What has gotten into Alex Martin?! Last year he was good as a member of CycleTrader.com/Rock River Yamaha, and even grabbed a moto win in a mud race at Budds Creek, after his brother Jeremy stalled while leading. Ah yes, Jeremy Martin. The younger Martin brother has taken the headlines with two-straight 250 National MX titles, but so far this year Alex has gone next level and now the two, both teammates on Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha, could even end up battling each other for the championship!
Alex went 2-2 at Glen Helen to take his first-ever overall victory, while Jeremy went 4-1 to take second overall. It was a Martin sweep! They headed to the press conference stage together to talk about their rides.
Racer X: Jeremy. Second overall today. How’d it go?
Jeremy: Moto one, I got off to a good start. I saw Alex up front in the lead just pulling on me. I was just like, “Damn!” I was trying to catch him and I had a good battle with Cooper [Webb] going. Unfortunately I landed on him in the rhythm section. I thought he was going to go for that smaller whoop over the big one. He checked up and I was committed and I just smashed him and went over the bars. So I got up and I just kept looking over the whole time and trying to see if my brother was still winning because I wanted him to get the moto win. And then I actually thought he won it. I found out Coop passed him last minute. So I was happy for Coop but I was like, “Darn it!”
Alex onto you. Points lead now by two points over Coop. You have four points over Jeremy and three points over Joey. But even bigger, this is your first-ever overall win. Tell us about your day. Good day?
Alex: Yeah, it was all right. [Laughs] I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. It’s my sixth or seventh season and to get the overall that far into is pretty rare, I think. I’ve really kind of been through the ringer. To come out swinging like I did last weekend at Hangtown was awesome but at the same time I just wanted to back it up. That was my thought all week was to just back it up. And it’s a long series. As happy as I am today… it’s good, but I don’t want to be too happy because I just kind of want to be real about it and it’s moto to moto, weekend to weekend. It’s going to be a long series and I want to be here at the end.
First moto what was the difference in the beginning when you were railing and then Cooper got you? Did he pick it up? Did you lose time?
Alex: I got off to a good start and got into the lead right away and started checking out and then just basically started to thinking too much. It’s not very often I’ve been in that position where I’m out front pulling away with 30,000 people cheering me on. That’s not a typical race or practice situation. So I just started thinking too much. Basically got tight. Actually this section over here before the start straight was brutal today. I had a couple close calls in that and that kind of made me tense up a little bit. Towards the end of that moto the lappers kind of started to play a part. I got caught up with a couple guys with two laps to go, and Cooper was able to get me. I think had it maybe not been the lappers and I could have rode a little bit looser I think I would have had the win, but it was kind of upsetting for sure to lead the whole time and have that happen. But it just served for motivation to go up and get it done in the second moto.
Second moto, you were third and you had to get Jessy Nelson for second to get the overall. Did you know how the overall was going? Did you realize that?
Alex: Yeah, my mechanic Trevor was putting it on the pit board, so I could kind of picked that up. Just “need to pass” that’s what it said. So I put two and two together. But I still wasn’t really sure if 2-2 would get the job done because Jeremy had a decent first moto and he won the second moto, so I wasn’t really sure. I didn’t want to go over the finish line waving the hands and fist pumping because I didn’t want to look like a fool! So I waited until I got down to the podium before I celebrated.
Did you ever think Glen Helen would be the track where, if you got an overall win, that would be the place where you would do it first? Last year you were good here but previous years had not been so good in California.
Alex: Yeah, really I’ve never been two motos here in a top three or even top five. I guess last year it was a couple of top fives, but to have both motos to be on the podium and then to have it happen at Glen Helen is pretty rare. You know what? I would say the dirt here, the way they prep it and water it, some sections actually feel a bit like Millville. It’s pretty sandy in some spots. Obviously you have the rocky, hard pack stuff in some areas but overall I like the track here.
I talked to you earlier and I know you said your dad was not here, he had a race to run at home this weekend. Have you been able to talk to your pops?
Alex: No, we don’t have service here right now so I haven’t got any text messages yet!
I know supercross didn’t go the way you wanted. You made some changes. Just talk about some of the things you’ve done differently that obviously seem to be working.
Alex: Like I said quite a few times, I made some big changes in the training department. The key trainer here is [Gareth] Swanepoel. I started working with him back in mid February. We had three months to get ready for outdoors, so there was plenty of that outdoor prep going on. That allowed me to ride a lot with Cooper and Aaron [Plessinger] and the other guys on the team. We were constantly kind of pushing each other, which is kind of what Jeremy and I have had the last couple of years. I think that’s what really helped me last year was riding with him. Just to have someone who’s close in speed, it really keeps you accountable week in and week out. Also this style of training I think really works and kind of put me in the right direction.
Were you kind of worried in supercross because you got upgraded to the full factory team and then it didn’t work out well? Were you worried that you weren’t going to turn it around? Was your confidence down or did you know eventually you would get it where you needed it to be?
Alex: This was a really, really harsh winter for me. Mentally I came in expecting a championship. I wanted to be in the hunt for the title on the West Coast and I worked really hard for that. I had some bad races. Mentally my confidence got beat down and it was really hard. That’s why I was riding good the week after Hangtown but the confidence was so beat down from supercross that it was hard to just say, “Yeah, I’m going to go and win.” That takes time to build that back up.
On the road race side of things we’ve seen the famous Hayden brothers race together, same team as well. I know that over the years they’ve had conversations that if they’re in contention for a race win or even a championship that there’s a distinction between what happens on the race track and you leave it there, and what happens at home. Have you guys ever had a conversation about a situation where you’re looking at a results sheet or something on the track saying, “Dude, I love you, but tough luck.” Has that ever happened between the two of you guys?
Jeremy: Well, we haven’t really been in that situation yet. Obviously now it is a little bit different. But I think at the end of the day we’re family. We all take racing seriously and what happens on the track happens on the track. But when we leave we’re family. I think that’s the most important thing. I’m damn proud of how Alex did today. I won the second moto, he got the overall and he’s the red plate leader, so that’s pretty exciting. Hopefully mom and dad are proud and they’re itching to probably talk to us once our phones get service.
Alex: We were actually talking about that last weekend. I got on the podium and he didn’t and had kind of an off-weekend. When I passed him in the second moto he was like, “At least one Martin’s up on the podium!” [Laughs] Like he said, it’s family. I’m still going to cook dinner for him. I’m definitely not going to take him out. I don’t want to stay bitter or angry. That’s not my wish for anyone, especially my brother.
Jeremy, I know you’ve been under the weather. Are you feeling better? Do you think you’ll be able to do some riding this week in-between here and Colorado?
Jeremy: I’m starting to feel better. A little bit congested today still. I’m just going to go home, get a good night’s sleep, enjoy Sunday, and then keep it light next week and then go into Colorado. I like California but I’ve been out here for a while, we both have. So Alex and I are more than excited to go home to Minnesota for training and to Colorado for the race, so I’m just like a kid in a candy shop. We can’t wait to be on that flight and get home.