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He never said he wanted to dethrone MC.
Jett is going to have to win a lot more races indoors to compare to Stew. At this point, I don't think he catches Stew or Eli for total SX wins. This sport isn't easy and all anyone talks about is how they think Jett will retire earlier than the riders now due to being so wealthy and interested in doing other things. I certainly hope he hangs on into his 30s like the guys are doing now, but even making 50 wins in SX is something only a few have done.
Fanboy says what?
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Buckwheat's opinion on Showtime's record:
https://motocrossactionmag.com/the-famous-bob-hannah-interview-that-got-everyone-up-in-arms/
“Jeremy is undoubtedly the greatest Supercross rider there ever has been and probably ever will be. He picked a good time to win, because he’s racing against a bunch of morons (not to take anything away from him). Johnson, Stanton, Bailey and myself on our best day couldn’t beat Jeremy McGrath in Supercross. I’ll bet $10 grand nobody can beat his record in the next ten years. If I find somebody who wants that bet, I’ll put the money in escrow. I don’t think it’ll happen. McGrath has more wins than Rick Johnson and me put together, and I know how hard it was for me to get what I got. I’ll bet Johnson will tell you it was hard to get what he got. To win twice as many? I don’t care who you are, you worked hard for that. But, it is a weak field out there.”
If I remember right that's was said before he had even raced a 450 in SX...many on here have forgotten not only what was said but when it was said....I think they also have forgotten the number of threads that were started about it and the comments they made defending and in many cases were predicting it would happen...but now they are trying to say he never said it....you can't make this shit up...
Riding a dirtbike 3-4 days a week through the week and racing the weekends will keep McGraths record secure for as long as the sport is alive.
If memory serves, McGrath rode once during a week throughout the supercross season.....
Every single time you throw a leg over the bike your chance of injury rises. If your chances of getting injured are triple that of the record holder, the chances of surpassing said record holder goes down exponentially.
So our guys should train less, go to Havasu, party and hang with chicks more… I like it
@-MAVERICK- thoughts?
I'm trying to understand if you are implying that the text you highlighted where it literally doesn't say the word dethrone, meant that Jett said he wanted to dethrone McGrath.
Yes?
I think he'll be more like RV..
Try again, Ringo.
All he said was that he's setting himself a goal, a difficult one. He didn't make or state a prediction.
Goal: The result or achievement toward which effort is directed.
Prediction: To declare or tell in advance; prophesy; foretell.
What Jett said rephrased.
Goal: This is what I’m aiming for, even though it’s tough.
Prediction: This is what I’m going to do. I expect to achieve it.
If you can't tell the difference between the two, that's on you.
Again, he never said "I'll beat McGrath's record."
You guys are intentionally being obtuse on this. It’s ok to say he was a touch over his skis on this.
Why does Jett need you to rephrase his own words for him?
And you are being disingenuous.
And as I have stated when this first happened...what 2 years ago or something now??? I thought he was shooting too high too early and was unlikely to do it. But as his parents have said multiple times in the past...Jett has no filter and tends to spew shit without thinking just like some people thrive on drama.
The ESPN article doesn't provide any context to how the interviewer got Jett to give that answer. Like most articles, the specific questions or substance on how they got to that part of the conversation aren't shown. For all we know, the interviewer could've been on the subject of all time greats or straight up asked how he feels about McGrath's record. Be that as it may, none of it matters because there's nothing wrong with his response.
All Jett said was that McGrath's record was a goal for him to stay motivated, that's it. People ignored how modest and humble he was during interviews/press conferences and chose to blow a harmless sentence of his way out of proportion. Granted the goal is a tad ambitious, but Jett had recently become the third rider ever to record a perfect season (first as a rookie) less than a month at the time of the article, then went on to beat the newly crowned SX champion in the SMX showdown days after the article was published. I don't think anyone can fault him for dreaming big, considering he was in the process of becoming one of the best riders in the world, all at the age of (then) 20.
I vaguely recall hearing the clip when he commented on MCs record. I didn’t get the impression he was being cocky or arrogant, but what if he was? So what? Why does it offend people if a standout competitive athlete talks a little trash? Let him.
