This week’s press notes from the Monster Energy Supercross Series features a notation that Jeff Emig won the first-ever St. Louis Supercross on April 27, 1996. What it doesn’t mention is the significance of that race.
With his win that night in St. Louis, Emig and his factory Kawasaki stopped Team Honda’s Jeremy McGrath’s 13-race win streak, beating the record-setting McGrath hands down, but not without a fight from the four-time champion.
From the pages of Cycle News… a young Jeff Emig wins in St. Louis.
“What’s that saying, ‘You can’t win ‘em all?’ ” McGrath said after the loss. “I can’t say enough for Jeff [Emig]. He rode a great race. I think I got some momentum toward the end and passed [Mike] LaRocco, but Jeff slammed me and that kind of took the wind out of me. But I wasn’t going down without a fight. I wanted to win bad – real bad. IT was just one of those things where I rode the very best race I could ride and that’s just how it turned out.”
As for Emig… he was ecstatic
“It feels so good to be the guy to end that streak. I’ve wanted to do this for so long.”
The 125cc Supercross that night… it was won by Kevin Windham.
