Jeremy Martin named Grand Marshal for Spring Creek Pro National

MILLVILLE — Jeremy Martin is most certainly not saying goodbye to his hometown or his home track.

But the Millville native and two-time Pro Motocross 250 class national champion is saying goodbye to a storied 13-year pro career, which also included two national runner-up finishes.

He’ll ride his final race as a pro on Saturday at the place he’s always called home — Spring Creek MX Park in Millville, the track owned and operated by his parents, John and Greta, and his siblings, Alex and Jennifer.

All eyes will likely be on the No. 6 bike during the two 250 class motos on Saturday. Those eyes will also be on Jeremy Martin before the races, as he has been named the Grand Marshal of Saturday’s event, which is expected to again attract more than 20,000 fans to the track north of the town of approximately 200 people.

“I really cannot think of a better way to put a finishing touch on Jeremy’s incredible racing career than to allow him to be honored and celebrated by the very people who have supported him throughout this journey,” Alex Martin said in a statement. “That doesn’t just include my parents, my sister, and myself, it also includes the dozens of individuals that have played an integral role in making Spring Creek a world renowned race track, the many who guided Jeremy up to the sport’s highest levels, and the tens of thousands of fans who have embraced this race as a summer tradition for many, many years.

“It’s been an incredible ride, and we are beyond excited to give him the recognition he deserves this weekend.”

Jeremy Martin will ride again for the team that backed him through his Rookie of the Year season in 2013, and his back-to-back national championship runs in 2014 and 2015 — Monster Energy Star Yamaha. He enters his final race with the fourth-most all-time overall victories (20) in the 250 class and the second-most all-time podium (top-three) finishes, with 46 (one shy of Steve Lamson’s record).

Saturday’s race is also a full-circle moment for the Martin family. Alex Martin, who finished as national runner-up twice in the 250 class, made his pro debut at the track in 2008. He and Jeremy shared the podium at Spring Creek twice in their career — first in 2016, when Jeremy won the overall and Alex placed third, and again in 2020, when Jeremy finished second and Alex finished third.

“You’d be hard pressed to find a racer who has managed to stay under the radar for the entirety of his career despite possessing some of the most decorated accolades the 250 division has ever seen,” said Davey Coombs, President of MX Sports Pro Racing. “However, that’s Jeremy Martin in a nutshell. He didn’t worry about the attention. He wasn’t interested in being one of the faces of the sport. He simply wanted to work hard, ride his motorcycle, and win races.

“His competitiveness and determination are unparalleled and it’s why he is truly not just one of the all-time greats of the 250 Class, but of the Pro Motocross Championship as a whole.”

Since Alex Martin retired from competitive racing at the end of the 2022 season, he has remained busy — that word perhaps being an understatement — working with vendors and learning the ins and outs of running the business side of Spring Creek MX Park.

The two-time Pro Motocross 250 class national runner-up has also found a way to scratch his competitive itch: long-distance running.

Among his latest accomplishments: Completing the Boston Marathon in April, Rochester’s Med City Marathon in May, and the Grandma’s Marathon on a sweltering morning last month in Duluth.

“I’ve competed in front of 60,000+ fans many times throughout my racing career, but I can pretty confidently say I’ve never seen crowds like at (this year’s) Boston Marathon,” Martin wrote on Facebook on April 22. “Such a cool experience!”

He added amazement at the caliber of athletes who run the race, noting that his 6-minute, 23-second per mile pace and a finishing time of 2 hours, 48 minutes was only good enough for 1,978th place.

Martin has also taken to cross-country skiing. He raced in the American Birkebeiner in northern Wisconsin, calling it “an incredibly gnarly race. The hills were relentless!”

“It’s given me some goals to shoot for and something to wake up and train for,” Martin said. “It keeps me accountable.”

John Martin said there is one significant change that riders and fans will notice during this week’s races — a new place to get a prime view of the track.

“On the last big uphill before the finish line, we cut the top half out and turned that into a spectator area,” he said. “It’s a really good vantage point and it made it easier for us to do maintenance on the track.”

The new viewing area is open to all fans, on a first-come, first-served basis.

As the Pro Motocross season passes the halfway point, a handful of top riders are or have been sidelined with injuries.

Among the big names not expected to race at Millville this weekend are 450 riders Dylan Ferrandis, Cooper Webb, Freddie Noren (multiple injuries) and Grant Harlan (leg); and 250 riders Max Anstie (leg), Julien Beaumer (wrist), Chance Hymas (ACL) and Ty Masterpool (hand).

Ferrandis, the 2021 450 class Pro Motocross national champion and the 2023 national runner-up, rode through the Supercross season with a stress fracture in his leg. The native of France will miss the entire motocross season as he attempts to recover.

Webb, the reigning 450 Supercross national champion, will miss the remainder of the motocross season after suffering a knee injury last week during a qualifying session at RedBud in Buchanan, Mich. His season ends with him leading the Supermotocross World Championship standings.

Famed Italian bike manufacturer Ducati has teamed with nine-time FIM Motocross world champion Antonio Cairoli to mark their entry into the AMA Pro Motocross and Supercross championship series.

Cairoli, 39, helped Ducati debut its all-new Desmo450 bike at last week’s Pro Motocross series stop at RedBud in Buchanan, Mich.

Cairoli, who is in a test rider/developer role with Ducati, is entered in this weekend’s races at Millville, too.

He qualified 10th overall at RedBud and earned a top-10 finish (ninth place) in the very first Pro Motocross moto for a Ducati.

Cairoli had the bike in the top five early in the day’s second moto, but an electrical issue ended his day early and gave him a 14th place finish overall.

“It was an amazing experience to ride here in RedBud,” Cairoli said in a statement after the race. “... We had a small (electrical) issue with the bike, and I was forced to pull out. Overall, it was still a positive day. We’re here to test and develop the bike, and these things can happen. Now we’re looking forward to a solid week of training and coming back ready to battle for another top 10 in Millville.”