Round 7 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship takes the series to Spring Creek MX Park, located in the beautiful countryside a half-hour north of Rochester, Minnesota.
Since 1987, the track has been owned and operated by John and Greta Martin, whose son Alex races professionally for the Eleven 10 Mods team. Their other son, Jeremy Martin, is making quite the name for himself in the amateur ranks and will make his pro debut later this season at Southwick. John himself was the AMA National Hare Scramble Champion in 1985. The Martin family’s passion and love for the sport shows through in how great the track is every year, not only for the pro Nationals, but for the amateur races as well.
Spring Creek has 250 feet of elevation with huge sand whoops and big jumps, the most famous of which is known as the “Holy Schmidt.” The jump is named after Minnesota native Donny Schmidt, world and AMA national champion. Donny passed away at age 30 of a rare blood disease, but his legend lives on at the track and in the community.
Fans can also enjoy the winding creek that runs between the track and pro paddock, providing the perfect spot to cool off.
This track has seen many great battles and feats that will be etched in the history books forever. In 2006, Mother Nature decided to downpour and leave the track a muddy mess. Ricky Carmichael then plowed through the mud and lapped the entire field, including James Stewart and Chad Reed. Spring Creek was also the track at which a pair of motocross legends recorded their final career wins – Bob Hannah in 1985 and Jeff Emig in 1998.
Although Blake Baggett still has the red plate, the GEICO Honda team is giving him a run for his money this year. Justin Barcia was very disappointed he couldn’t beat Baggett last weekend and will be coming to the line with only one thing on his mind - taking home the win.
In the 450 class, we may see another runaway win for Ryan Dungey, who has always done well at his hometown track. He grew up racing here as an amateur and has put on solid performances year after year in his pro career as well. The Dungey fans will be out in droves to cheer him on.
Last week James Stewart made his return, but clearly didn’t have what it takes to run with the series points leader yet. Will Stewart be able to get himself back up front, can someone else in the top 5 rummage something together and chase down what looks like to be an unbeatable Dungey, or will the Red Bull KTM rider make it 5 in a row?
