Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 30 JULY 30, 2013 MX wins was a record that would hold for 17 years until Ricky Carmichael beat the mark. On the subject on final wins – Millville has been the site of several top riders' final National victory. In addition to Chandler and Hannah - Jeff Emig, Jeff Stanton and Mike Kiedrowski all earned their final National wins at the Minnesota track. Millville has also been the track where a few notable riders have scored their first national wins. Nick Wey scored his first, and to date only, National victory in the 125cc class in 1999. Unfortunately, Wey is also known for his huge get off, perhaps one of the worst crashes of his career, at Millville last year. His motorcycle famously ended up catapulting with a splash into Spring Creek in the course of that accident. While Wey's crash was infamous, nothing matches Chad Reed's legendary massive crash at Millville in 2011, generally considered one of the most, if not the most, spectacular crash in AMA Motocross history. On the first lap of the second moto Reed was running near the front when he lost control of his TwoTwo Motorsports Honda coming up to a large jump, and got highsided just as his bike was hitting the peak of the jump. Reed sickeningly flew through the air, perhaps 50 feet, arms and legs flailing in what looked like a certain season ender. Miraculously Reed landed, tumbled hard and was shaken up, but managed to get back on his bike and continue to race. The crowd gave him a continuous ovation for two laps as he circulated the track. Reed would say of the Millville incident, "That was the scariest crash I've ever experienced." It will go down as one of the bravest rides in the history of Millville. While Reed's crash is the best known at Millville, it was a crash suffered by Jeremy McGrath during a practice session at the '96 Millville National that changed motocross history. McGrath proved to his critics that he was more than a Supercross specialist when he won the 1995 AMA 250cc Motocross Championship. He wanted badly to repeat in 1996, to prove '95 was no fluke. He was well on his P103 way to winning the championship when disaster struck at Millville. McGrath tried jumping a massive table-to-table double and cased it, spraining his foot badly. He could barely ride and struggled to score top-10 finishes. Emig went 1-1 and took over the momentum in the series and went on to earn the title away from McGrath. McGrath looks back at his Millville crash as one of the biggest regrets of his otherwise impressive career. "I get mad at myself a little bit because I should've won the '96 title," McGrath said. "But I was thinking I was invincible and tried a jump at Millville that I never should have attempted and got injured." Ricky Carmichael made history at Millville 2006, when he became the first rider to lap the entire field in an MX National. Then there were the debuts. For years Millville was the first race after Loretta Lynn's and thus became the debut pro race for many amateur starts. None was more puffed up than Mike Alessi in 2004. Under the pressure of great expectations, "Believe the Hype" backfired, and Alessi was banged around at the starts by grizzled pros like a Ping-Pong ball. Damon Bradshaw completely shocked everyone when he scored fourth overall at his first pro national in 1988. Amateur riders just didn't turn in those kinds of debuts in those days. And then, of course, there are the local heroes. The late great Donny Schmit shocked the world, and perhaps even himself, with his immediate success on the world stage, earning the 1990 125cc World Motocross Championship. Nowhere was Schmit more loved than at home in Minnesota. His Millville 125cc National wins in 1987 and '88 are still talked about today. They named a big jump in his honor – Holy Schmit. And of course there's Ryan Dungey who has been so successful at his home track in recent years, and renewed pride among the Millville faithful. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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