Bench Racing Ammo: Loretta Lynn's
The office is pretty quiet around here this week, as a majority of our employees are in Hurricane Mills, TN, for the 25th running of the AMA/Air Nautiques Amateur National Championships at Loretta Lynn’s. There’s an awesome week in store for the 1,386 competitors—42 riders in 33 classes—and their families and friends, and you can catch up on the daily action by logging on to www.mxsports.com every day (and our DMXS-produced MX SportsCenter at www.racerxfilms.com).
|
How important is winning a championship at Loretta’s? Well, for this week’s installment of Motosport Outlet Bench Racing Ammo, we’ve decided to take the riders who are currently in the top 10 in points in both the 450 and 250F classes and tally their Loretta Lynn's championships.
450 class
1. Ricky Carmichael – 9
2. Chad Reed – 0 (Chad grew up in Australia)
3. Davi Millsaps – 9
4. Kevin Windham – 8
5. Travis Preston – 0
6. James Stewart – 11
7. David Vuillemin – 0 (David grew up in France)
8. Nick Wey – 8
9. Tim Ferry – 7
10. Josh Summey – 1
250F class
1. Mike Alessi – 11
2. Ryan Villopoto – 1
3. Andrew Short – 1
4. Josh Grant – 1
5. Andrew McFarlane – 0 (Australia)
6. Brett Metcalfe – 0 (Australia)
7. Nathan Ramsey – 0
8. Troy Adams – 0
9. Matt Goerke – 2
10. Broc Hepler – 4
As you can see, a majority of the top factory racers in each class have multiple championships from Loretta’s, which means it’s a pretty good litmus test for future pros. They will all admit that it has helped pave their way to the professional ranks, because if you do well at this race, the whole nation notices.
|
You don’t need to have a championship from Loretta Lynn’s to have a successful professional career, but as the numbers show, it sure helps.