.MOTOCROSS .
. AMA 'Amateur National Motocross CharnpioJ!sliips
By Davey Coombs
HURRICANE MILlS, lN, AUG. 13-17
h'
J'\MA Amateur National
Mot cross Champions were
crowned during the first week of
August as the 15th AMA Amateur National MX Championships took place at Loretta Lynn's
Ranch in Tennessee, but the one champion who stood out above all others was
16-year-old Ricky Carmichael from
Havana, Florida.
The Team Green/Pro Circuit/
Oakley / Dunlop / Shoei / MTD / Foxbacked Carmichael won the 250cc/
Open A Stock class to record his ninth
career AMA Amateur National Championship, one more than current superstar
Kevin Windham won as an amateur and
minicycle racer. The win also stretched
Carmichael's personal streak of winning
at least one title every year since 1991.
"I never would've thought when I
started racing here that I would one day
be the all-time winner," said
Carmichael, whose amateur career will
one day be looked back on as one of the
greatest ever in motocross history. "I've
been I.ucky to win here a lot and there's
been times that I lost 'when I definitely
should've won. But nine titles is more
than enough for anyone to be happy
with and I'm real proud to be the one
that broke Kevin's record."
Loretta Lynn's Ranch, Tennesse
Carmichael won all three motos in
the 250cc/Open A Stock class, but came
up short in his other class, the 125cc A
Stock division. (Competitors at Loretta
Lynn's are limited to two entries in two
classes.) In that class, Carmichael's game
fell apart in the first moto and several
crashes left him in 12th at the finish. He
won the second and third motos, but
could only muster third overall in the
class behind Team Green teammate
Robbie Horton of Georgia. The winners
of the 12Sec A Modified and the 250cc A
Modified classes, which allow riders
with Pro-Am licenses to enter, were
Casey Johnson and Robbie Skaggs,
respectively. Both Johnson and Skaggs
competed aboard Kawasaki motorcycles.
Two class winners at the 15th annual
L<;lretta Lynn's race included upstart
Pennsylvanian Brand Jesseman in the
85cc Junior minicycle classes, Idaho's
Danny Smith in the 12;;cc B Stock and
125cc B Modified classes,. former factory
superstar Keith Bowen in the Vet classes, Michigan's highly touted Nicholas
Wey in the Intermediate and Schoolboylevel racing, and 125cc C Stock and
. Modified-class Champion Mike Corder
of Oregon.
The Loretta Lynn's race marks the
championship round of the AMA's
Amateur National racing program. Riders all across the country must qualify at
