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Jeff was a factory Yamaha rider straight out of amateurs, he wasn’t a fill. But he definitely fits the bill for this topic.
Support rider I believe. I just ran across a vid Jeff talked about being a fill in rider at Washougal. The interviewer didn’t even know it.
To a lesser extent than some of the other riders mentioned, but Sexton really leveled up after moving to the 450. Yes, he won 2 250SX titles, but he was never an insanely fast prospect that had "future 450 champ" written all over him. He was getting straight-up beat by Forkner in 2019 before Forkner's ACL, and his only competition in 2020 was Mcelrath - while he was solid, it wasn't exactly a gargantuan task to beat him for a title. He was basically an afterthought in 250mx - I think he only had one moto win, and never won an OA? Then he moves up to the 450s and within a couple of years is battling tooth and nail with the best stateside MX rider of his era, and then followed up by being one of very few to ever beat Jett and Hunter straight-up.
Yeah, if you disregard the 250/450 aspect of his career, Osborne has to be one of the biggest late bloomers ever. He didn't win his first championship until he was 27 years old, and then he ended up with three 250 championships and one 450 championship.
So zero championships before 27 and four after. That's going to be tough to beat.
Carmichael is on the other end. 16 before age 27 and zero after.
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IIRC Jeff only raced in the premier classes (500/250) and never raced in the small bore class.
Ok, that was his first pro race. I didn’t know it was a full in gig. He might have been a support rider, but he had a box van and factory equipment.
Does anybody remember Shawn Kalos?
Not sure if it was him or another privateer traveling in Grandparents rv track to track? This would been 85-87.
Added: a beige “ Blue Bird- wonderlodge” with stripes if I remember correctly.
I remember his set up at ponca, bunch of 911 number 65s and 80s lined up under the awning.. was factory set up for the time.
Stanton never raced the smallbore/125 class( as OP is asking) much as an amateur and never in a season as a pro, outside of the 125 support win at the USGP in 89.
Stanton may have filled in on broc's bike at washougal as it was the last national in 86 but he was set to turn pro after Loretta's 1986 anyways.
Here it is in 87 when he was Yamaha support.
Totally but you also have to take into consideration he was on an underpowered bike. He hit laroccos on his star amateur bike but couldn’t do it on his geico Honda. In Supercross it’s not as big of a deal to be a little down on power but outdoors it is. Even in sx he always started behind & was coming through the pack.
Jeremy McGrath
Weston Peick?
I don't see how Jeff Stanton fits here. He was a top Yamaha amateur, and according to the vault, had a few podiums and multiple top 5s in his rookie season ('87).
John Dowd is/was the ULTIMATE late bloomer! He never even swung leg over a bike until he was 20.
Yeah, I didn’t meet the criteria, but pfffft! 🤣
Can’t believe no one mentioned Brayton!? The oldest guy to win a SX, while he doesn’t have the wins, you can make a case that he got better each year well into his 30’s
The Belgian Connection.
Joel Smets, Clement Desalle and Ken De Dycker just appeared in GP's on 450's(or 500's) without being a fast kid (at least that i knew of) , i dont remember seeing any of them ride the smaller classes.
And even Stefan Everts didnt start till he was in his teens, maybe 14 or 15, if i remember correctly.
https://motocrossactionmag.com/mxa-interview-joel-smets-on-his-greatest…
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