I would mention some of the standouts to keep an eye out for next week but there are too many to list here. We have been using the Scott Sports Countdown to Loretta Lynn’s to review the success of each of the 50 states (and a few foreign countries) here over the years, going back to 1982 when the Michigan Mafia was king. Speaking of the Wolverine State, they came out third on the list with 88 championships earned here over the years. Pitching in on that total were big-hitters like Nick Wey, Lisa Akin-Wagner, Eddie Warren, the Bowen brothers, Nico Izzi, and even our own Sarah Whitmore-Smage, who will tell you about one of her not-so-great races at here at the ranch further down. Here’s the Michigan entry, and you can find links to the rest on the site.

And later, we will have the runner-ups and the all-time champions, which as you can probably guess, are on different sides of the warmer regions in our country.

While Pro Motocross gets this weekend and next weekend off before we get into the three-race sprint to the finish—Unadilla, Budds Creek, and Ironman—there is racing overseas as the always interesting MXGP of Lommel, Belgium takes place. Lommel is one of the world’s roughest sand tracks, and certainly the most notorious. Team USA had one of its greatest days there ever back in 1981, with a first-ever win in the FIM Motocross of Nations. But then again, we also suffered one of our worst defeats there too back in 2012. With Jeffrey Herlings finally getting back to peak form, and Jorge Prado in need of reeling in some serious points on Tim Gajser, it should be quite the race on Sunday. And keep an eye out for Lotte Van Drunen, the Dutch girl who flies in the sand and will be a wildcard entry in the MX2 class. 

Looking ahead to the last three rounds here, it’s sounding like we will be seeing the return of three of the biggest hitters in the entire sport—Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb, and Ken Roczen—as they hope to get back into form before the start of the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) in September. We were hoping that we might see Jett Lawrence before the SMX Playoffs but it’s sounding like the defending champion in, well, everything won’t be lining up until at least Charlotte. And by the time we get to the SMX Finals in Las Vegas, and everyone is healthy, we might see the race of the year for that million-dollar bonus. (And if you’re planning on attending the sport’s return to Las Vegas, there’s some cool Inside Track VIP Experiences that went online this week).

Finally, a tip of the visor to Denny Stephenson, who is inviting everyone to play in MotoXDream360's The 24MX Matt Buyten Final 3. It is a $30 entry to play with 100 percent of it going towards Matt and his family, following Matt’s devastating injury earlier this summer. Cool prizes and random drawings include autographed gear and product from Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael, Jeff Emig, Ryan Villopoto, Dean Wilson, Zach Osborne, Benny Bloss, Tyler Bereman, Twitch, Adam Jones, Fasthouse, and Zulz Bag Company, with more to come. Please click here to see how you can play and support the Buyten family.

And Denny just created a FREE 2024 Loretta Lynn's MX Pro Sport Challenge game. Check it out here!

Contingency Plans (Jason Weigandt)

Last Friday was a nightmare travel day for pretty much anyone at an airport, due to a software issue with airlines and security. That snagged anyone trying to get to Washougal by air. This was the closest I ever came to wondering if I was going to miss a race, and by the way, I don't know what the contingency plan on TV would have been if I didn't make it. Or if Ricky Carmichael and Wil Christien, who were also having travel troubles, didn't make it. Maybe Jason Thomas, who was already there, would just handle an entire five hours of shows by himself? I actually should have been fine, but my airline jacked me and booted me from a connecting flight in Dallas that I would have made, no problem, but no one cares about my travel woes. Instead, I made it to Portland, Oregon by 8 p.m. Friday and I had so much time at the airport that I was able to handle getting Racerhead posted!

At one point, I regretted not flying on Thursday night, which I usually do for Washougal. But I talked to Max Anstie who told me he got stuck at the Dallas airport all night on Thursday! Max's watch, which counts his sleep time, told him he got an hour and twenty minutes of sleep that night. That didn't bother him too much, because he's spent his life flying to far-flung places, dealing with delays and time zones and everything else. Max says if he can fly to Australia or Russia and then get on a bike and ride with jet lag, well, he can handle a night in an airport.

