Spring Creek
Millville, MN
With steep uphills, sweeping corners, sand whoops and a creek of the same name for fans to cool off in, Spring Creek MX Park is Minnesota’s premier Motocross facility. The track’s hometown, Millville, Minnesota, has strong Swedish heritage and a population of fewer than 200 people. The biggest event of the year for this Zumbro River hamlet is the annual Pro Motocross, which has run uninterrupted since 1983.
Fast Facts
Jeremy McGrath entered the 1996 Spring Creek Pro Motocross (round 10 of 13) with a 47-point lead but sprained his left foot (and voice box!) in Friday’s practice session, attempting a double up to a tabletop no other rider even considered. McGrath raced on ‘damage control’, finishing 9-7 for 6th overall.
Jeff Emig capitalized, winning his third overall of the season with a 1-1 and leading a Kawasaki sweep with teammate Ryan Hughes (2-2) and Great Western Bank’s Phil Lawrence (5-3) completing the podium.
A notorious professional debut occurred at Spring Creek in 2004, with 16-year-old Mike Alessi joining the pro ranks… in the 450 class! Complete with the bold phrase t-shirts that defined the race (“Believe the Hype”) Alessi’s arrival was both hyped and dreaded, as many of the top stars saw Alessi’s prediction of a top five or podium in his first career race as braggadocious and arrogant.
Alessi’s day can be summed up with several collisions and 27-25 scores for 30th overall. Ricky Carmichael continued his march toward a second perfect season. Carmichael was asked about Alessi in the press conference: “I got tired of everybody asking me about this guy.”
Ricky Carmichael lapped the ENTIRE field. A monsoon-like storm delayed the start of the second 450 moto, which eventually ran through the continued downpour. Carmichael pulled the holeshot and broke away from all but James Stewart.
Stewart, Chad Reed, and many others became buried or stalled out at the bottom of hills while Carmichael continued to push forward. Yamaha’s David Vuillemin, broke free take over second and, although Vuillemin got lapped in second place, he never got much credit for staying in the race and lapping through 15th place himself.
Chad Reed was a contender in the 2011 Pro Motocross championship and entered round 9 with a 21 point lead. Reed won moto one and got out front again in moto two when he hit the “Chadapult”. Reed’s Honda swapped on the face of a massive uphill double and sent his body rolling down the windows through the air. Somehow, he got up, waived off medical and finished the race in 14th, keeping the points lead in one of the greatest displays of heart and resilience.
Ryan Dungey won the overall and Reed’s residual effects were a torn groin and a shoulder injury that eroded his ability to fight for the title.
Venue
Spring Creek MX Park is owned and operated by John & Greta Martin. In the mid-1980s, they bought the 56 acres from Perry Hendricks when John’s professional off road racing career slowed down. The Martins developed the area into a nearly 500 acre Motocross haven. Spring Creek hasn’t missed a season of Pro Motocross since its first in 1983.
The venue is also the stomping grounds for John and Greta’s boys, two-time 250MX champion Jeremy Martin (a 3-time Spring Creek winner), and Alex Martin, who earned five podium finishes here in the 250MX class.
The interactive table below details the all-time Spring Creek leaders. Who has the most starts, wins, podiums and points. Filter by class. On mobile, slide left to access more columns.
All-Time Leaders
Who won Spring Creek, in what year and what round was the race? Winner history makes that easy to see. Tap ‘additional stats’ to see more info
Winner History
Full race results from each Spring Creek Pro Motocross. Tap ‘additional stats’ to see position changes and qualifying ranking