Alex was surrounded by Monster Girls for the first time in his career in Oakland. Photo by: Todd Gutierrez

Every year during the Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, we see some breakthrough performances in the 250SX Regional Championships. At the front of the pack in the west, Jessy Nelson and Cooper Webb have garnered all the breakout attention while Aaron Plessinger has been the standout rookie, but last weekend, a series veteran stepped out of the shadows and into the bright lights of the podium for the first time in his career: CycleTrader.com/Rock River/Yamaha’s Alex Martin.

Since turning pro way back in 2008, Alex has been hovering around the top-ten and has always been on the brink of stepping up into the top-five group. Up until last weekend in Oakland, though, the #31’s best finish had been a sixth. And that is what makes his Oakland SX podium so impressive. You don’t often see a guy wait seven years to get his first podium, so when you do, it’s impressive.

All year Alex has looked like a different rider in supercross, and in Oakland, it all just came together. The Millville, Minnesota native qualified with the ninth fastest lap in the day qualifiers, but as the soft dirt in Oakland rutted up and progressively got more technical, Alex just kept getting faster. He finished third in his heat race—with the 4th fastest lap-time of all the heats—and later cashed in a great gate pick for a solid start and a third place finish in the main event.

After Alex’s best-ever main event finish, we caught up with him in the pits to talk about his day. You can read what the soft spoken Yamaha rider had to say in the “Race Rewind” interview below.

Martin #31 kept Stewart #34 close and even made a run at him for the lead. Photo by: Todd Gutierrez
Martin #31 kept Stewart #34 close and even made a run at him for the lead. Photo by: Todd Gutierrez

What a great night for you, Alex. Obviously it was a great ending with your first-ever podium in the main, and you started with a solid third in the heat race.

Yeah, it was kind of like a dream scenario really. Had a great heat race and qualified right into the main with a great gate pick. Got an awesome start in the main. I’ve had great starts in the heat races for years, but I never seem to put it all together for the main event. So to get up to second and that was great.

 

Yeah, and it wasn’t like you started in second, but you quickly moved up there.

Yeah, between Zach Bell and those guys I was trying to avoid the carnage—it was kind of crazy there for the first couple of laps. Actually, once I got through all that, I just tried staying with Malcolm [Stewart]. He was setting a fast pace for sure and I just tried to stay on him. There was a triple over there by the finish line that he wasn’t doing and it allowed me to get up on him each lap, so that was nice. I really just tried to not let up in the middle of the race. I figured if I let up then it was going to cost me the last couple laps. So I just stayed down, stayed focused, and it’s just so cool to get up on the box.

 

At any point did the achievement of your first-ever podium begin to sink in late in the race? Did you tighten up at all?

It really didn’t begin to sink in until I crossed the line honestly. I just tried not to think about money or anything. (laughs) I was just in the moment.

 

You are already known for being a hard worker so we know you’ve worked hard for this, but is there anything you’ve changed coming into 2015? You have looked like a different rider in supercross.

Yeah, I think the Cycle Trader team has gotten some great motors from Yamaha—who’s helping us out—and ENZO Suspension. It’s just a great bike package this year. I felt really comfortable on the bike during the off-season, got some good training time in with my brother Jeremy [Martin] in California and all the pieces just came together tonight.

Because Martin spent most of his career in the East, the ruts in Oakland suited him well. Photo by: Todd Gutierrez
Because Martin spent most of his career in the East, the ruts in Oakland suited him well. Photo by: Todd Gutierrez

Like you said, at one point during the main event you were closing on Malcolm. Did you think you might be able to not only get your first-ever podium, but actually get your first win instead?

Oh yeah, for sure. There was a good three or four laps there were I was trying to set up to get him because I was real close to him, but I’ll take the third. (laughs)

 

Were you spotting [Cooper] Webb as he was coming for you late in the race? Because, I talked to Cooper and he actually brought up how pumped he was to see you so far up there late in the main event.

Yeah, I could hear him coming up, but I really didn’t know who it was. I was just hoping it wasn’t [Tyler] Bowers. (laughs)

 

So Bowers is that guy you try to keep tabs on where he’s at? (laughs)

Oh, for sure.

 

Alright, we know that the podium is checked off the bucket list. What are your thoughts or goals now heading back to Anaheim next weekend?

We’ll just keep the ball rolling. We had a great night and my confidence is at an all-time high right now. So we’ll just try to keep the good things in check and avoid all the negative.

 

Well, thanks for talking to us, and congrats.

Thank you.

Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.