Page 30 - ISSUE-81

JEREMY MARTIN
250 MX / 9TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>>Jeremy Martin has been wildly fast this season but minor mistakes and things out of his control have been his downfall. His 250SX East Coast championship earlier in the year started off with him failing to nish better than fth at the rst three rounds but he turned things around after that. He’d nish second at the next two and then win the two after that to salvage any hope of being in the title hunt. A week later, a rst turn crash would basically bury his hopes of the title but that did not prevent him from putting on an astonishing comeback to nish fourth in that race. Outdoors, Martin has been blazing fast and has nished on each spot of the podium. He has been close to even more wins including last weekend at High Point, where a mechanical took him out of the race when he had the moto and overall win right at his ngertips. He entered Muddy Creek search- ing for revenge and to reclaim the red plate. Jeremy Martin was his usual fast self in the morning qualifying practice sessions. The two-time champion threw down the third fast- est lap time and appeared more than ready to enjoy himself a nice pair of motos later in the day. The rst moto began with Martin starting in third just behind his brother Alex and his championship rival and points leader, Aaron Plessinger. Martin was given a gift three turns after the start when Plessinger tucked the front wheel and went down. This allowed him and his brother to get around and begin a battle for the lead. Jeremy nipped at Alex’s heels throughout the rst few laps but had yet to nd an opening big enough to make a pass. Then on lap four, Alex cased the big uphill triple allowing Jeremy to close the gap all the way down and make the pass a few corners later. After that, Jeremy slowly pulled away and would bring home the moto one victory. He took full advantage of Plessinger’s bobble and would look to cap it off with another win in moto two. Moto two started with Martin getting out to a solid start near the front but things would terrifyingly wrong in a hurry. Not even half a lap into the race, Martin went down hard and was seen in agoniz- ing pain on the side of the track. He has reaching for his back and eventually carted off the track. His 4-DNF was enough for ninth overall but that was the least of anyone’s con- cerns. He was transported to a local hospital, but it was noted that he did have feeling in his extremities. We can only hope for a full recovery from Jeremy Martin and that he can return to racing in the future.
30 GRITMOTO • JUNE 24, 2018