Loretta Lynn's Countdown: Wins by International Racers

Welcome back to the Scott Sports Countdown to the 2024 Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch. Obviously, this championship is held entirely in the United States—the Areas, the Regionals and the National—but that doesn’t mean international riders are not allowed to participate. But they do have to qualify just like the domestic riders, which means attending Area and Regional qualifiers. That’s not easy, but a few manage to do it each year. And then there are the ones who move to the U.S., at least temporarily, often setting themselves up at training facilities. That makes it difficult to make sure we count all of them here, because not everyone listed as being from Cairo, Georgia, home to some of the bigger training facilities, was born there—but not all of the riders with that address are necessarily foreign “exchange students” either!

For today’s Scott Sports Countdown, we’re listing the championships at Loretta Lynn’s that we know came from international riders. And some of the names you might recognize most, like Germany’s Ken Roczen, Ecuador’s Martin Davalos and France’s Christophe Pourcel, are not on here because they didn’t actually win titles at the ranch when they were kids, but they went through all of the steps to at least participate.

In 1982 there was just one “vet” class, the Senior +30. The winner was a man named Gordon Bowden from Gastonia, North Carolina. However, Bowden was actually a transplanted Irishman who had spent many years racing in Europe before emigrating to the U.S. He also was on a German-made Maico motorcycle, and he won the Senior title in 1983 as well. Those are the first two vet titles in AMA Amateur National history, and the only two titles ever at the ranch for Maico.

Australia’s first true title at Loretta Lynn’s came in 1992 when Tiffany Greenwood won the Women’s class, the first time in ten years that the winner was not either Lisa Akin-Wagner of Michigan or Mercedes Gonzalez-Natvig from California. That same year a strange “International” class was tried out as an exhibition race, and future Southwick 125 National winner Craig Anderson, another Aussie, took the overall win. And while the International class is listed in the Vault, just as it was the following year when Ohio’s Greg Rand won, it does not count as an AMA National Championship.

Australia also produced Mackenzie Tricker, who won three-straight Women’s titles from 2013-’15. Finally, Australia’s Thomas “Tiger” Wood won the ’21 Mini Sr. 2 title, but he listed his home address as Cairo, Georgia, where he was training.

There may be other Aussies that have succeeded at the ranch but they may sign up by U.S. addresses like Cairo, GA, as mentioned above. Same goes for any number of other countries.

Ernesto Fonseca was a Yamaha rider who rode for BSY in Florida, but he hailed from Costa Rica. He would become one of the fastest minicycle riders in the world and win four titles at Loretta Lynn’s in the mid- to late-nineties. Upon turning pro he signed with Yamaha of Troy and won the first four AMA 125 Supercross races he entered—a record that stands to this day—along with two titles, making Ernesto one of the greatest 125 SX riders of all time.

Fonseca wasn’t the only Costa Rican to win at the ranch. In 1996 Edgardo Rojas topped the 65cc Stock (7-11) division, giving tiny Costa Rica, in Latin America, five total AMA titles, tying them with our neighbors to the north, Canada.

The Canadian honor roll here lists their seven LL champions as Ray McIntosh (’89 250 C Mod), Bill Van Vugt Sr. (’96 Masters +50), Kade Walker (’09 65cc 7-11 Modified), Cole Thompson (’11 450 B Stock), Mikael Savard (’18 450 C), Marco Canella (’15 Schoolboy 1), and Brennan Schofield (450 C), though the latter is listed in the program as being from American Canyon, CA. (Maybe they though the “CA” meant Canada, not California?)