| July 16, 2016
Just in case you didn’t know already, Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin and his older brother Alex literally grew up at Spring Creek Raceway in Millville, Minnesota. Their childhood home is on the property. Their parents—John and Gretta Martin—are the owners of the venue. The Martin kids know their way around the track like it’s in their back yard because it’s literally in their back yard. So it might come as little surprise that one of the brothers–Jeremy–came away with the win.
250MX Millville
Jeremy Martin took the 250MX-class win at Spring Creek. Photography by Rob Koy
In the opening 250cc moto, Alex Martin grabbed the holeshot with his brother, and defending 250cc National Champion, Jeremy Martin in tow. Behind them came Red Bull/Lucas Oil KTM’s Mitch Oldenburg, but it wasn’t long before points leader, and winner of three 250cc Nationals in a row, Cooper Webb joined the fray.
Webb passed Oldenburg midway through the first lap, then set out after his teammates out front. He caught Jeremy Martin right away, but it took him almost six laps to find a way past the defending champion. He passed Jeremy Martin by taking the inside line in a 180 at the base of a hill, and to solidify the pass, he took Jeremy Martin’s line away, forcing his teammate off the track.
But he had a bit of time to make up on Alex Martin out front. He began chipping away, and with five laps to go in the race, he was on the elder Martin. Just as he got close enough to strike a couple of laps later, Webb took the exact same inside line that he used to pass Jeremy Martin, but this time, instead of Alex Martin getting pushed off the track, he fell on his own, handing the lead to Webb, and second place to his brother Jeremy.
And that’s how they’d finish: Webb took the moto win—his fifth in the previous six motos—over Jeremy Martin, Alex Martin, then Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy, and then a fourth Star Racing Yamaha in Aaron Plessinger rounding out the top five. Behind Plessinger came Savatgy’s teammates Austin Forkner, Adam Cianciarulo and Arnaud Tonus, with CycleTrader Yamaha’s Luke Renzland in ninth, and GEICO Honda’s RJ Hampshire as the only non-Kawasaki or Yamaha in the top 10. The fifth and final Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha racer, rookie Mitchell Harrison, landed 11th at the finish.
In moto two, it was, once again, Alex Martin with the holeshot, again just in front of Jeremy Martin and then Cianciarulo. This time, though, instead of pulling away to a lead out front, Alex Martin crashed in a corner, handing the lead to Cianciarulo, just in front of Jeremy Martin. Alex Martin remounted at the tail end of the top 10 and had to start moving forward from there.
Meanwhile, Webb started outside the top 10, but was working his way up to the top five by the end of the first lap. Jeremy Martin found a line around Cianciarulo through the track’s rhythm section to take the lead on lap four as Cianciarulo began a fade through the pack, eventually finishing eighth.
With Jeremy Martin out front, it took Webb until lap 10 of 16 to even move into second place, and it was just too late. Jeremy Martin was too far gone, and he took the moto victory, along with his first overall win of the season, at his literal home track. Webb finished second in the moto, and overall, but still managed to increase his points lead by one point. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne finished the moto in third place, but he had major issues in the first moto that landed him with a DNF.
Alex Martin ended up third overall to complete the Star Racing podium sweep with a 3-4 score. Then came former points leader Savatgy with a 4-5 and Plessinger with a 5-6.
Coming in to Millville, Savatgy trailed Webb by 37 points in the championship chase, but now it’s Jeremy Martin who sits second to Webb in the title chase, 38 points back, while Savatgy is now fully 50 points behind Webb with four rounds and eight motos yet to go.
The series now heads to Washougal, Washington, in one week’s time for round nine of the championship on July 23rd.
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BY STEVE COX
