INTERVIEW
AMA 250 NATIONAL MOTOCROSS CHAMPION JEREMY MARTIN
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happen and actually thrive in that
environment."
It was yet another lesson for
Martin, this time about handling
championship pressure and over-
coming obstacles when things
aren't going very well. Some-
times, championships are actu-
ally easy for people when they
lead from the start, and they build
confidence, and then are never
truly challenged. This title chase
had some adversity, though.
"I had to keep my head in it and
at the end of the day you've got to
realize that even though you're in
a situation like that, we're doing
this because we want to do it and
because we love it," Martin said.
"That's the reason why we do this
in the first place. So when you
put that perspective back into it,
it helps things out."
Then, fully three motos early,
in the mud in Indiana, Martin was
able to officially clinch his first-ever
professional championship, and
the first outdoor championship in
the class for Yamaha in over 20
years—the last being the younger
of the Emig's, Jeff, in 1992.
"It's nice to finally clinch it and
then show up the next weekend,
and if you take a crash in the
first moto that you're not going
to lose any points to anyone and
you know it's done," Martin said.
"But you know what? I enjoyed
the pressure of it. I'm excited for
the years to come, to be in that
situation again and just try to do
my best."
PICK 6
Martin has always had a four in
his number when he was racing
in the amateur ranks, usually with
the number 144. Immediately af-
ter the series was over, he was
talking about taking Kevin Wind-
ham's vacated number 14 be-
cause of this, but then he recon-
sidered. His Star Racing team
manager Steve Lamson's old
number hasn't been used since
he last ran it, and "Lammy" was
almost getting a complex over it.
Champion after champion were
picking other numbers, and it's
one thing when the other number
is lower than six, such as Ryan
Villopoto picking two, Eli Tomac
picking three, Blake Baggett
picking four, or Ryan Dungey
After dominating the Glen Helen National opener,
Martin did it again a week later at Hangtown.
