The List: Loretta Lynn’s Brand Wins

The distinction of being the very first brand to actually win a championship at Loretta Lynn’s goes to Honda, which won the Open A class in 1982 when it was the first class on the original schedule. West Virginia’s David Scott won the overall aboard a Honda CR480R. His was the first of 172 titles for the Red Riders at Loretta Lynn’s. Among their top performers in the early years were Shaun Kalos, Jimmy Button, Rick Simmet, Timmy Ferry, and Ashley Fiolek. In more recent years Honda would team up with Factory Connection to have a more cohesive team, developing top riders to graduate from the Ranch right to the professional ranks. Among the standouts of that program were Trey Canard, Justin Barcia, Eli Tomac, RJ Hampshire, and 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Champion Chase Sexton.

There’s also Jett Lawrence, two-time AMA 250 Pro Motocross Champion, who raced for Factory Connection Honda in his one and only season in the U.S. as an amateur, 2019. He made a name for himself by winning his very first moto he ever entered at Loretta's, but the Australian did not actually win either of his classes at Loretta Lynn’s that year!

One other past Honda champion you might recognize is Axell Hodges, who won the 250 C Stock class in 2012, before his career took a different path. Hodges is now one of the best freeriders in the world.

The Suzuki brand also had a run here with a very successful future FMX legend. Maryland’s Travis Pastrana grew up as a Suzuki support rider and managed to win five Loretta Lynn’s titles aboard yellow bikes, the last of which came in 1999—the same year he won the X Games for the very first time. Pastrana would also win the AMA’s Nicky Hayden Horizon Award that year, and then win the 2000 AMA 125 Pro Motocross Championship as a member of what Suzuki calls the RM Army. 

All told, Suzuki has won 150 titles here at Loretta Lynn’s. Their prestigious youth and amateur alumni include California’s Buddy Antunez, Ohio’s Greg Rand, Texas riders Jeff Dement and Charley Bogard, and Georgia’s Ezra Lusk, Florida’s Davi Millspaps, Pennsylvania’s Branden Jesseman and Broc Hepler, and Colorado’s Eli Tomac. Suzuki can also count one title from the GOAT: Ricky Carmichael, who holds the all-time record of 150 outdoor national and supercross wins, returned to Loretta Lynn’s after his professional career to win the Junior 25+ class in 2012. All ten of Ricky’s other Loretta Lynn’s titles came as a member of Kawasaki Team Green.

In 2017 one rider managed to capture the first two AMA titles for a brand relatively unknown in America. Ty Masterpool of Texas showed up at Loretta Lynn’s aboard TM minicycles, a boutique Italian manufacturer and swept both the SuperMini 1 and 2 classes.

Maico was a once-mighty Germany brand that was in its twilight years just as Loretta Lynn’s was getting started. However, an Irishman named Gordon Bowden, who transplanted to North Carolina, captured the Senior 40+ classes. Interestingly, in the ’83 race New York-born American motocross legend Barry Higgins placed fifth aboard a Husqvarna thumper, marking the first time a four-stroke motorcycle participated in the AMA Amateur National at Loretta Lynn’s.

Speaking of Husqvarna, the brand born in Sweden, moved to Italy, and then sold to Austria has had quite a run at Loretta Lynn’s. In its first incarnation Michigan’s Kris Bigelow won the Junior 25+ class in 1986. In the years that it was owned by the Italy-based Cagiva brand the highwater mark for Husqvarna came in 2005 when North Carolina’s Jim Neese scored a top-five finish. But since it was revived by the Austrian KTM Group in 2013, Husqvarna has been very successful here, winning 29 titles to the one Bigelow earned all those years ago, including multiple titles wins for Florida’s Jalek Swoll and Evan Ferry, Tennessee’s own Mike Brown and Casey Cochran, New York’s Nick Romano, and California’s Stilez Robertson.

While we’re at it, the Spanish brand GasGas has been under the KTM umbrella for the past two years and already has eight titles to their credit. Just last year South Carolina’s Caden Braswell won the Open Pro Sport class on a GasGas and was named 2022 AMA Nicky Hayden Horizon Award winner.

As for KTM themselves, the brand has been represented at the Ranch every year since the race’s inception, though they did not win any titles until the mid-nineties after the Pierer Mobility Group took over the company. The brand now boasts 137 titles over the years at Loretta Lynn’s, and their Orange Brigade amateur support program is both highly competitive and respected. The first to win a minicycle title for KTM was California’s Mike Alessi, who won his first of eleven total Loretta Lynn’s title in 1995 aboard the orange brand. Other top prospects who won on KTMs here are Virginia’s Zach Osborne, New Mexico’s Jason Anderson, and North Carolina’s Cooper Webb, all future AMA Pro Motocross and Supercross champions.

The KTM Group also holds the distinction of being the first brands to compete on electric motorcycles, as KTM, Husqvarna, and GasGas all compete in the Mini-E class, which was established in 2020.

In 1993 the Ohio-made Cobra minicycle arrived on the scene and immediately went to the top of the 51cc classes. In the years that have followed Cobra (since moved to Michigan) has been a dominant brand, taking multiple titles almost every year. As a matter of fact, almost every current professional in Monster Energy Supercross and AMA Pro Motocross grew up racing Cobra minicycles at some point, and the brand is celebrating their 30^th year in 2023, boasting 62 titles and counting here at Loretta Lynn’s.

The Cobra wasn’t the only minicycle to cause a stir at Loretta Lynn’s. One year after later Georgia’s Andrew Matusek jumped on a 50cc LEM for the 51cc (4-6) class and won two of three motos on his way to the title. He was protested but AMA officials found nothing wrong with the bike. If they had the championship would have gone to the runner-up, a kid from New Jersey named Jason Lawrence. Maybe you've heard of him? So there are just three riders in the history of Loretta Lynn’s who are the only ones to have ever won for a brand: Gordon Bowden (Maico), Andrew Matusek (LEM) and Ty Masterpool (TM).

Last but not least is Yamaha. They have been a powerhouse from the very beginning, and have maintained a strong presence in youth and amateur motocross ever since. Yamaha’s first two titles were won in 1982 by future superstar Ron Lechien of California. One year later Texas hotshoe Danny Storbeck became the one and only rider in Loretta Lynn’s history to win three AMA National Championships in the same year, as the rule was changed the following year to limit participants to two classes at the Ranch. In the years since Yamaha has changed their colors from yellow to white to the current blue, but they have remained a steady presence in the winner’s circle-they now have 317 total titles here. And among their prestigious alumni are Jeremy McGrath, Jeff Stanton, Mike LaRocco, Damon Bradshaw, Steve Lamson, Ernesto Fonseca, Lisa Akin-Wagner, Cooper Webb, Aaron Plessinger, Chase Sexton, and just last year, Haiden Deegan.