And if you are at the track today, there will be a Racer X/PulpMX Live Show this evening right there at Washougal MX Park, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. local time. Steve Matthes, Jason Weigandt, and Jason Thomas will host the event, with several special guests. If you have a ticket to get into the track, you do not need anything else to come check out the live show!

But back to Spring Creek for a moment. It has been rough going for Jeremy Martin for several years now, especially after the brutal back injury he sustained when he crashed hard on the first lap of the second moto at the 2018 Muddy Creek National in Tennessee. That cost the then-GEICO Honda rider almost two full seasons. He did get back to winning some in 2020, finishing second to Dylan Ferrandis in the final 250 Pro Motocross rankings, and then he won three rounds in 2021 and even had the points lead for a while before injuring his wrist (this was Martin's second go-around with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing). The last race that Martin won was the '21 Budds Creek National, with former Honda teammate Jett Lawrence second. Since then, there have been lots of injuries, including a badly broken arm in the first turn at Hangtown in '23 (I burned my leg trying to pick his bike up and get it off the track) and a heavy concussion at the '24 Detroit SX while he was riding for the Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha team. And when he started this summer back with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing for a third time, his first four motos were downright miserable. The former two-time champion went 20-20 at the Fox Raceway opener and then crashed out of Hangtown. He then parked it and decided to wait and just get ready to retire with one last race at his home track.

Martin's "Millville Miracle," as it's already being called, must rate as one of the all-time exits in the sport. Way up there. We've seen several last-race victories in the past, though in many cases the rider does not know at the time that it's his last race. Jason Weigandt updated an old list we had come up with back in 2011, adding J-Mart's emotional second-moto victory last weekend.

So, congratulations to Jeremy Martin for reaching the finish line of his career, on his own terms, in front of his home crowd, going out like a lion. Well done, J-Mart!

Check out some photos by Alec Gaut.

And if you're local to us here in Morgantown, come out to the Primanti's watch party tomorrow (Saturday) at the Primanti's in Morgantown, West, Virginia. Washougal National watch party: July 19, 3 p.m. ET. Address is 402 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive.

Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)

Washougal is a tricky one. Most riders enjoy the visit to the Pacific Northwest, but the track—that's a different story. Qualifying practice can be fun and was especially enjoyable on Saturday with nothing to prove. The motos, though, offer a complicated track with treachery. The traction wanes every second the day grows longer. It goes from a bit muddy to somewhat tacky, to hard and slippery, to even harder with water added to it. Technique and mid-corner roll speed become more critical by the lap. It's one of the main reasons that Ryan Dungey was able to beat Ryan Villopoto here more often than expected. Dungey's world-class corner speed worked well with the fickle Washougal surface.

The second tricky aspect of Washougal is the shadows. The tree canopy that envelopes much of the Washougal layout is a beautiful sight to behold. For racing, though, it creates a tough dynamic. The contrast of bright sun to seemingly pitch-black darkness is very difficult for riders' eyes to immediately manage. Walk into a dark room without any time to transition, and you'll understand the lack of vision that riders experience. Now speed that up to 30 mph or so and sprinkle in downhill ruts and bumps to navigate. The amount of guessing and blind faith that riders must utilize at Washougal is unrivaled on the calendar. If you happen to see a rider who appears to be coasting into a tree-covered section, it's very likely that they can't see yet and are guarding against the unexpected. If we get a blue skies day, fans will celebrate, but riders are up against one of the toughest asks of the year. The transition will be at its maximum, as bright-as-can-be sections lead into sun-blocked areas with pitch-black dirt to boot. The section before the infamous whoops is the worst of this, completely covered by trees, and the dirt is impossibly dark. The downhill goes from bright to dark, and riders guess as to where the bumps and corner-entry ruts are. The switchbacks are more of a touch-and-go scenario than high-intensity racing. Once riders get to the whoops, the lights come back on and all is well.

Washougal is an awesome facility and bucket list venue, but for the riders, it's one to respect and approach with caution.

