rice and Ba rt Markel. The ID-mile Amateur final was won by Don Ca str o over D a vi d Alda na.. .The Los Angeles Sports Arena hosted th e California State Spe edway Championships with Steve Bast emerging as the winner...Dirt tracker Gary Scott won four races du ring TT and flat track racing action at Trojan Speedway in South Gate, Californi a; Scott w on the lOOcc TT main, the l00cc flat track main, and the Trophy Dashes in both classes... A ~ . ~ .' 15 Y SA O EAR G ... September 19,1979 84 te ve Morehead led a HarleyDavidson one-two-three sweep in round 23 o f the AM A G rand S ~: .." ", " . . , , . . . • . . ~" National victo ry , . clocking a 9.19second run with a . top speed of 144.69 . m p h ... New ! Zeal and e r Ivan . Mauge r wo n hi s sixth World Spe ed - ,.~ 5Y SAGO... EAR September13,1989 oad racer Jamie James was feat ured o n the cov e r of Issue #36 in 19 89, a lo ng with Doug Chandler. Jam es w o n th e AM A Superbike Na tional Cha mpions hip by finishing four th behind Ch an d ler, Scott Ru ssell, and Dale Quarte rley at Hea rtland Park Tope. ka in Kansas . The 250cc Grand Prix race waswon by Jo h n Kocinski in his fina l AMA race; Randy Renfrow won the Pro Tw ins GP clas s to earn his th ir d A M A Nationa l Champ io ns hi p ...Grand National Champ ion R Scott Parke r scored his eight h National w in of th e season by topping Terry Poovey and Dan In gram at the Springfield Mile ... England 's David Thorpe wo n bot h motos of the World Championship 500cc MX Series in Switzerland, two weeks after cli nching the 500cc Wo rld Ch am pionship .. .Pepsi Suzuki's Kevi n Schwantz wo n the Czechoslovakia n ro und of the 500cc World Championship at Brno. Schwantz beat Eddie Lawson to the flag to win his fifth Gra nd Prix of the 1989 serie s, with Wayne Rainey s tru g g li n g with tire problems to finish third. Law son ' s le ad in the championship point stand ings gre w to 15 .5 po ints ove r Rain e y . Th e 25 0cc Cz ech Grand Prix was won by Germ an Re in ho ld Roth ... Al th ough Ricky Graham w on the round at the DuQuoin Mile, it was Chris Carr taking his second stra ight 600cc Na tional Dirt Track Championsh ip ... Ed Lojak won the Black Coal Nation al Hare Scramble , edging Scott Summers and Scott Pless inger. CN

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