Loretta Lynn's Countdown: Virginia and West Virginia

Welcome back to the Scott Sports 20-Day Countdown to the 2024 AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch. In 17 days things will be kicking off in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, marking the 43rd year of what’s become an American motocross rite of passage, Loretta Lynn’s MX. Over the first 42 years of this big race, there have been 1,337 different championships claimed, across all categories. And for the Scott Sports Countdown, we’re counting down total titles for each state, from the bottom up. Today, we reach double-digits for the first time, the two states with exactly 10 titles each. Ironically, they used to be the same state!

Quick history lesson: In the early years of the United States of America, Virginia was a much bigger state than it is now. It got even smaller when the northwestern part of the state decided to break away from the eastern part over differences in slavery. What is now West Virginia did not have the big farms and plantations that their eastern neighbors did, so in the middle of the Civil War, West Virginia became its own state on the side of the North while Virginia led the charge for the South. Not everyone agreed with the split, but the two states never joined together again as one.

Fast forward to 1982 and the first AMA Amateur National Championships at Loretta Lynn’s: The very first champion, in the Open A class, was a rider from Fairmont, WV, named Dave Scott. Also, the rider who finished third, Tim Shephard, hailed from Barboursville. (Coincidentally, the offices of MX Sports, which started and continues to run the Loretta Lynn’s program, is in Morgantown, WV.) Scott would take the first of just 10 total titles for West Virginians. The most titles from the Mountain State were courtesy of Alum Creek’s Steve Childress, a Kawasaki Team Green rider who won three titles in the late eighties. Weirton’s Josh Sweat (RIP), another Team Green rider, won a couple of B class titles in 1994. There was also Morgantown’s Tim Coombs (my older brother) and South Charleston’s Chris Carte back in 1985 in the Hurricane Danny-hammered event, which had to be cut down to two motos, so you know us Mountaineers can ride in the mud!

Finally, and most recently, there was McMechen’s Stephen Gretchen in 2010 in the 85cc (12-14) class and just last year little Jarrett Tincher from Elkview, who topped the Micro E (4-7) Limited.

As for our once-brothers over in Virginia, they also have 10 total titles over the years, one of which came from American motocross royalty: In 1994 “Professor” Gary Bailey won the Masters +50 class. And Virginia has one two-time winner in Chester’s Nick Hayes, who won the Vet 30+ in both 2019 and 2020, but has undergone some life-changing challenges since a terrible injury ended his racing days.

There’s also an actual set of brothers from Hiwasse, Virginia, who both won the 125 C class, Bill Cox (’88) and Johnny Cox (’90). Vienna’s Scott Bland topped the highly-competitive 250 A class back in 1984, plus Glen Allen’s Aiden Eyler grabbed the 51cc Shaft Drive title in 2014. And most recently Bedford’s Boone Lloyd (Micro 1 Shaft Drive) and Fairfax Station’s Chase Dashiell (65cc 10-11) in 2022.

That’s it for Virginia and West Virginia, two states that were formerly one and are now tied with 10 championship wins over 42 years at Loretta Lynn’s. Tomorrow’s Scott Sports’ Countdown? Lucky 13s.

Of course, you can do a deep-dive on all of the results over the years right here in the Loretta Lynn’s Vault: https://llvault.racerxonline.com.