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JEREMY MARTIN
250 MX / 4TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / TILLS
>> When Jeremy Martin turned professional back in 2013 he had a few struggles as many rookies do but in the second half of his rookie year he was on fire in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross championship series and finished the season off in 6th overall. Jeremy was honored by receiving rookie of the year along a long list of fast rookies. In 2014 Jeremy became the man to beat by winning the first five races of the season on route to his first professional title. He also won ten out of the possible 24 motos that year. In 2015 Jeremy went on to successfully defend his title which seems to be a harder task then winning your first title ac- cording to recent champions statements. Jeremy Martin was hoping that after 2016 he would be able to move up to the 450 class but things didn’t go exactly as planned. Jeremy had to battle against his tough- est competitor yet Cooper Webb who was also his teammate. Webb got the better of Jeremy throughout the whole 2016 year. This resulted in Webb getting the 450 ride from factory Yamaha. Jeremy was at a cross roads, he felt he deserved the spot and really badly wanted to move up to the big boy class. J Mart decided to part ways with Yamaha and went over to the Geico Honda squad but still his contract was to race 250’s. Jeremy has shown that at times he can be the fastest 250 rider on the track but luck hasn’t been on his side this year. Just as soon as Jeremy looks to have things figured out something goes wrong. Although is has been a struggle for Jeremy the past two years his results are still good and he is winning races just not championships.
After winning the overall a week ago at a muddy Unadilla track it looked like Jeremy was going to be able to keep the ball rolling at Budds Creek as it rained so hard in the area that the pits was almost under wa- ter. In qualifying Jeremy set the fastest lap by over a second. Unfortunately for him the track dried up and by the time it was ready to go racing the track had changed dramatically. In race one Jeremy came around in second place behind Adam Cianciarulo. Jeremy showed a wheel to Adam a few times but eventually fell off the pace before finishing second.
Race two Jeremy got the Holeshot but was quickly pushed to 2nd by Shane McElrath. In the final stages of lap one Jeremy got pushed back to third position by Osborne. JMart stayed within a second or two of Osborne for the next 17 minutes before making a costly mistake that put him on the ground and back to 6th position. Osborne ended up clinching the title and JMart looks to take 2nd overall, but with one round remaining can the #6 Geico Honda rider make a statement before the year is complete?
38 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 20, 2017