Welcome back to the Scott Sports Countdown to the 2024 Monster Energy AMA National Motocross Championships at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, which starts in two weeks’ time. We took a break yesterday to focus on the Spring Creek AMA Pro Motocross, which was swept by Loretta Lynn’s grads Chase Sexton of the Red Bull KTM team and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen. We’ve got some other prestigious alumni in the mix for today’s Countdown, and we have also have a five-state tie: Alabama, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland.
Let’s start with Colorado, because that one has an obvious highlight in Cortez’s Eli Tomac, the multi-time SX/MX Champion. The name Tomac is on nine AMA titles at Loretta Lynn’s, but not all of them are Eli’s, as his father John, a world-class cyclist, raced and won the Vet B/C class in 2001. The other eight titles do belong to Eli, stretching from 2004 to ’09 and on both minicycles and motorcycles. Black Forest, CO’s Andrew Short and Elbert’s Josh Hansen each won a title in the early ‘00s as well.
Maryland also has a big-hitter in Annapolis’ Travis Pastrana, who raced at the Loretta’s throughout the nineties, often at the same time as he was helping launch the sport of freestyle motocross and the entire X Games movement. In all, Travis. claimed five titles. Huntington’s Alexander Frye is also on the board with a title, as is Kensington’s Nick Evennou.
Indiana boasts AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Mike LaRocco, from LaPorte, who won a 250 A class title in ’87 at Loretta’s in the late 1980s. But the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer is not at the top of the list for the Hoosier State. Rather, that distinction belongs to Elkhart’s Larry Witmer, one of those eternally fast guys who came back to the ranch as a vet rider and claimed three titles. There’s also the Melton family, hailing from Odon. Both Mark and Brett Melton won minicycle titles at the ranch in the mid-eighties. Luke Fineis of Westfield claimed a pair of titles in 250 C racing, and Bistol’s Robbie Taylor won the Open A class twice in the early years.
Finally at 15 is Alabama. Tanner’s Clark Stiles, Vernon’s Thomas Covington and Silverhill’s Heath Harrison are the state’s top winners at the ranch, having won three each. And here’s a shout-out to Racer X’s own Taylor Miller, who hails from Alabaster, AL and won the Girls title not so long ago!