The big winner for Washougal? For my money it wasn't Chase Sexton or Haiden Deegan. It was Jordon Smith. When a bunch of people were stranded at the Atlanta airport, the Deegan family hired a private plane, but since they were in high demand, the price skyrocketed to somewhere north of $60,000. Yes, a single flight for the cost of a nice luxury car. Haiden says he and his parents split the costs, but they did offer seats to others who wanted and needed them, for what I think was around $7,000. A few people found sponsors to pay that tab, like my partner Ricky Carmichael (NBC), Jalek Swoll (Triumph), and Jeremy Coker (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) but Jordon was on his own. Pay the $7,000 or play the waiting game in Atlanta? Jordon chose the latter, and he made it! Jordon told me he was 76th on the standby list for a flight and ended up getting a seat because so many others had experienced delays and cancelations. There he was, Saturday morning at Washougal, at the racetrack, and without spending the 7k. That's a win in my book!

Other Missed Flights—and Flags (DC)

The travel woes Weege mentioned affected more than just the riders heading to Washougal. The AMA’s finish-line flagger Jamey Nimey could not make it across the country to attend, which led to a backup flagman working the finish line flags. With a close battle in the first moto between Red Bull KTM teammates Aaron Plessinger and Chase Sexton, where Sexton passed AP with three laps to go, led to some confusion when they came around for the two-lap board, as well as the white flag, both of which came out late. And when Sexton came across the finish line with what should have been the end of the race, well, either he was looking down too much like James Stewart has suggested, or the flagger again didn’t see him come out of the woods soon enough.

There was also a brief moment in that same battle where a red cross flag was shown errantly as the leaders hit the big jump up on top of the hill that leads down to the final section in the woods, before the finish line. Turns out that the AMA’s Director of Racing himself, Mike Pelletier, was helping out with the blue-flagging, up on top of the jump pointing out the leaders that we coming. The flagger apparently thought he was pointing at him to put out the flag, which he started to do, then was told to pull it back in. Neither rider saw it and jumped anyway, and Pelletier made the wise choice not to penalize them for a flag they didn’t see, nor they should have. No word on whether the flagman was penalized/fined in either case, though some are suggesting the AMA should in what’s been a tough summer of missed signals…

Loretta's (Weigandt)

Speaking of travel, it's almost time to head to the Ranch. This will be my 23rd straight year covering the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn's, which is a long time, but not quite long enough to where the PW50 class winner during my first visit (Cooper Webb in 2002) is retired as a pro. (Please hang in there, Coop, so I don't have to feel really, really old.) In my first year, '02, I was covering the races for Cycle News and then me and my buddy Kevin Kelly got drafted into the hosting the Radio Fox show at night. By 2005 that eventually morphed into MX SportsCenter with DMXS Radio and the boys at what would become Vurb Moto. Last year Radio Fox made a return, and we're bringing it back again this year, me and Kevin hosting it, still. We’ve come a long way, right?! We'll also be part of the live announcing team as always. Be sure to lock in RacerTV.com or the Racer TV YouTube channel all week and enjoy live and free coverage from sun up to sun down every day. Also, my man Jason Thomas is flying to Loretta's straight from Lommel, Belgium, site of this weekend’s MXGP sandfest, so we can shoot a special episode of our SMX Insider Show from Loretta's, and somehow, someway hell has frozen over and even Matthes is coming down to hang out for a few days. It's going to be a good time. Enjoy all the shows!

Pro Perspective (Jason Thomas)

The creation of the SMX World Championship Playoffs has had an interesting effect on the Pro Motocross Championship. In prior years, riders would often find motivation difficult to conjure as the season grew long. Injuries mounted, fatigue weighed heavily, and the strain of months-long racing grew visible. If there was a summer injury, that was likely a reason to shut down the racing program until January. Team strife? See you at Anaheim. Planned move to the 450 class for the next season? See you at Anaheim. That’s all changed now.

Regardless of the difficulty, riders now are searching for ways to persevere. The lure of huge payouts throughout the SMX Playoff run have changed the calculus. Riders are now buying their own motorcycles if their team unravels (Colt Nichols 2023). They are coming back to Pro Motocross earlier than they would in other seasons (Phil Nicoletti, RJ Hampshire, Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb 2024). They are scrambling to join their new team months before they would in prior years (Colt Nichols to Twisted Tea HEP Suzuki, and we might even see Garrett Marchbanks move to Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki early). At every turn, in every scenario, the playoffs have changed the sport. In almost every way, it’s been changed for the better; more participation, higher stakes, more inclusion.

