Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

20th Annual AMA Amateu .... National Motoc....oss Championships Lo....etta Lynn's Ranch (Left) Nicholas Adams came on strong to win the 125cc Stock (12-151 division. (Rightl Carrol celebrates his Four-Stroke-class win. (Below) Sean Hackley Jr. rode to victory in the 65cc Modified (7-111 class. and fellow Floridian Kyle Keylon (8-81). And the state of Alaska claimed its first Loretta Lynn's title on record when Ben Lemay out-gunned the rest of the 65cc Stock (7-9) class with a 3-1-2 tally. A pair of Californians - Trevor Reis and Michael Hall - ran second and third in the final rankings. The 65cc Modified (7-11) winner was Team Green recruit Sean Hackley, who recently moved from Pennsylvania to Florida. Hackley took advantage of an untimely spill by class favorite Zach Osborne from Virginia, who won the first moto but then crashed out of the second race and broke his wrist. Louisiana's Matthew Lemoine was second and Michigan's Brett Wagner ran second and third. Ohio's Shawn Rife single-handedly stopped an army of Cobra minicycles aboard his KTM and was named the class champion in the 51cc (7-8) class, with Blake Baggett the runner-up. In the 51cc (4-6) class, New Jersey's Joseph Peters won on his Cobra, with Daniel Paluzzi placing second. And Tyler McSwain, the son of former GNCC off-road contender Steve McSwain from North Carolina, topped the 51cc (4-6) Shaft Drive class with Jacob Behringer taking second. Joshua Hansen, 17, the son of former 250cc Supercross Champion Donnie Hansen, as well as the summer roommate of James Stewart, topped Costa Rica's Edgardo Rojas in the 250/0pen B Modified class for his first-ever title. Richie Owens ran third with three's across the board. "I'm so happy because I've been working so hard to win here and now I know that it paid off," said Thousand Oaks Yamaha/AXO/Alpinestars-backed Hansen "I really wanted to do it to get my confidence and get 38 AUGUST 29, 2001 • cue I it in my head that I can do it again. I just felt great out there." "I had some bad starts but I think I did a pretty good job to stay calm and focused," said Rojas, 16. "I guess I just have to work harder and train a lot more and be ready next year. I don't live here in America and I travel back and forth all the time, so it's tough on me, but I'm doing the best I can." Rojas did not fare as well in the 125cc B Stock class, crashing out of the final moto and taking a trip to nearby Waverly Hospital for a concussion. Up front, the win went to Ohio's Gracyk, who improved all week long with a 4-2-1 tally to better the 2-1-4 of Capitol Cycle/Pro-Circuit/Fox/Bent Frame-backed Yamaha rider Donnie McGourty. Hansen was third with a 1-7-2 count on his YZ125. "I came into this race with a really good attitude and forgot about all of the other motos I've had here and just did what I could," said Gracyk. "It felt just right and I thank the Lord for helping me all along and giving me the increase just when I needed it." Gracyk also took the 250/0pen B n ... _ s e Stock Championship, bettering fast West Coast prospect Jesse Casillas Jr., and Arizona's Michael Blose. The Yamaha-mounted Blose redeemed himself with a 125cc B Modified win over Suzuki-mounted Brian Gray and Yamaha rider McGourty. Italy's Stefy Bau become only the second foreign rider in the 20-year history of Loretta Lynn's to take the Women's title with a 1-1-2 to score her first Loretta Lynn's title. The last person from outside the U.S. to win the Women's class was Australia's Tiffany Greenwood back in 1992. Bau was helped along by the injury to defending two-time class winner Jessica Patterson, who has been struggling with a broken leg all year long. Patterson dropped out after a crash while leading the second moto, and Bau took control for good. Finishing second overall was Michigan's Sarah Whitmore, 16, with a 2-3-1 tally. Former champion Shelly Kann from Minnesota was third with a 4-2-3 tally. Georgia's Leah Cantrell topped the Women's 80-105cc class with a solid 2-1-1 week to out-pace Florida's Marisa Hampshire and Iowa's Tori Klein. First-moto winner Ashley Wheat from Mississippi suffered an unfortunate crash in the second moto that knocked her out of the rest of the race with a torn ACL. David Mack charged to victory in the Senior 40+ division. "I'm really excited, because I've been coming here so long and never 1 having any good luck, and then final- ) Iy I come here and win," said SYD Suzuki/Fox/Oakley/Engine Icebacked Cantrell. "I was kind of nervous before the final moto, because I couldn't fall or anything, but once I got out there I was fine." In the Four-Stroke class, former New Jersey privateer pro Brian Carroll rolled to the overall championship, his first-ever at Loretta Lynn's, wearing his trademark American flag-like jersey. Carroll we!"'t 1-1-2 to beat KTMmounted Chad Lough (2-2-1) and Dunlop/Thor/Scott-backed Yamaha pilot Eddie Ray (3-3-5). Kevin Walker, who hails from the same Tennessee town as AMA 125cc National title contender Mike Brown, was unbeatable in the two Vet classes he competed in. The friendly Walker swept all three motos in both the Junior (25+) and Vet (30+) classes in ; his return to amateur national competition after an injury kept him out of last year's race. Walker came to Loretta Lynn's armed with a Yamaha YZ426F. "I actually ride the YZ250F a little better than the Open bike, but with the long start here 1 decided to use the horsepower to get out of the gate and then just do my best the rest of the way," said Walker. His best was more than enough, as he led the

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