Motocross: Jeremy Martin secures first career 250 Class championship on muddy Indiana track

By Aug 17, 2014, 7:15 PM EDT
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On any other day, a season-worst 15th-place moto finish for Jeremy Martin may have left the young rider feeling seriously disappointed.

Not Saturday though. Martin had plenty of reason to celebrate after officially clinching the 250 Class title in the 2014 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.

Thanks to some heavy rain on Saturday morning that came in time for the first practice session at the Thor Indiana National, the Ironman Raceway track was turned into a wet, sloppy, muddy mess. Although the rain held off once the racing got underway, the damage had already been done. Lap times were slow. Several riders found themselves stuck in the mud and struggled to get their bikes free. Riding behind someone else meant getting roosted in the face with mud, and as a result, some riders were forced to toss their goggles and pull into the mechanic’s area to get a new pair.

Despite the unpredictable conditions, Martin didn’t have much issue navigating the track in the first 250 Class moto. The Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha rider finished second behind Jessy Nelson, and thanks to poor outings from the two riders still mathematically alive in the title race – Blake Baggett and Cooper Webb – Martin was able to lock up the title with three motos still left in the season.

A 15th-place finish in Moto 2 left Martin off the overall podium for the day, but after the conclusion of the race, he was presented with the #1 plate in honor of his championship. The title is the first of Martin’s career, and he accomplished it in just his second full season of professional racing.

“To be able to have the number one plate, I’ve been thinking of how good it would feel to hear Kevin [Crowther] from the AMA to be passing on the number one plate to me and this is the greatest moment of my life,” Martin said after receiving the plate.

Martin also acknowledged the fans that have been supporting him throughout the season.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” he said, “I heard the fans cheering me on the whole time out there, and that was the motivation I needed. You guys [the fans] have been cheering me on all year, and you don’t know how much that means to me.”

The overall victory in Indiana went to Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin, who placed third in Moto 1 and then won Moto 2. After starting the year off slow as he recovered from ACL surgery, Musquin is on fire lately, with victories at two of the last three rounds.

Joey Savatgy (4-3 moto finishes) had his best race ever and finished second overall. Jessy Nelson – whose Moto 1 victory was the first of his career – earned the final spot on the overall podium despite an eighth-place finish in the second moto.

Indiana 250 Class Overall Results
1. Marvin Musquin (3-1)
2. Joey Savatgy (4-3)
3. Jessy Nelson (1-8)
4. Christophe Pourcel (9-2)
5. Cooper Webb (6-5)
6. Dean Wilson (8-6)
7. Alex Martin (7-7)
8. Jeremy Martin (2-15)
9. Jason Anderson (5-10)
10. Blake Baggett (14-4)
*Moto 1 and Moto 2 results in parenthesis

Will Power shows Flavor Flav what time it is in IndyCar: ‘This is the highlight of the weekend’

By Jun 4, 2023, 11:00 PM EDT
Will Power Flavor Flav
Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
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DETROIT – When Flavor Flav unexpectedly showed up in Team Penske’s pits for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix weekend, Will Power knew what time it was.

So the defending NTT IndyCar Series champion dropped it on the man who made oversized clocks as fashion accessories famous.

And he used the kind of wordplay that was the pride of Public Enemy (the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rap group led by Chuck D with Flavor Flav as loyal sidekick).

“I said to Flavor Flav, ‘You know, people today are going to have to ‘Fight the Power,’ ” Power said with a broad smirk, referencing one of Public Enemy’s most memorable and strident anthems. “And it was true! They had to ‘Fight the Power.’ ”

With a second place in Detroit, the No. 12 Dallara-Chevy driver earned his best finish since last September and impressed a musical hero who apparently attended his first IndyCar race this weekend and promptly fell in love with the sport.

After being interviewed by NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee during the Peacock qualifying broadcast Saturday, Flavor Flav made the rounds. He met with Roger Penske in Team Penske’s at-track headquarters and also ran into Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (who was at the track Saturday).

“I have a great picture of Roger Penske, the governor and Flavor Flav,” Detroit Grand Prix chairman Bud Denker said. “It’s a great one. I’ll cherish that one for a long time. It’s pretty precious.”

With the Detroit GP holding nightly free concerts in Hart Plaza inside the race course, Flav made an impromptu appearance to freestyle at Big Boi’s show Friday before also showing up during Steve Aoki’s Saturday night set.

He then rode with Power and his wife, Liz, in a pickup truck around the 1.645-mile street course during driver introductions Sunday morning.

Flav was wearing a red No. 12 Will Power shirt that the defending series champion believes was purchased at a track merchandise trailer.

“That is the highlight of the weekend,” he said. “Flavor Flav was wearing my shirt, man.”

It was a dream come true for the two-time IndyCar champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner. Power, 42, grew up listening to Public Enemy with his buddies in Toowoomba, Australia, and they went nuts when he posted photos with Flavor Flav to his personal Facebook page.

“My friends are like, ‘Dude, you should just quit racing now. You have made it to the top,’ ” Power said. “We all listened to Public Enemy, and they would never believe that I actually would be hanging out with Flavor Flav. That is nuts. I’ll have to go Vegas to hang out with him. Maybe we’ll do a rap together.”

“Yeeaaah, boy!” third-place finisher Felix Rosenqvist, who apparently gave “It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back” a few spins while growing up in Sweden, chimed in during the postrace news conference.

The only disappointment for Power was coming up 1.1843 seconds short of beating Alex Palou.

Flav had promised to celebrate on the podium if Power had won the race.

“He is the most positive dude you will ever meet,” Power said. “Pretty cool experience. Pretty cool to put it on your personal Facebook.

“All your friends that you went to school with, they’re like, ‘Man this dude is big-time, he’s hanging out with Flavor Flav. ‘I sat next to Ice-T at dinner. I have also had dinner with Slash from Guns N’ Roses. I wish I got videos of those ones as well so I could put it on the personal Facebook

“No one cares about race cars or that I won the Indy 500. It’s like, ‘You had dinner with Slash? You know Flavor Flav?’ Yeah!”

Power already has in mind some future musical guests he’d like to meet, starting with another of Detroit’s own.

“I’m more of a ’90s rap guy, but if I met Eminem, that would also be epic,” Power said. “Ice Cube’s the one, man. If I could meet Ice Cube or Snoop Dogg in Long Beach. Why doesn’t someone bring them to Long Beach? Maybe they should have an Ice Cube day. That would be dope.”