The Who’s Who of Loretta’s 2020
The 2020 motocross season has been plagued with cancelations and rescheduled events. Nestled in the rolling hills of Tennessee in a little town called Hurricane Mills the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch was the first major motocross event since the pandemic has closed multiple states over the last five months. Things looked different around the track, not just because masks were required in certain areas, but also because Monster Energy came in as the title sponsor. In addition to adding new viewing platforms, they brought in Jumbotrons, provided refreshing drinks, and turned the ranch green. Racing went on without any issues and saved a season that we were not sure would exist. Here is the who’s who of Loretta’s 2020 as 36 champions were crowned.
PRO SPORT
The pro sport classes came down to three main contenders: Stylez Roberston (Hus), Mason Gonzales (Yam) and Dilan Schwartz (Suz). Each had moto wins but at the end of the event as Champions were being crowned Stylez Robertson took the overall in both the 250 Pro Sport and the Open Pro Sport. Notably missing from the line up in the Pro Classes were Jesse Flock and Seth Hammaker. Both were ill and unable to attend.
B Classes
The B classes proved to be one of the fastest and most intense to watch. Levi Kitchen and Matthew Leblanc both dominated their respective classes putting their Yamaha’s on top of the box all week. Kitchen brought home championships in the 250 B Limited and the 450 B Limited, sweeping all 6 motos. At some points Kitchen was half a minute in front of 2nd place, lapping more than half of the class each moto. Matthew Leblanc went 3-1-1 securing the title in the 450 B. The 250 B class wasn’t an easy class to watch. Leblanc won the 1st moto and got 2nd behind Nate Thrasher, but the 3rd moto Leblanc was sitting in 5th as the checkered flag flew. Thrasher had a tough first moto that left him finishing in 9th. Finishing the 2nd and 3rd motos in 1st place secured a 2nd overall for Thrasher. Leblanc had the advantage going into moto 3 and secured the championship with a 1-2-5. Needless to say, a lot of talent will be moving into the Pro Sport classes in 2021; Chance Hymas, Jett Reynolds, Nick Romano, Kaeden Amerine, Daxton Bennick, Jack Chambers, Luca Marsaliso and Luke Kalaitzian just to name a few.
Schoolboy 2
Chance Hymas won his first Loretta Lynn’s Championship this week at the ranch. It was an amazing moment to see Hymas and his family celebrating the big win. Nate Thrasher tied Hymas for points but finished in 2nd behind Hymas securing Hymas’s overall win. Jett Reynolds came back to the ranch in the schoolboy 2 class after a two-year hiatus. Plagued with injuries over the last 2 seasons Reynolds had a very violent crash in the 250 B class in moto 2. He finished 3rd in moto 1 of the class but was not able to continue after moto 2 and went 3-DNF-DNS in the 250B class. In schoolboy 2 he went 1-2-5 to secure a podium finish in 3rd behind Thrasher, although it was evident that Reynolds was in pain while racing the last motos of the week.
Schoolboy 1 and 125 B/C
Maximus Vohland cleaned house in the Schoolboy 1 and 125 B/C classes. His natural talent combined with discipline and hard work has shown through as the KTM Troy Lee Designs team rider has progressed through the years. Vohland has competed at the Amateur National since 2013 earning 9 podium overall finishes. He’s taken 3 championships prior to the 2 he added in 2020. Needless to say, Vohland will be a rider to keep your eyes on as he progresses to the pro’s over the next few seasons.
Supermini 1 and 2
Supermini 1 and Supermini 2 were two more classes that lead to a clean sweep. This time it was Ryder Difrancesco who made his last appearance on the small bikes at Loretta’s in 2020. In the ten years since Ryder made his Loretta’s debut in the 51cc 4-6 class he has taken 8 overall championships in addition to 4 podium finishes in the 16 classes he has raced at the ranch. Word on the streets is Ryder has made the move to the 250 and will begin competing in the B class in the near future.
Women’s
Jordan Jarvis won all 3 motos of the women’s class with Taylor Allred finishing 2nd overall. Jarvis remains on a whole other level when it comes to women racing in Motocross. She has earned her Pro License to compete in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross but has yet to qualify to race. She is the fastest woman racing in motocross right now, but where does she go from here? She raced in the College Boy and finished 19th overall. No doubt we will continue to see Jarvis and Allred pushing each other in the Women’s class.
