The Scott Sports 20 Day Countdown continues as we head into the 2024 AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. This is the 43rd year of the Big Dance at the legendary country singer’s home, which has hosted this event ever since 1982. There have been 1,336 different championships claimed over the years, across a wide variety of classes. We’re counting down to the ’24 version by total titles for each state, from the bottom up. Coincidentally, we arrive at 17 total wins for the state that just hosted its round of AMA Pro Motocross, the Spring Creek National, Minnesota—the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
At first glance you might think that the organizers of the Spring Creek National, the Martin family of Millville, would be all over this list. Alex and Jeremy Martin have each won multiple professional races, and Jeremy is a two-time AMA 250 Pro Motocross Champion. Yet despite all of their successes in the pro ranks, neither Alex Martin nor Jeremy Martin ever won at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch! (There’s a lesson in there, kids.) The best Alex did was a third in the 125 B Stock class in ’06; the best Jeremy ever did was a couple runner-up finishes. Jeremy did miss his final year at Loretta’s as an A rider when he suffered a shoulder injury right before the event.
The best professional ever from Minnesota was Belle Plain’s Ryan Dungey, but he only won a single 125cc Schoolboy title at Loretta Lynn’s in 2005. He’s now an AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer based on his multiple SX/MX titles as a pro. Elko’s Zack Williams won himself a 450 A title and Oaksdale’s Cory Keeney once won that class as well.
We can’t forget about the late Donny Schmit, the future two-time FIM World Motocross Champion. He won two titles at Loretta Lynn’s while riding for Kawasaki Team Green in the late 1980s.
Minnesota might have more titles coming from current amateur front runner Avery Long. The native of New London has two titles currently, taking a pair of B titles in 2022.
Current pro racer Jerry Robin, of Hamel, has two Loretta's titles, from 2013 and 2016.
And then there’s Brandon Haas, a native of St. Charles but now residing in South Carolina at his Club MX facility. Haas won a title just a couple of years ago in Vet +30, making him the only team owner in moto that we can think of that ever won a Loretta Lynn’s title! Here’s more on his background from an interview we ran 10 years ago as he was turning his backyard track project into a full-blown state-of-the-art SX/MX facility:
https://racerxonline.com/2014/06/12/between-the-motos-brandon-haas
