Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

t ,A ARGHTilVCS The Stanton Standard n Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael won the 2006 Daytona Supercross by Honda, he laid claim to yet another record. Carmichael bumped Team Honda's Jeff Stanton had," Stanton says. "So, there was extra pres- sure to do well there, and there was always extra pressu.e to do well at Daytona because the manufacturers are there and all types of racing are going on. lalways said that Anaheim and Daytona are the biggest on€s Btodshow got the holeshot with Stonton on his toil ond [Todd] DeHoop in third, Mdtidsevich in foutth ond Ke&owsu ffth. The more rutty, and I always knew that would be better for the iorgest, ond whot mony considet the me. My conditioning would always play into it- Other guys got pissed off, but I lqved it when it was rough. We iust set up my bike to get a holeshot, be first or second and then maybe struSgle in some other areas. Back then there were 40 guys on the starting line. You could- n't start 20th and expect to win. I wanted to be up front, and that's the way it worked out. Damon and I were up there, and my theory was, 'Follow him and let him make the mistakes."' But Santon made a mistake of his o n during the race. On the loth lop, Stonton wos briefly in front ofter he took the leod oyet o tobletop jump owooching the finish jump, but Btodshow took it bock when Stonton stolled get- ting orcund o lwed tidet By this point they were over 30 seconds in ftont of third-ploce Ueon-Michell Bofle. "l remember that, and that was gnarly about Daytona - with 40 8uys, the lappers were unbelievable," Stanton recalls. "You're lapping up to fourth and fifth place, just like Ricky and Chad fReed] do now. I passed Damon and was starting to pull out a lead when I got into a super big rut and stalled it, I made a mistake, and he was back by, so I had to refocus and get the lead back." Obviously, Stanton got going quickly, losing very little time in the process. "Yeah, it's not like the 450s are now, where you have to kick and kick," Stanton notes with a laugh. "l iust regrouped and got back after it." The roce wos decided on the I jth lop when o bockmork- et Eot in Brcdshow's woy os he heoded down the ftont sttoightovtol. Forced to toke evosive oction, kodshow rcn off the dift ond onto the tormoc, giving Stonton the fueok he needed. "lt was two things," Stanton remembers. "Damon got sideways in the whoops and there was a lapper there - it was a mixture of both. I just remember that he went off onto pit road. I iust kept forward." Stonton's leod grew quickly, up close to l0 seconds ot one point before Brodshow mode o lote roce drorge, "l iust tried to make no mistakes, get by the lapperc and play it safe," Stanton says. "l knew where I was and what I had to do." ln the end, Stonton hod won noa only his fourah Doytono 9percros, but fourah in o rcw, an unmokhed feot thot on toughest. supe.c.oss t ock ofthe series. Actually, despite Carmichael's new record of five wins, Stanton remains as the only rider in AMA history to earn four Daytona Supercross wins in a row. "Yeah, and I think that it would be pretty tough for anybody to beat that, but Ricky and I are such good buds, that I was happy for him getting number five, really," Stanton says. "He has got so many stinkin' records that I love to have him have that re€ord all by himself The fact of the matter is that that guy is so bad, so for him to have another record that nobody will ever beat is so awe- some. Whether it's four in a row, or five, if you've won them, you've eamed them," After winning the '92 Daytona race, Stanton remarked: "l've been in a dry slump, and I hope this gives me the momentum to keep on going." It obvious, did, as he went on to overtake Bradshaw and win a third AMA Supercross title. "What was nice back then was that we had a few out- doors mixed in with the Supercross races, so I would always use those outdoors to beat that other person down and build my confidence, and that's what hap pened that year," Stanton says- "l remember us Soing to Red Bud and battling like big dogs, and Damon made a mistake, and I just kept picking at him from there, and his confidence went downhill-" These days, Stanton is still a lixture on the Supercross and motocross scenes. As an advisor to Team Honda, he attends most of the races and still enjoys eyery one. During the week, he spends mqst of his time with his wife, Sara, 9-year-old daughter, Siam, and S-year-old son, Toren- The family calls Sherwood, f4ichigan, home. As for his Daytona accomplishments, Stanton only adds, "You know what? I iust love that place, mostly because the road-race guys are there to watch you and you get to watch them, and after the race, I always went to the dirt track. I got to watch so much racing, and that's part of why I love Dapona. You're there to win, and you get to see all kinds of racing. I love Da).tona for that, but I'm glad that they never used a pace car in the Supercross like they do in the road race." Cll IIO MARCH 22,?@6 . CYCLE NEWS Bv Scorr RoussEAU from the record book by claiming a fifth Daytona Super- cross victory. That might be all there is to tell, except that in claim- ing his four victories, Stanton did what Carmichael has not yet done and may never be able to achieve: Stanton claimed his four Daytona Supercross wins consecutively, From 1989 through 1992, no one else besides Stanton crossed the finish line first at Dapona, the wins serving as important pieces in the puzzle as the l'4ichigan rider labored toward his three AMA Supercross titles. And, Stanton still safs today, that the fourth win was the hardest. Follow along as Stanton recalls the race with a little help from Henny Ray Abrams' Cycle News cover- age of the '92 Da6ona Supercross, held on March 7 of that year. Note that the italicized portions are excerpts from the race coverager it didnt seem possible thot the Doytono Supercross bf Hondo could motch the pre-roce hype. Aftet oll, Yomoho s Domon Bradshaw wos Eoing for o record-tying sixth Supercross win in o row ond Hondo's JeffStonton wos trying fot o rccod-setting fourth Doytono SuFrcross in o row. Thrcw in the rcst of the field. ond mominE showerc which wrcoked hwoc on the lro.k, ond the chonces for o histotic rcce were slim. "He [Bradshaw] had reeled off a bunch of wins in a row, and I had just been consistent,'' Stanton, now 37, recalls. "My whole deal was alwa),,s to be like Ricky [Carmichael] does now. You could be on the podium every weekend. You could be on the podium damn near every weekend, and if somebody made a huge mistake, you were going to win the championship. That was my whole philosophy for the year. And so, going into Daytona, the week before, we were at Gainesville. We'd had a great battle there, and I always stayed back during the week and rode sand track iust to prepare for Daytona. Every year going into Daytona, I knew that I was more prepared than anybody and that I was always physically fit. But there's always that little Pac- man in the battle of your head that says, 'This guy's bet- ter. You can't do it.' But it's the person that can push past that who is always the real champion. My mechan- ic, Dan Betley and I always said, 'Let's use Daytona and Gainesville as turning points-"' At Daytona, on March 7, I 992, Stanton most certain- ly did iust that. The chompionship tiyols locked huns off the stort of the Zo-lop ruce ond held the aowd spellbound... lt wos the best supercross in rccent memoty ond motocross veterons werc digging deep into the mefiory frles to find one thot wos bettet Few could ... Anti.ipotion couldn't hqve been hi9het for the main, ond right ftom the drop of the gote it wos obvi- ous it wos o two-ider rcce into the rccod books. "There was a lot of extra attention on the race because of the fact that [Bob] Hannah had that three in a row and so I wanted that record that nobody else his "lt seemed like three out of those four en tpuie years, it was muddy there, and I always remember ,5 onc, oa lo

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