The Injury Bug, Super-Sized (DC)

The hits just seemed to keep on coming this week as we headed into the dog days of summer. The mystery surrounding Jason Anderson’s absences deepened as Kawasaki announced that he would sit out Spring Creek for health reasons, followed by another announcement that he’s shutting it down for the rest of the SMX season, which effectively means his time in green is finished. Red Bull KTM’s Aaron Plessinger tried to go in Spring Creek after dropping out of RedBud the week before with some kind of heat exhaustion. AP7 just wasn’t the same and ended up pulling out again before the first moto was over. He posted a video explaining what's happening right now and why he could not finish the first moto at Spring Creek and is missing Washougal as well:

His Red Bull KTM teammate Tom Vialle crashed at Spring Creek in the second moto, and the team announced that he too will miss Washougal as a result. We can expect to see both Aaron and Tom again as soon as the Ironman National in early August. The same goes for the third member of the team that’s out, Julien Beaumer. He missed the last two rounds after a big crash at High Point but is expected back for Ironman.

The Incredible Story Behind Martin’s Incredible Story (Jason Weigandt)

When we found Jeremy Martin post-race at Millville following one of the most Hollywood storybook endings of a sports career, we wanted to talk about Hollywood storybook endings. I wanted to hear Jeremy talk about adrenaline and heart and emotion overcoming everything else. Look, Jeremy has barely even raced over the last few years; there’s no way he should be as polished and dialed as kids who are doing this drill every Saturday still. Yet, as much as I wanted this to only be about the human, Jeremy indicated that this was indeed still somewhat about the bike. I asked why this went so much better than his comeback attempts at the first two rounds. He talked about getting some old suspension settings, going back to his old riding style, and getting a “dummy proof” start map. Martin, for the two weeks, was back in Florida to prepare for this race, was still a racer, still working on technique and bike settings.

This one got wilder, though. Yeah, more old-school suspension settings and an old-school riding style (sitting down more entering the turns, instead of today’s stand-up technique). But can you believe that somehow Martin took a shock spring off the old championship bike he had at his house and put it on the race bike!? The team denied this to us after the race, but I’m pretty sure that’s the team saying the correct corporate thing and Martin, a few Michelob Ultras deep in celebration, letting the truth be known.

Then, finally, I was able to drag out the part about heart.

“I looked back, and I saw Danger Boy Deegan back there. I was in the Danger Zone,” he said. “I'm just like, dude, this is the last five laps of your life. I raced Leadville, a 100-mile mountain bike race, last year. I was like, ‘I'm sorry, Deegs, I'm going for this thing. I'll die for this thing. I'll bleed for it.'"

Then Jeremy also thanked the fans, as the roar around Millville kept him going. Yes, Jeremy is incredibly fit right now because he’s still a mega trainer, but 30-plus-two of on-bike fitness in the second moto of a national is different. We know this. It was that roar and his own inner ability to suffer that got him to the finish. Yeah, technique, bike settings, and start maps got him up front, but only that crowd and that emotion got him to the finish. We might not ever see a better story than that.

As DC mentioned, be sure to check out The List we posted with great walk-off rides, plus our whole Best Post Race Show Ever with Jeremy.

The Ducati Project (DC)

If you were following the mid-summer debut of the Ducati Desmo450 MX in the still-very-capable hands of nine-time FIM Motocross World Champion Antonio Cairoli, you already know that he’s not racing Washougal this week, as the team had only planned to do two rounds. Cairoli looked good on the bike, but he did have some bad luck with an electrical snafu early in the second moto at RedBud after a solid ninth in the first moto. Then, at Spring Creek, he crashed off the start in the first moto, and the bike ended up on top of him, the pipe burning his left butt cheek pretty good. Fortunately for Cairoli, a fan of his, #35 Marshal Weltin, was right there to help. In a very cool sportsmanship move, Weltin stopped his own race, dropped his bike, and helped Tony out, later telling Weege in the Best Post-Race Show Ever that Cairoli is his all-time favorite rider. Marshal could have added “and one of the all-time toughest too,” as Cairoli got himself sorted and jumped back into the race, despite his exposed burn and all of that sand grinding on it. Cairoli went from dead last to 23rd, passing 17 riders and tying him with the French 250 rider Scotty Verhaege for the Hard Charger Award on the day. In the second moto, Cairoli finished tenth.

