Let’s get back to the Scott Sports Countdown to the 2024 Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch. We’re counting down the days to the start of the big week at Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, by taking a look at the wins totals of each state (and, in yesterday’s case, other countries as well). We’re still in the single digits today in regards to wins by states, having already gone through the ones with five or less. Just above that tier are Nevada and Kansas, with six and nine wins apiece, respectively.
Nevada is known as the Silver State, and in moto circles, it’s best known for both the World Mini GP (now reborn in Mesquite by our friends at Vurbmoto) and as the previous home of the final round of Monster Energy Supercross, and now the new home of the SuperMotocross World Championship Finals, set to take place at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on September 21. As far as Loretta Lynn’s goes, well, it’s complicated. The Masterpool family is the only one that have had three different children win at Loretta Lynn’s—Jesse in 2007, Jake in 2013, and Ty six different times. However, when Jesse and Jake won their titles, the family was still living in Austin, Nevada; by the end of Ty’s amateur days, the family had moved to Paradise, Texas. So the wins for Jesse and Jake are listed as a different state than those that Ty, now a member of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team and a first-time AMA Pro Motocross winner just last month at High Point. He won with “4Jesse” on the back of his Fox Racing gear, as his older brother suffered a fatal crash back in 2010 at a race in Texas.
Nevada’s first winner was Las Vegas’ Jason Partridge, who won back in 1990 (85cc) and ’94 (125 Schoolboy). There was also Battle’s Jimmy Nelson in 2001 in the 105cc Supermini. Finally, there was Tanner Krahenbuhl of Las Vegas, the 2000 51cc (4-6) winner. He would pass years later in a motorhome crash while heading back to Las Vegas after a race in Utah.
As for Kansas, the big winner was Lawrence’s Robbie Skaggs, who won three titles at the ranch as a Kawasaki Team Green standout in the early ‘90s. Skaggs was preceded to the Loretta Lynn’s winner’s circle by our longtime friend and contributor Andy Bowyer of Emporia, who won the 65cc class in 1989. Great Bend's Kaeden Amerine won a Mini Sr title in 2017.
What about Jeff Emig? He's from Kansas, right? True, he's from Kansas City, which, to be even more confusing, could mean either Kansas City, Kansas, or Kansas City, Missouri. But that doesn't really matter here because he's listed in the AMA results for Loretta's as hailing from Riverside, California, which is where he moved to as he pursued his racing career. You'll see lots of stories like that throughout this countdown!
Way, way back in the day, in the pre-Loretta Lynn’s years of youth and amateur motocross, Pittsburg, Kansas, held an early version of the AMA Amateur Nationals at a popular track called Freddy Van’s Cycle Land. That same town produced Donnie Fox, winner of the Vet B +30 class in 1996. The other winners from Kansas over the years were Great Bend’s Kaeden Amerine (Mini Sr. 2 12-14 in 2017), Wichita’s Gregory Gehrer (College 16-24 in 2012), Ulysses’ Nick Metcalf (’98 125 B Modified), and finally Tommy Hahn of Belpre (125 A in 2004), who would go on to win an AMA Pro Motocross race and is the older brother of Will Hahn, who would go on to win a 250SX East Region Championship in 2013. Wilbur, though, never won a title at Loretta’s, his best result being a second behind PJ Larsen as an A rider in 2007.
