VOL. 51 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 16, 2014 P153
picking five, but when Trey Ca-
nard picks 41, James Stewart
picks seven, Ken Roczen picks
94, and so on, he couldn't help
but wonder why people didn't
want his number.
However, Martin decided, in
the end, to go with number "6."
"Well, when it came time to
make a choice for the number, I
was like, 'Okay, well I've always
had 144, so I could choose 14,"
Martin says. "But in order to get a
single-digit number, you have to
win an outdoor national champi-
onship [or a 450cc Supercross
Championship]. And I was like,
'Well shoot, that's pretty hard to
pass up, because when people
see a single digit on your bike,
they know you're an outdoor
national champion.' So, I asked
Lammy if it would be okay. Hon-
estly, I chose the number six and I
let him know and I haven't looked
back since. Today is the first day
I saw it on the motorcycle and it
looks really good, I think."
A lot of the younger guys
aren't students of moto history,
but even though most people
talk about how amazing Johnny
O'Mara's ride at the Motocross
des Nations in Maggiora, Italy,
on a 125cc machine was in 1986,
finishing second to Team USA
500cc teammate David Bailey
in the 125/500cc moto, Steve
Lamson will always be the only
racer in the history of the Moto-
cross des Nations to win a moto
outright on a 125. He pulled it off
in the 125/500cc moto in Jerez,
Spain, in 1996.
"Wow, I didn't know that," Mar-
tin said. "That's pretty awesome."
Lamson has never been one to
toot his own horn, but now Martin
knows the boots he's filling.
CORNER KILLER
When you watch Martin ride out-
doors, if you pay attention, there's
one thing that stands out: corner
speed. Jeremy Martin carries a
ton of corner speed. He doesn't
blow berms up or blow ruts out,
he just doesn't slow down all that
much and carries speed all the
way through the turns.
"I know my corner speed is
good," Martin says. "And I think
there's a lot of room there for
Martin did a lot of
this this year.
"I wondered how
much longer my
career was going
to go on, because
at the rate it was
going, it wasn't
looking good."
