Welcome to Racerhead, and yes, we’re late. It’s been an incredibly busy week down here at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch as we get ready for the 41st Annual Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. The racing starts on Tuesday of next week, but the place is already packed. And after eight weekends of almost perfect weather at the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championships, we’ve been hit with two straight days of heavy rain, which comes at a very inopportune time—right when everyone is pulling is with their motorhomes, rigs, family trucksters, campers, and more. Everyone here working the races has been spending the past few days getting the place ready for company, only to have the worst storms since last August hit the area. Fortunately, they are not nearly as bad as what caused the deadly floods last August, and fortunately they appear to be headed out of the area by Monday, which is the day practice starts.
I apologize for the tardiness of this column, but if you’ve been following for a while, you know that this is already crazy busy time. With Washougal last weekend (which was an awesome event) and a magazine deadline (happy last Friday of the month) and Loretta Lynn’s load-in and the weather going sideways, the logjam has been epic this week. And there’s big news coming next on a different front that will make for an even busier Loretta Lynn’s.
You can watch the motos beginning on Tuesday morning on RacerTV.com, live and free, and hopefully it goes well. We will have updates all week long on social media, this website, and mxsports.com. And I hope all of the Pro Motocross folks enjoy the next two weekends off as we get ready for the stretch run, starting at Unadilla 15 days from now. I literally need to get back out on the track as we pump more water off, so I need to turn this over to the other guys.
But before I do, back in the spring of 2020, when COVID hit and shut everything down, I decided to use my downtime to study the old AMA Amateur and Youth Nationals—the pre-Loretta Lynn’s years. I started a results archive, sourcing old magazines, old files that my mom had, old Cycle News’ clippings, hoping to tell the pre-Loretta Lynn’s stories about a different era in amateur motocross, one that’s been largely forgotten. Guys like Ferrell McCollough, Connie Feist, Troy Bradshaw, the Bigelow brothers from Michigan, “Fast” Eddie Warren, Brian Stanley, Troy Graham, and the great Mark Hinkle, who raced a Maico but literally made Yamaha pianos in a factory in Michigan. There were also grand races like the Can-Am AMA Amateur Nationals at Carlsbad Raceway, the race at Freddy Van’s at Baldwin, Kansas, where Mark Barnett put himself on the motocross map, the old Lake Sugar Tree Amateur National that my fellow West Virginian Sammy Bosnic almost won, and much, much more. Anyway, when COVID lifted, I didn’t have time to complete the library I was working on, but maybe I will have time this coming off-season. But in the meantime, if you’re interested, here are some long-forgotten results from yesteryears….
Check out the following links for more on Loretta Lynn's
Loretta's Is Here! (Keefer)
All of the work is done, all of the bike work is completed, all of the money has been paid up front, and now it's time for the biggest amateur motocross spectacle in the world. Loretta Lynn's is here, and families from all over the country will be making their way to the ranch this weekend! The week-long race will be only our second trip as a family and Aden's first big B class event. What is crazy to me is seeing all of these families prepare for a race like Loretta Lynn's. As much as I complain about spending a lot of money, it's awesome to spend all of this time with my kid as well as my wife. Motocross is a unique sport, where it takes a team of people to help one rider. Sure, the rider has to perform and do the work when the gate drops but there is so much behind the scenes that needs to happen in order for said rider to be successful. Oh, and this is just amateur racing, it magnifies when you turn professional. Heather and I have enjoyed watching Aden get more serious as a racer, but also grow as a better human being because of dirt bikes. We are not here at Loretta's looking for a contract (sure, it would be nice), but we are here to spend time together as a family and enjoy that time spent with other families that are likeminded. Aden wants to make racing his career and we will try to do what we can to provide that for him, but in the long run, when he is older with kids of his own, he will look back at all of this, smile and know what was sacrificed to get here to Tennessee. Good luck to all of the racers/families next week and remember kids, thank your parents for giving you the opportunity to showcase your talents on the big stage! Team 47 will see you at Loretta Lynn's!
