Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/650535
SUPERCROSS MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES ROUND 9 / MARCH 5, 2016 DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA / DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY P54 250SX MARTIN STEPS UP It's not uncommon for young racers to be better at outdoor motocross than supercross in the early part of their pro career. After all, they've raced mo- tocross since they were little kids, and supercross doesn't begin until pretty late in their amateur ca- reer if they start riding it at all prior to turning pro. But it's somewhat un- common for a racer of the caliber of Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha's Jeremy Martin to have struggled as much as he has with supercross. In 2013, Martin actually failed to qualify for the main event at round one of the 250SX East in Arlington. He recovered the following week for fifth place in Atlanta. Then, in 2014, Martin again missed the main event at rounds one and two in Arlington and Atlanta, then followed that with a 19th place in the main event at round three in Indianapolis. Last year, things im- proved significantly, with a fourth place at round one in Arlington and a main- event win at round two in Atlanta. This year, he has now matched that perfor- mance with a fourth-place in Atlanta and a win at the Daytona Supercross. He now trails Rockstar En- ergy Husqvarna's Martin Davalos (third place in Daytona) by two points in the 2016 250SX East championship chase. (In 2015, after two rounds, he trailed by five points.) GEICO Honda's Mal- colm Stewart actually got the early lead in the Daytona main event, but he had Martin all over him from the very start. The two even made contact a couple of times as Martin tried to shove the much bigger Stewart out of a couple of inside lines, to no avail. Despite being somewhat distracted by his brother, James, hurt- ing himself in the 450SX main event, Malcolm withstood the pressure from Martin for the first 12 laps of the main event, but all it took was a little slip of traction heading onto the main straightaway for Martin to secure the lead, and the win, on lap 13. From there, an unfortu- nate sequence of events led to Stewart losing second place to Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull KTM's Josh Hill in the exact same spot a lap later, and then with two turns to go in the race, Stewart stalled his CRF250R, handing third to points leader Davalos. Jeremy Martin recorded the second 250SX victory of his career after chasing down leader Malcolm Stewart in the East main.