After one day, Aden Keefer’s 1:54 is the fastest lap of all motos completed so far.

Enzo the Line

The always much anticipated 250 Pro Sport moto got way around lunch time. Diesel Thomas (Husqvarna) got out to the holeshot and early lead as there were about three different pileups with about five riders on the first lap. Landen Gordon (Kawasaki) made his way into second by the end of the first lap as Dane Morales (Husqvarna) was running third, followed by Mason Middleton (KTM), Like Fauser (KTM), and Enzo Temmerman (Kawasaki). Fauser was buried but somehow made up a ton of ground and did so fast! On the second lap, Thomas crashed coming out of the Storyland section, which dropped him to seventh, and handed the lead over to Gordon! Fauser and Leum Oehlhof (Honda) made their way into second and third, receptively. Then Fauser tipped over in the turn leading into the Ten Commandments! Oehlhof took over second and went after Gordon. Landon Hartz (Yamaha) made his way into third after Fauser’s mistake as the #92 charged forward. Then a Fauser/Temmerman battled closed in onto Hartz, as Temmerman made a two-for-one pass to get both Fauser and Hartz to take over third! Landon Gibson (Husqvarna) was outside the top 15 but charged up to tenth by the end of the fourth lap. Oehlhof got into the lead as Temmerman got by Gordon.

Then, Temmerman pulled up alongside Oehlhof and they hit the two big tabletops in the center of the track side by side! The next lap, Temmerman pulled off a pass and away he sailed—that was the last anyone saw of the #21 machine until they got to the Monster Energy top ten cool down zone after the race! Oehlhof went down twice on the final two laps and unfortunately, the second crash ended his moto early. According to Kris Keefer, who spoke to Joe Oehlhof (Leum’s Dad), the #32’s week is over, which is a bummer deal although it makes sense to call it and get him fully recovered. Temmerman took the win as Gordon took a solid second, although he did not seem to have the pace of his Team Green Kawasaki teammate out front. And somehow, Gibson was not done until the checkered flag as he finished third! He got Hartz late, with a 2:07 lap over Hartz’s 2:13 final lap to take the final podium. You never know, that one extra position could loom big for the overall by the end of the week. Temmerman was charging through the field like this in SMX Next – Supercross earlier this spring. Temmerman was constantly putting in 1:57s over the field’s 2:00s.

Geeked Out

Sawyer Geick (KTM) struck first in the 85cc (10-12) Class when he took the moto win in a great ride for the suddenly very tall youngster.

No Shortage of Talent

First, Hudson Short (Husqvarna) scored the 125C moto win, then his pops, Andrew Short, dominated the Senior (40+) first moto. According to Kris Keefer on his Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Podcast, the Short father and son duo is just the third father-son duo to both land on the podium in the same day at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch, joining only the Tomacs, John and Eli, and the Keefers themselves. Pretty cool feat, especially when you consider Hudson said he really only started riding a lot once COVID-19 hit and he had free time. Quite the journey to get here. Nice ride, Hudson!

Mixin’ in With the Boys

Shannon Tarnow (Cobra) powered his way to the win in the first moto in the 65cc (7-9) Limited class, followed by female racer Yumena Berning (KTM), who landed second as Mickey Fluhart (Cobra) rounded out the podium.

In the Girls (11-16) Class, it was GasGas duo Mayla Herrick and Hannah Jamison out front early on. Jamison briefly went off the track in the Ten Commandments, but she quickly regained the time on Herrick. But then two turns later, Herrick had a costly crash herself! Jamison took over the lead as Callie Sutton (KTM) moved into third. That’s where they would finish the moto: Jamison, Herrick, and Sutton. Herrick seems to be going for redemption in this class after a DNF ruined her chances last year.

Raycin Kyler (Cobra) also scored a fourth-place finish in the first 65cc (10-11) Limited—which was won by Levi Leddy (KTM). Kyler was running second and even pushing for the race lead!

Mad Maddox

In Mini Sr 2 (13-15), Cooper Johnson (Yamaha) got out to an early lead and was rolling as the rest of the field shuffled around. Maddox Temmerman (Husqvarna) was outside of the top ten off the start but got to work. Temmerman made his way into the top five, passing female racer Hannah Jamison (GasGas) to take over fourth. Johnson was rolling out front but slowly but surely, Temmerman was gaining on the leader aboard his #50 Husqvarna. Johnson led as they two took the two-lap card, but Temmerman was all over the rear wheel of the #10 Yamaha machine. Johnson took the white flag but then had a huge swap on the landing of the tunnel jump to send it down past the starting billboard. The mistake was brief, just enough so slow his momentum as he let off the throttle, but it was just long enough for Temmerman to capitalize and take over the race lead! Johnson tried to fight back and kept Temmerman honest for the better part of the final lap, but Temmerman had enough breathing room to take the moto win. Temmerman’s last lap was a 2:06.778 over Johnson’s 2:10.122. Tayce Morgan (Yamaha) charged to finish third.

Maddox Temmerman also picked up another moto win in the Mini Sr. 1 (12-14) as he is one of several riders already into their second moto of the week on the day one. For those counting at home, that is three moto wins for riders named Temmerman so far, as the cousins are off to a hot start.