This thread started out good and then took a turn for the worst.
I still can’t believe people are hung up on this 😂
Pit Row
No one is going to beat MC's record.
If it wasn't for WADA, James would've had more championships. Sad that "agency" was allowed into our sport and given the "answer to no one" authority it had over our sport, yet within a short time, was kicked back out of the sport. JS7's overall career in SX & MX was never realized. This isn't an argument that James shouldn't have been punished for adderal, or not following procedures for a TUE. My argument for James is his total ban punishment for over at least a year and a half? was excessive. We as fans got ripped on his career, his rides, his wins, and championships
For people who apparently have reading comprehension issues.
You originally wrote:
"Having lofty goals is one thing. Publicly telling the sport you want to dethrone The King at 20 is another."
You proved my point.
You're acknowledging that having a goal and publicly declaring he’ll dethrone the king are two different things. He said it's a goal (and even qualified it as difficult), not a guarantee.
That’s the difference.
You're trying to frame what Jett said into the second category, but it doesn't match what he said, at all.
Jett said:
"A realistic goal – it will be hard to do – is to beat McGrath's Supercross wins record."
Jett did not say:
"I’m going to dethrone McGrath”
“I’m going to beat his record”
“Watch me take his crown”
That puts him in the first category (goal). You're trying to box him into the second category, but he didn't say those words.
Just an innocent quote that got blown out of proportion....Apparently I'm not the only one who has reading comprehension issues as many of the people that are downplaying his quote in this thread were also the ones that started threads in here claiming he was going to beat MC's record...FFS we even had win countdown threads... every industry podcast had discussions about what he said, hell even McGrath himself commented on it...so I guess that the majority of the industry, fans and even McGrath has reading comprehension issues and just misunderstood what he said.....as I said then and say now, give me a shout when he hits 50 wins and then maybe we can begin the conversation...
I said that he stated wanted to dethrone MC, which is pretty much what his quote says. I didn’t say “he said he would dethrone MC”
Maybe you need to work on your reading comprehension. You’d make a great White House Press Secretary, though.
Not true per Chat GPT:
According to Supercross participation statistics, McGrath started 167 out of a possible 188 Supercross rounds across his pro career (spanning 1993–2002 and his limited returns in 2005–2006), meaning he missed about 21 races. That’s roughly an 11% miss rate, not zero missed events.
It's not difficult to understand.
A lot of people didn't read the ESPN article. They heard it once on the broadcast, interpreted it a certain way, and ran with it.
It happens.
I get the confusion, but again, he never said what a lot of you guys are claiming he said.
Pretty much and saying it word for word are two different things.
MC’s fame is 7 SX championships in 8 years! 72 wins is second to that. Titles mean way more than wins, no matter how you slice it every rider with 3 or more SX titles is a head of Tomac and Stewart on the list of SX all time greats.
Really does surprise me Tomac and Stew only have 2...
Looks like Jett needs to focus on staying healthy to get more wins to just to get in to double digits as I think he sits at 9 wins in the 450 class. But he should be focused on getting a second SX chip.
Jeremy McGrath: 72 wins
Eli Tomac: 53 wins
James Stewart: 50 wins
Ricky Carmichael: 48 wins
Chad Reed: 44 wins
Ryan Villopoto: 41 wins
Ryan Dungey: 34 wins
Ricky Johnson: 28 wins
Bob Hannah: 27 wins
Cooper Webb: 30 wins (Note: Some sources list 25-30 wins, he recently passed Hannah).
Most 450 Supercross Championships
1: Jeremy McGrath – 7 titles (1993–1996, 1998–2000)
2: Ricky Carmichael – 5 titles (2001–2003, 2005–2006)
3: Ryan Villopoto – 4 titles (2011–2014)
3: Ryan Dungey – 4 titles (2010, 2015–2017)
Current Riders with Championships
Cooper Webb – 3 titles (2019, 2021, 2025)
Eli Tomac – 2 titles (2020, 2022)
Jett Lawrence – 1 title (2024)
Jason Anderson – 1 title (2018)
Post a reply to: Showing Deference to Jeremy McGrath.