Page 36 - Issue50

JEREMY MARTIN
250 MX / 3RD
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MPG
>> Like his older brother Alex, Jeremy Martin’s supercross season was cut short due to injury as well. Also being on a new team, Geico Honda, Martin was able to use that time to recover and fully direct his attention towards the outdoors where he would try and capture his third 250 title. He entered Hangtown relatively under the radar because he had been out for so long and was on a new team. He craved the opportunity to surprise everyone with a big performance but that opportunity almost instantly went away. A bike failure would force him out of the opening moto and destroy his chances at the overall and immediately set him way behind in the points standings. He did not get flustered and came back swinging in the second moto to finish in third place. He showed he still has the speed and he’d back it up at Glen Helen. He’d dominate moto one leading wire to wire but would crash on the first lap of the second moto while leading. He remounted nearly last and put on a resounding charge to seventh but wasn’t enough for the overall. He was ready to finally put together two solid motos at Thunder Valley.
Martin was quick in practice going out and notching the fifth fastest time of the morning. He was ready to do battle up high in the altitude. He started moto one in second directly behind his brother Alex Martin. It was shaping up to be a brother’s battle for the lead but shockingly Mitchell Harrison interrupted the party and bumped Jeremy back to third. Martin took a few laps to retaliate and got back by the young Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha rider. He stalked his brother for a good part of the moto until he got trouble from a pair of Monster Energy Kawasaki riders, Savatgy and Forkner. Both riders would get their shot at him but only Forkner would make it stick as Martin was able to get Savatgy back on the final lap to finish third. It was a hectic first moto with a lot of back and forth but Martin was ready to give it another go.
In moto two, Martin started in fifth position. He picked up a few spots to hop into third before settling in behind Dylan Ferrandis. It took him a few laps but Martin eventually wore him down to take over second behind race leader Joey Savatgy. Martin would put the hammer down and stay on Savatgy’s rear wheel the entire second half of the moto. He even pulled up alongside the Kawi rider on a few occasions but could not make a pass stick. He gave it one last ditch ef- fort on the final lap but would come up just short finishing second. His 3-2 scores were enough for third overall on the day. He was a little bummed he could not secure the win but he did put together two solid motos for the first time all year and reassert himself as a title contender.
36 GRITMOTO • JUNE 4, 2017