Where’s the heat? A day of racing is complete at the 33rd annual Rocky Mountain ATV MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn Ranch presented by Amsoil. All the regular elements of the weeklong event were in play today, except the typical heat and humidity. The forecast says temperatures will hover in the mid 80s throughout, a huge difference from the triple digits we normally see.
But is this a weather report or a race report? Let’s give you some highlights.
We know you’ll be reading these reports as a cheat sheet to see who will make an impact in the pros at Unadilla. The answer for now is RJ Hampshire. The Floridian on the powerful Amsoil Factory Connection Honda team (you know them as GEICO Honda on the pro side) swept his two motos, one in Open Pro Sport and the other in the stacked-to-the-gills 250 A class. In Open Pro Sport, RJ had the 41st gate pick (which is selected at random) yet still got a decent start, and found himself in the lead almost immediately. He outpaced Yamalube Star Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger the rest of the way.
The 250 A moto was ridiculous. Daniel Baker grabbed the holeshot and led for awhile on his KTM, while Hampshire and Plessinger worked their way forward. Jordan Smith, another big name and Hampshire’s teammate, worked his way into second, but he’s dealing with an ankle injury and couldn’t quite hold the Hampshire/Plessinger train back. The duo busted past Baker to get into the lead and set a blistering pace, with Plessinger keeping Hampshire honest this time….until his bike suddenly locked up on the face of a jump. He endoed badly but got up and ran off the side of the track, although later was seen nursing a foot injury. A lap later, fighting for a podium finish, Darian Saneyai crashed and possibly broke his collarbone. Somehow, Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Green’s Chris Alldredge, from way, way back, ended up salvaging second.
At the intermediate level, Mitchell Harrison also has a 2-0 record through two motos, one in Schoolboy 2 and another in 250 B. He was able to run and hide with holeshots both times, and held up strong under pressure from Alexander Frye and Tristan Charboneau. Frye would later crash, letting Charboneau take second.
The top minicycle rider of the day was Team Green’s Garrett Marchbanks, who won both the Mini Sr. and Mini Sr. 1 classes. And one of the Supermini classes hosted the best battle of the day. Mitchell Falk and Tanner Stack led for awhile, then Austin Forkner came from behind to get the lead, only to crash, handing the lead to Chase Sexton, who also crashed earlier, only for Sexton to get cross rutted on the last lap and open the door for Sean Cantrell to steal the moto win.
In the age classes, Ricky Renner dominated the 25+ class with a huge lead, and Trampas Parker and John Grewe rekindled their battle from last year in 45+, with Parker edging ahead for the win. Earl May outdueled Rodney Smith in the 50 + class. Chad Murphy won the 30 B/C class.
Mackenzie Tricker won a big battle with Kaitlyn Morrow to take the Womens first moto, these two battled the whole way last year, too. Hannah Hodges continued her run with a dominant performance in the Girls (12-16) class, taking moto one to match her 1-1-1 performance from last year. Jazzmyn Canfield was hoping to do the exact same thing in the Girls (9-13) class when she led early, but she crashed and fell back. Jordan Jarvis scored a solid moto win.
