Motocross can give you things or take them away. Ask Grant Langston. The 125 National crown was taken away from Langston on September 2, 2001, in Steel City, Pennsylvania. The weather was cool and fall-like. The South African won the 125 Grand Prix title with KTM the previous year. In 2001, he went to Austria to try to help them win their first AMA 125 National title. But it wasn’t meant to be. The story is truly amazing because of what happened before that terrible day.
It was a barn fire at the 2001 AMA 125 National Championship. Travis Pastrana was ready to protect his number one plate, but Grant Langston and Mike Brown were right behind him on the Suzuki. Most of the time, Pastrana’s hardest rival was himself. Travis crashed while leading the Unadilla National and never got back to normal. Langston and Brown, two very bold riders who didn’t care about each other, had to fight for the title.
It made the U.S. look like it was up against the rest of the world, with Langston as the unknown outsider and Brown as the victim. Both were loud in their claims, and Grant promised a win at Southwick. But instead of beating the best American in the sand, he hurt his shoulder in practice and had to be taken out of action. Langston worked hard and got ninth place in the first moto. But Mike Brown had his own problems in the sand, so it wasn’t all bad for him. Grant fought hard and came in fourth in the second moto, while Mike crashed and fell to ninth.
Langston wasn’t able to race at Budds Creek because his shoulder hurt, but Mike Brown won both motos. Even though the points difference shrunk, it still looked like Langston would win the title. After that, Grant messed up at the Troy National and lost to Brown at Washougal. Still, Mike Brown would need a lot of luck to be in first place in the point standings. What happened in Pennsylvania was like the Hail Mary in football, but for motocross.
In the top class that summer, Ricky Carmichael blew away the competition and won the outdoor title early. That year, Carmichael and Brown worked out together. They both rode for Kawasaki as well. A strong link had been made. It was clear that RC would be happy to help his friend, Carmichael, who chose to race in the 125 class at Steel City in order to beat Mark Barnett’s long-standing record for most 125 National wins. Grant Langston didn’t like that, of course, because he thought there would be dirty play. Because of these complaints, Carmichael famously told Grant, “Don’t worry.” When I walk by you, I won’t even touch you. Things were ready to go. Mike Brown wanted bad things to happen to his enemy Grant Langston, so Langston had to stay ahead of Brown. Carmichael was the unknown.
In the first moto, Ricky Carmichael got a bad start and was close to last place. Mike Brown, on the other hand, took the lead and won the moto. Langston came in second and led by six points going into the last moto. After that, things went badly for Langston. Carmichael won the second moto and was miles ahead of everyone else. Brown fell, which meant that the KTM rider won the race. But fate got in the way. Langston’s KTM 125SX started to break its back spokes. Even though the South African slowed down to protect the wheel, Mike Brown could smell blood and charged to the front. Before the end of the moto, Grant pulled into the area for mechanics with a broken back wheel. He broke down in tears and fell to the ground. Brown knew he would win the 125 title, so he let Branden Jesseman go by so that his friend Ricky Carmichael could win a record-setting 26th 125 National. Mike was happy when he crossed the finish line. In a very rare event, happiness and sadness were both shown on the same stage.
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