....AND BREAK! (Matthes)
Second off week of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championships and the first one with two weeks off since end of supercross way back when. So, I thought I would empty out the brain with random thoughts about random things in the sport because, why not?
- We had Chase Sexton on the PulpMX Show and he talked about Washougal and more. He said that Washougal was his best win ever, indoors or out, and to me that is quite something. I mean, you'd think your first 450SX win would be it but nope, Chase explained why on the show Washougal meant so much to him. We had Tomac on the show last week and he said he'd like to talk to Chase about the upcoming MXDN but that with them in a title fight it would be weird and Chase sort of agreed but said he'd be down to chat with ET about it. Watch the interview below:
- And just like that, the Justin Barcia to the MXoN on a 250F bandwagon has blown a tire. Justin announced on his social media, he was withdrawing his potential entry to focus on the 450MX class. Look, far be it for me to question him and his team but as the guy that started this whole thing (at least I think so), I feel like us Barcia bandwagoners deserve a better explanation. I mean, he tested the 250F at Glen Helen, he said he would love to do it over and over, the team was lobbying for him on his behalf, a source close to him told me he would race the last four nationals on a 250F and now he pulls out to "focus" on the 450 when he's seventh in the points? I don't know, seems weird to me but hey, whatever, I guess.
- Honestly, I blame Wil Hahn for all of this.
- I had heard that Tom Vialle wanted to race in the USA because he didn't want to move up to the MXGP class which is the rule when you win two MX2 titles over there. But he's had two so-so GPs in a row and our guy Jago Geerts has a nice points lead now which means that Tom is not looking like he's going to win two titles. I guess he's still coming though? The French guys I talk to say that, unlike other countrymen, Tom doesn't have a lot of SX experience so that might be an adjustment for him here.
[Here's an interesting note from Davey: KTM will have three second-generation riders on their team next year: Max Vohland and Tom Vialle here in the states and Liam Everts in MX2 in Europe.]
- I called Rick Ware Racing on Monday's PulpMX Show to try and get Cade Clason (our co-host) and Benny Bloss (on the phone) rides for the upcoming WSX series. Unfortunately, nobody picked up at the office but Rick himself did get my number and texted me back! We spoke today about his intentions with the team, the WSX itself and more. Look for that on Racer X here next week.
- Rick wouldn't confirm it but it seems like his team will be Joey Savatgy (on Kawasaki), Ryan Breece (on Yamaha) in 450's and Shane McElrath on the 250 which leaves him with one spot in the 250 class.
- I spoke to some VIP's at Feld at Washougal and I think I can confirm that the Yamaha LCQ Challenge race will be back in some form in 2023. I'm fighting hard to be one of the main events of the night but they're probably going to tell me to pound sand.
- Weege is calling some street bike racing somewhere in Minnesota (money makes the monkey dance!) but him and I did a Leatt ReRaceables this week with Mike Kiedrowski talking about his 125 National title defense in 1990 and the final round at Unadilla. Mike was quite angry about this race but mostly he was mad at his own team! Listen in to find out more.
- I talked to Carson Brown this week about his great ride at Washougal on a YZ250 two-stroke. The dude came from a first turn crash in moto one to 15th! He really can ride anything! Listen to the show here.
Hey, Watch It!
Why Loretta Lynn’s Is the Greatest Race in the World | ALL IN Pt 2 A Fire Within
Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week
“Twerking girls host wild, booze-fueled pool party on NYC subway”—New York Post
"Nebraska WR Decoldest Crawford Signs NIL Deal with Local Heating and Cooling Company"”—Bleacher Report
Random Notes
Check out Kawasaki's Proof in Racing Loretta Lynn's preview.
For the latest from Canada, check out DMX Frid’EH Update #29.
Thanks for reading Racerhead. See you at the races!