SCORE JOURNAL
55
FACTORY UTV WARS - HONDA
Leaverton began winning multiple SXS
races and got a contract with Red Bull,
running his own program which included
several WORCS Championships and state-
side races. "Eventually, I wanted to get away
from running my own program, which is a lot
of work, and was looking for a ride-and-drive
program where I could just show-up and
race."
That came after several discussions with
Jeff Proctor at the Honda Factory Race team.
Proctor had been in conversations with
Leaverton for a couple of years and ultimately
it appealed to Leaverton's latest career
choices. "Originally, I had driven the Honda
Talon racer car during testing last year and
was impressed with it and the Proctor Racing
crew in general," he said. "I built off that and
got more comfortable with the vehicle and
program to where I thought I was ready to
challenge the SCORE Baja 500."
Leaverton spent eight days pre-running in Baja driving a stock Honda Talon R pre-
runner. "I got a lot of miles on the pre-runner, which wasn't much different from the
Talon race car," he said. "The race car actually has a lot of stock components which
is impressive for their reliability. To me Honda has always stood for reliability. I rode
a Honda 450x dirt bike for a long time. I also have driven the current model Polaris
RZR's and Can-Am Mavericks. These are also amazing vehicles but there's nothing
like a Honda."
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