All in all, the debut of the latest new OEM to enter SMX was good enough for the Italians to get a good idea of where they will be when they return with a full effort in 2026. While they may have had an unlucky problem in RedBud and Cairoli a painful crash in Spring Creek, the bike looked way, way ahead of where some other first-timers did in the past (think Cannondale, not Triumph). They laid some groundwork in the paddock too, as one or two soon-to-be free agents quietly checked out the 450. Simply having a rider of Cairoli’s stature involved in the debut here in America was a signal that Ducati Corse means business in SMX.

FLY 2026 (Matthes)

I went to PIR to watch some dirt bike racing and also hang out with the Fly Racing guys, who were on hand to support the race and debut the 2026 gear line. Not a lot of technical differences, but some new designs and colors to check out. It's available now at your local dealer and on the Fly Racing website as well. Fly has really stepped it up with rider signings for 2025; they won their first-ever 450SX title with Cooper Webb, they lead the MX2 class in MXGP with Simon Langenfelder, and Lucas Coenen is closing in on the points lead in MXGP. If those two Euro guys can get it done, wow, what a year 2025 will be for Fly Racing, right?

I did some podcasts from the event, and the one I did with Trey Canard was the most interesting to me. Canard talked about his work with the race team, production bike stuff, watching Jett Lawrence up close, why he likes testing on the 250, his podcast, and much more. Listening to Trey talk about the ins and outs of testing, trying to make the riders happy, and more was super interesting to me. You can listen to his interview, plus those with Damon Bradshaw, Weston Peick, and Max Steffens here.

HRC HOLESHOT CONTEST (Matthes)

So, by the time you read this, we might know how I did against JT in the Honda HRC Holeshot Contest. We're doing a Racer X video on this, so stay tuned to see all the hijinks behind it. I don't know if I'll beat JT, who will be on a production CRF450R, while I'll be on Hunter Lawrence's full HRC bike. My contention is that Honda's got something figured out on their factory bikes (but most of this is all on the Lawrence brothers, let's make that clear!) and that I, on a factory bike, can beat an ex-pro who's got a production ECU, transmission, start maps, stock motor, etc. I guess we'll see! One thing's for sure: Honda sure is cool for letting us do this (it all started on a PulpMX Show a year ago), Lars Lindstrom (HRC manager) might get fired once Japan finds out about this, and yeah, Hunter's gonna need a new clutch for the national! There are only two outcomes here: one is I look super dumb (not an unusual thing), or I shock the world and show everyone that all they need to win races is a full factory Honda HRC450R!

Mikkel Haarup (Keefer)

I have the pleasure of riding at the Triumph facility from time to time (since I am here in Georgia) and get to watch this dude ride. Mikkel Haarup is a great human, fun to talk to, and rides the bike very fluidly. His tall/bigger stature is not the best for the 250 class, but the Triumph has a great power plant, so it can pull his big frame around well. A fourth overall last weekend was a great ride for the likable Viking, and I think he will podium before the season ends. I think this weekend at Washougal can be a great track for Mikkel, as his smooth style could fit perfectly with the slippery conditions of the PNW.

Also, shout out to the whole Triumph team for getting into the top ten this weekend! It's been an up-and-down season for the team, with mostly ups, but getting four guys into the top ten is very impressive: Mikkel was fourth, Austin Forkner eighth, Jalek Swoll ninth, and Jordon Smith tenth. When speaking with Mikkel, he said that Millville was one of his favorite tracks so far and that he loved how they prepped before each race, something he didn’t get a lot of in MXGPs. We talked a little about his bike setup, and he said he loves a low rear compared to the others on the team and prefers more movement in the suspension as well, which is a common theme among GP riders. What is different is that the team is catering to what he likes and isn’t trying to make a bike they think he needs. Instead, Mikkel is looking for a specific type of feel, and the team tries to give him that. So far, so good, as Haarup is improving with each race, and I think if we see him with a top three start, we will see him run up front and keep that podium speed going.

