MOTOCROSS : Anaheim Race Features Top Riders

The two finest motocross riders in the country--perhaps the world--will be at Anaheim Stadium tonight for the Coors Light Challenge, the third event of the Camel Supercross series, after spending the off-season in starkly different ways.

Last year’s series ended July 11 in the Coliseum with Jeff Stanton, a Honda rider from Sherwood, Mich., winning his third championship by three points over Yamaha-mounted Damon Bradshaw of Mooresville, N.C.

Stanton, mild-mannered and unspectacularly consistent, spent most of the next five months touring the world, winning races in France, Switzerland, Italy and Japan, as well as the United States. He rode 17 races in Europe, winning eight and finishing among the top three in all of them.

He scored his biggest victories in Paris and Geneva, where he defeated former world champion Jean-Michel Bayle of France for the coveted King of Bercy crown in Paris’ Palais Ominsports and then for the World Supercross Championship title at Geneva Palexpo.

About the only time Stanton was off his Honda was for two weeks after the national 500cc season--he finished second to Mike Kiedrowski--in October when he married his longtime girlfriend, Sarah Knowles.

“I had a busy off-season, no doubt about it,” Stanton said from his West Coast home in Riverside, where he lives three or four months during the year. “I’m healthy, strong and motivated. I want to win my fourth Supercross championship--no one has ever done that--and I want to win my first 500cc championship after finishing second three times.”

Bradshaw, on the other hand, did not even sit on a motorcycle until December after his disappointing finish in the Coliseum in July. He had an operation on a knee that he had injured in a national 250cc race and spent the time recuperating.

“I did things I never thought I’d do until I retired,” Bradshaw said. “I’d ridden and raced since I was 8, and I’d never taken any time off. I spent a lot of time with my family and my girlfriend and went deer hunting. It was quite a change and I had a good time, but I was ready to start riding when I could.”

Bradshaw, who won a record nine Supercross events last year despite losing the championship, rode in only one race in preparing for this season. That was at Perris Raceway, in a GFI Invitational, on Jan. 23, where he finished second to Yamaha teammate Jeff Emig.

“I’d only been riding about a month and a half, mostly with (Yamaha teammate) Doug Dubach on a little track in Mission Viejo, so I was pleased with my performance,” Bradshaw said.

The Supercross season began Jan. 9 at Orlando, Fla., and Bradshaw finished third, behind Mike LaRocco and Kiedrowski, both on Kawasakis. Last Saturday, in Houston, Bradshaw went wire to wire in winning. Stanton was fifth at Orlando and third at Houston.

“I had a bad race in Florida, but last week I rode a lot better,” Stanton said. “I still look at Damon as the rider I have to beat (for the championship), but it’s not just the two of us anymore. There’s a handful of other riders, like Jeremy (McGrath), LaRocco, Kiedrowski and Emig who are plenty strong.

“In the long run, though, I think Damon is the one. He should benefit from what happened last year and that should make him a little more consistent.”

Bradshaw, then 19, got to the final race needing only to finish third or better to win his first Supercross title. He finished fifth, handing Stanton the crown.

“I didn’t ride like Damon, I admit it,” Bradshaw said. “I was too tentative, too serious.

“I’m not ashamed of the year. I give Jeff Stanton full credit because he did what he needed to win, but I won nine races. That meant a lot to me. Now I have to win some more.”