The scramble to get inside the top twenty in points will march on as we conclude the last three rounds. Avoiding those LCQ rounds is a huge coup. Is it possible to find success through the LCQ? Sure, just ask Nicoletti. But guaranteeing a gate in every final is leverage in the points, leverage with the team, and money in the bank. The evolution of that storyline is one we have watched cement itself amongst those on the bubble. The privateer heroes of summer will battle it out for six more motos. Their financial prospects will ride that wave of volatility accordingly. While everyone is tuned into the battle for who will become champ, keep an eye on who locks in those final spots. It will be a race within a race that some will not notice. For those that are in it, though, there couldn’t be anything more important.

Loretta's And The Journey (Keefer)

Heather and I rolled into Tennessee last night as it's time for the biggest amateur race of the year. Loretta Lynn's means different things for different people and this year it means that I am racing without my kid for the first time since 2017. Aden has had a tough go the past couple months and it looks like that he will need shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum. It's a tough balance between trying to get your kid into a position for a real chance at making it in this sport and having a normal life. We thought Aden had a good chance at some good results in 250B and Schoolboy 2 this year so we sent him down to train with Mike Brown for a few months, but as you know sometimes life doesn't always give you what you put in and this sport teaches that to kids early in life. However, these moments are the ones that teach our kids how to conquer challenges in life (especially mental and physical). This is just where we are at as a family now for the Loretta's 2024 year.

Everyone has a story at Loretta's and two of my good friends that are here in 2024 have them as well. Case in point: Randy Richardson and David Martinez are two lifelong enthusiasts that are over the age of 50 that are racing Loretta's for the first time. My buddy fireman Dave's family didn't have the money growing up to make it to Loretta's so he decided to try and make it this year (when he turned 50) to honor his late father John Martinez. His dad was his biggest fan and loved watching his son ride his dirt bike. I used to watch his dad work on Dave's bike until 2 a.m. just so he could drive two hours to take him racing at 5a.m. 

The fun-loving Randy Richardson never had the chance to come to Loretta's as he was busy trying to make a pro career for himself at a younger age and then went to work for Michelin to help aid in their professional motocross efforts. Randy is still at Michelin to this day and decided at the tender age of 57 to go participate at Loretta's himself. The Teenior Citizen will be lurking around the grounds of the Coal Miner’s Daughter so make sure to whip a towel or two as he is dog paddling his way around the track.  

I never knew that my favorite part of this Loretta Lynn's thing would be to listen to all the different stories/journeys on how each family made it to the ranch. Some are there for business, some are there for fun, some are there for a bucket-list type deal and some just come to better their personal results in a specific class. One thing is for certain however, all of the motorhomes, vans, trailers, trucks and other vehicles that are parked on Loretta Lynn's property have a story behind it so if you're there at the ranch next week, ask someone about theirs. You might find it interesting or maybe relate to someone else journey. See ya'll next week! 

That Crash! (Sarah Whitmore-Smage) 

Working at Racer X, the weeks leading up to Loretta Lynn’s is always a special time, especially being one of only a few staff members with titles there—Taylor Miller has one, and I think Kris Keefer does too. All year long the guys on the online team (which does not include Miller or Keefer) pick on me endlessly. It's all in good fun, and honestly no one is safe, everyone gets teased. But this week is my time to shine! In reminiscing about Loretta Lynn’s past, it is inevitable that someone brings up all of the amazing battles the Women’s class has provided over the years. And I get to, oh so humbly, remind them that I could still kick their ass on the track! 