MXGP Update (DC)

After a two-week break, the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP) was back up and running in Finland, and both Lucas Coenen and Kay de Wolf got back up to speed. Each went 1-1, though neither is in the points lead right now, as Kawasaki's Romain Febvre leads Coenen in MXGP by 15 points, and Red Bull KTM's Simon Längenfelder leads MX2 by 43 points over his teammate Andrea Adamo, with de Wolf another five back. The series takes another weekend off, then heads to Loket in the Czech Republic, where the pre-entry lists show 40 riders in each class. That's good news because Finland did not have great optics, with just 17 riders in the second MX2 moto and 21 starting the second MXGP race. Finland is not a flyaway race for the FIM Motocross World Championship, but it is something like a 27-hour drive from Lommel, Belgium, which is pretty much the epicenter of the MXGP rider world, making it an expensive drive if you're not a factory-level team rider.

There's also been a lot of talk about possible team changes. Dialed-in Lewis Phillips of Vital MX says he has heard from a very good source that multi-time world champ Tim Gajser is leaving Honda for Yamaha after 10 years with the Red Riders. I've personally heard that Jeffrey Herlings may be talking to Ducati, and of course, we've all heard that Tom Vialle may be headed home for a Honda ride after two 250SX titles here in the U.S. with KTM (and before that, two MX2 world titles). The MXGP silly season will be every bit as interesting as ours.

Also, last weekend we saw Lucas Coenen do his version of Aura Farming dancing after he won the MXGP in Finland, as well as Marc Marquez do it after he won the German MotoGP at the Sachsenring, plus some car racers here and there. I'm thinking we will be seeing a lot of it at Loretta Lynn's as winners come off the track. Jett Lawrence was ahead of the curve on this one!

Spring Creek Spoils (DC)

To the winners go the spoils, and in this case, the whole Spring Creek National was a big winner. The track was epic, the place packed with fans, everyone got to see Jeremy Martin go out like a lion, and they also saw another set of overall wins for series points leaders Haiden Deegan and the still-unbeaten (in overalls anyway) Jett Lawrence, though Jett did lose a moto to big brother Hunter. Some of the main backers of the riders mentioned above went to Cycle News with a fresh batch of wins ads from Yoshimura (for Jett), Yamaha (for Haiden), and Dunlop (for both). Additionally, there were a couple of farewell send-off ads for J-Mart, who really stole the show at his home race. Well done, FMF and Yamaha.

Team USA MX Master Kids (DC)

We told you about Team USA Junior at the muddy FIM Junior World Cup a couple of weeks ago in France. There is also a Team USA for young riders that participated in the 23rd Annual MX Master Kids race, which is also held in France. This time, the Americans were victorious, with three individual class titles and the overall victory ahead of a French/Belgian delegation as well as Slovenia, which is the home country of multi-time MXGP World Champion Tim Gajser.

Our French colleague Mathias Brunner of Moto Verte sent us a few photos from his report, which you can read here.

Summing it up in English, after several years of being absent from the event, the U.S. team returned and won the event, which has featured plenty of rising stars over the years, including current MXGP points leader Romain Febvre, Jeffrey Herlings, Ken Roczen, Austin Forkner, Christophe Pourcel, Christian Craig, Aaron Plessinger, Dylan Ferrandis, Jorge Prado, Ryder DiFrancesco, Casey Cochran, and more.

Over 450 participants from 26 different countries met last weekend in Commercy, which is in the east of France. The Americans won a 50cc division with Hudson Bott, the 85cc (12-14 years old) with Chance Ulberg, and the Open (22-and-under) with Jackson Gray. Team USA also had strong podium finishes by River Rice (50cc), Lloyd Boone (65cc, 7-9), Jax Baker (65cc, 10-11), Justin Gammage (125cc, 13-18), and Riley Busse (Open, 19-and-under). Congratulations to all of the kids and their families who represented Team USA at the 2025 MX Master Kids in France.

Hey, Watch It!

 Daniel Rogerson's IG Clip of Jeremy Martin's start

Weege's post Spring Creek Show, featuring the good samaritan Marshal Weltin as well as Chad Reed discussing how and why he's working with Jorge Prado:

This is Lawrence is it's usual great show from Spring Creek:

James Stewart and Clinton Fowler teamed up to preview Washougal with The Inside Line: