It’s amazing the way elite sportspeople rise to the occasion when it matters. For Jay Marmont, Conondale was always going to be a special weekend. Plans to announce his retirement at the scenic Green Park venue were made long before Sunday, but signs of a top three finish have been well out of reach.

When the gates dropped for moto one, an emotion-charged Marmont (remember, that’s when he just so happens to ride at his best) fired out of the gates and led half the moto – fending off current number one plate holder Matt Moss in the process.

He eventually dropped to third behind Moss and Kirk Gibbs – the two best in the sport domestically at this point – but it was just the type of ride that Jay needed to help boost him into his lunchtime announcement. Finally, a result was his and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

That ride showed signs of the Marmont we’ve grown to admire on the MX Nationals circuit over the years, to the point that one rival team manager half-joked that perhaps he should reconsider his decision. But this decision’s been mounting for years after a frustrating two and a half seasons outdoors.

Image: Alex Gobert.

And what’s more, Marmont crashed earlier in the day during qualifying and underwent scans today for what could potentially be a fractured wrist. That injury would later force him out of the final motos, but no way was he going to park it before he had a chance to announce he’s bowing out at the end of the year. He’s a gritty character.

Marmont was under immense pressure when he scraped through for a fourth title at Coolum in 2011, and in a way, I believe his shock switch to Monster Energy Kawasaki that off-season was a way to relieve expectations. The winning combination of he and CDR Yamaha was a huge weight to carry. It never came ‘easy’, so to speak, but he stood up to all sorts of challenges when it counted and fans loved him for that. They still do.

When you get used to winning, or at least contending so frequently, anything less is hard to accept for a champion. Marmont is no different. He’s not racing to finish second, it’s all about having the chance to win, and that’s what makes it ‘fun’ for a rider of Marmont’s calibre. And let’s face it, motocross is a young man’s game at this level, so very rarely do we see riders on top too far into their 30s, if at all.

Compared to the Marmont of 2011, you’ll meet a very different guy on race day these days. He’s still seeking the utmost success for his supporters and himself, but Jay’s nowhere near as intense as what he once was. It could be his age, might be the fact he has a very young family at home, or simply because he’s put his best boot forward for pretty much his whole life on a dirt bike and you can only push so hard for so long.

What’s great to see though is that after two mostly miserable years in green aside from supercross, Jay has at least seemed to be enjoying racing again in 2014 and that feeling will increase further now he’s made his announcement. No longer is he racing to secure his future, he’s racing for the sake of doing the best he can at this point and soaking up his final motos.

Image: Simon Makker.

Out of sheer respect for Jay, most aware of his retirement plans kept them quiet until he was ready to tell the world. He’s the type of guy that commands that respect, not only due to his on-track performance, but his popular demeanor off of it. He’s touched many in the sport over the course of his 15-year career and everybody has a memorable Marmont moment they can recall.

Seeing Jay lead the first moto on Sunday with Moss in his shadows before the reigning champion finally took charge was a fitting battle before Marmont broke his news – almost a passing of the torch domestically in some ways. And funnily enough, Matt’s not completely ruling out another challenge from the number two before the season’s out. That’s how respected he is.

But most of all, let’s hope Jay – and his brother Ryan for that matter – remain involved in the sport nationally at some level. Like domestic racing legends such as Gall, Dack, Anderson and even Carroll (to name a few) before him, motocross and supercross in Australia needs these guys. They have defined what we know the sport as today.

Thanks for the memories, Jay. From the very early days as junior racers I’ve been glad to personally call you a friend, we had many good times living alongside eachother in the US during 2005, and those good times continued back here when this very site was launched a few years later.

And thank you also for single-handedly encouraging me to invest in attending the nationals fulltime for the first time back in 2010. MotoOnline owes you one!