So, during this week's meeting, when Davey posted up a picture of me running the #1 in 2006 I thought, “Great, he is setting me up perfectly to put the guys in their place.” But then he posted a second picture of #67 Ashley Fiolek and I crashing together in the very next turn, everyone laughed. DC's been working on the Scott Sports Countdown to Loretta's, and he was going to include that photo and my four career titles in #3 Michigan's entry, but he did ask me to please if I cared to explain what happened in Racerhead, so here goes…

Let me just preface this by saying DO NOT ask me why Ashley, on a Honda Supermini, got a better start than me on my YZ 250 two-stroke. I didn’t even have a bad start, maybe fourth or fifth, but she was a little badass, even on a Supermini and got the better of me and most of the class. But on that first lap I realized at the last second that she was not going to jump the old tabletop in the middle, so I checked up so I would not land on her. Instead, I came up short on the jump and bounced to the bottom, landing on breaking bumps. This threw me into a nose wheelie, and with me being a scrawny girl unable to handle a 250 two-stroke, I rode straight into the side of her. We both went down, and I got sucked up into her rear wheel. I picked my bike up and noticed she was struggling to pick up her bike. Now, anyone else I wouldn’t have thought twice—I would have started my bike and been gone! However, this was Ashley...

I had met Ashley two years prior at our Regional the year she won the Girls class. We quickly hit it off. That first day she taught me how to sign the ABCs in American Sign Language, as well as things like “cute boy,” and “Mean, slow girls will crash tomorrow.” (Give us a break, we were teenage girls.) 

Anyways, since that first ASL lesson I have considered Ashley to be one of my closest friends (and still do) and I had just taken us both out. There was no way I could leave her struggling, so I quickly reached down and helped her pick up her bike... Only to catch a glimpse of Mike Guerra from Yamaha in the infield doing some sign language of his own, letting me know he was not pleased! Ashley’s dad was also not pleased, and I think him and my own dad may have exchanged some words in the heat of the moment in the mechanics area, but that is all water under the bridge now...

We both got going again, though I think Ashley DNFed that moto due to a smashed pipe (again, my fault). That was not my best showing at The Ranch. It was the first time since my first trip there (when I finished 22nd) that I did not finish in either first- or second-place. When I look back at that year, what I remember most is how upset I was after that moto, I felt terrible for ruining Ashley’s race, and I could not wait to find her to apologize.

Loretta’s is absolutely the most important race of the year. The opportunities that my race wins at The Ranch have brought me are unmatched. But even more important are the friendships I have made there that really have lasted a lifetime. Nine years after this crash Ashley flew to Wisconsin to be in my wedding, and now 18 years later we are making plans to meet up in just a couple of weeks. So sure, one more title would be nice to rub in the guys faces, but looking back 20 years later, memories and friendships are even better than titles...

And I'm talking FOUR titles, for your boys back in the Racer X office!

Hey, Watch It

Cooper Webb is planning to shake up the Lawrence brothers’ homecoming party at the 2024 AUSX Open Supercross:

Plessinger's post-race detour on his way to the podium

And here's a blast from the past from Vurbmoto of Aaron Plessinger and Ashton Hayes doing a trackwalk together at Loretta Lynn's back in AP7's amateur days.

Trey Canard's Vlog from RedBud National/2025 Honda launch: Ironman Launch 2025 CRF450R

What Does It Take to be The Fastest 16 Year Old Motocross Racer in the Country? | BEING: Drew Adams

What Happened to Maxime Renaux? (InsideMXGP S1:E13)

Loretta Lynn's Replica Track At GAME MOTO

JLaw's Private Washougal Ride Day

Big Hill Jam Tries The East Coast This Weekend!

Head-Scratching Headline/s of the Week

"Celine Dion Poised to Make Comeback Performance at Paris Olympics"—Variety

"Fisherman Nearly Impaled by Marlin as Fish Jumps Into Boat"—97.3 The Dawg

"Sharks Off The Coast Of Brazil Test Positive For Cocaine"—Barstool Sports

Random Notes

And finally, congratulations to our friends Juliette Feld Grossman, who was named the CEO of Feld Entertainment, and Steve Yaros, who is the new President of Feld Entertainment. Both have become big fans of supercross and motocross in the years since Kenneth Feld purchased the series back in 2008, and both have longed pushed for more and better coverage of SX/MX/SMX with the networks, as well as in finding new sponsors and opportunities for everyone. It’s great to know that Juliette and Steve are behind the wheel now as Mr. Feld and Mike Shannon transition over to more advisory-type roles.