Girls
Katie Benson was the Cinderella Story of the 2020 Amateur Nationals. Benson has seen firsthand the changes in the girls racing classes. In 2012 she began racing the girls 9-13 class. At that time, the classes included a 9-13 for girls as well as a 11-16 for girls and the Women’s class for 16+. Benson was able to secure podium finishes in 2017, 2018 and 2019 before finally securing an overall finish in 2020. She has finished in the top 10 in women’s the last 3 years in a row and will likely progress while racing the women’s class full time in 2021.
Vet Classes
2020 seemed to be calm in the vet classes. Notably missing were John Grewe and Mike Brown. Grewe is reportedly out due to a shoulder injury and recuperating at home. Mike Brown was at the ranch and was there working with kids he’s been training at Alden Bakers but wasn’t competing.
Winning the vet classes were the following riders: 25+ Brandon Scharer, 30+ Nicholas Hayes, 40+ Kris Keefer, 45+ Joe Buskirk, 50+ Kevin Walker.
50CC 4-6 Limited and MINI E Bike
Jaydin Smart and Kade nightingale provided some amazing racing in both the 51cc 4-6 Limited class as well as the new E-Bike class. Smart took the Championship with a 2-1-1 and Nightingale took the E-Bike Championship with aa 1-1-2. These two kids have so much heart and love for winning it will be interesting to watch them as the grow and compete.
51cc Shaft Drive
Anderson Waldele was sitting 1-1 going into moto 3 for the shaft drive class while leading the moto the unthinkable happened; the rear axle broke with a lap and a half left in the race. Waldele handled it really well; but he was heartbroken as anyone could imagine and finished 7th overall. Waldele also finished 3rd on the Mini E Bike.
Grayson Porco was able to take the Championship in this class with a 3-2-2. Levy Leddy secured 2nd place after a moto win in moto 3. He went 4-3-1.
51cc 7-8
The heartbreak in the 51cc 7-8 limited class goes to Travis Schneider. In one of the opening laps of moto 1 Schneider hit a kicker on the jump after the finish line that sent him end over end. Getting up to 20th from last place was the best position he could secure for that moto. He would come back on Thursday and Friday to win both motos in this class. He would finish the week just outside of the podium finishing 5th in the class. Winning two motos of the class he left his mark on the week and notably would have been a championship contender if not for the bad luck in moto 1.
Gage Brown did take the championship in this class with a 2-2-3. Tied with 4 points with Colt Martin going into moto 3 whoever got the best finish in this moto would likely have won the championship. 3rd place went to Brayton Kreglow with 13 points, so there was quite a gap as the championship came down to the last moto between Brown and Martin. Brown was sitting in 9th after the first lap but managed to be sitting in 5th behind Martin after lap two. He passed Martin in that lap and maintained his position in front of Martin until lap seven when Maddox Temmerman went down going fro 3rd to 16th going into the last lap. Brown finished in 3rd place and Martin finished in 4th.
65 cc Classes
Seth Dennis continued his podium finishes at Loretta’s this week. He has quite possibly one of the most decorated record at the Amateur national than most riders and definitely the most prestigious record for his age group. Of the 9 classes Dennis has raced in since 2015 he has only missed the podium once. He has had podium finishes every year winning an amateur national championship in the 51cc 4-6, the 51cc 7-8 and in 2020 he added 2 65cc championships to his record. Moving to the 85cc in 2021 we will
Gage Dunham won the 65cc 7-9 taking his first amateur national title. It wasn’t an easy class for Dunham to win. Wyatt Thurman, Darren Pine and Dunham all train together under the watchful eyes of Kyle Regal and Zach Mashburn at Underground MX. It was evident the kids knew how to race each other and were on the heels of each other throughout the entire week. The 3 kids finished 1st Dunham, 2nd Thurman and 3rd Pine putting all three bikes on the podium for the week. The 65cc 7-9 limited class was Pine taking the championship, Ryder Ellis taking 2nd and Christopher Harris taking 3rd overall.
85cc and Mini Senior 1&2
Luke Fauser added to his amazing record of Loretta’s podiums in 2020. He won the championship in both the 85 classes while KTM Orange Brigade teammate Hayden Deegan won both Mini Senior classes. Both kids appeared to be untouchable.
The event was plagued by the concerns of the world however the event went on and 36 champions were crowned during the event. The atmosphere was a thankful one as everyone was cooperative with wearing masks where required as we all gave thanks.