VOL. 50 ISSUE 31 AUGUST 6, 2013
P51
SHIP, PRESENTED BY AMSOIL
about rider, Shane
McElrath, who ended
Bisceglia's moto win
streak a day earlier in
the 250 class. On a
wet, sloppy and slippery
track where one small
mistake could lead to
disaster, Bisceglia rode
like a seasoned pro, did
what he had to do and
wrapped up the class
title with a wire-to-wire
win. It was a defining
moment for the young rider from
Texas.
One pressure he didn't have on
him at Loretta's, however, was trying
to impress one of the major motocross teams. He's already done that
with the Amsoil/Factory Connection
Honda squad for which he currently
rides. So he really had nothing to
prove at Loretta's but did so anyway.
(He'll move over to the pro-level
GEICO Honda team for Unadilla.)
Bisceglia could've skipped Loretta's
and focused on his pro debut at Unadilla, but the team wanted to see
how he'd perform under pressure
at Loretta's. They had to have liked
what the saw.
Mike LaRocco, the GEICO
Honda team manager, is optimistically cautious regarding his pro
debut. Will he make a big impact at
Unadilla? "It's hard to say. Matt is a
fast, smart rider for sure, but it'll be
tough at Unadilla," he said. "I think
the pace has picked up in the pros
since guys like [Justin] Barcia and
[Eli] Tomac came up, and it won't be
easy for him, or anyone for that matter, to make a splash right away."
At least we won't have to wait for
long to see how it goes in Texas.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LISSA MARSOLEK
>>STAR GRADUATE
Every year at Loretta's, there
usually is one up-and-coming rider
that stands out above the rest, the
one rider who everyone talks about
as being the next big star to emerge
from Loretta's. Last year it was Zach
Bell, before him it was Justin Bogle,
then Jason Anderson, Dean Wilson
and the list goes on and on. When
Bisceglia first set foot on the Loretta
Lynn's Ranch grounds in 2005 a
guy named Ryan Villopoto earned
the award that year.
"Ever since then, seeing Ryan
Villopoto get the award, it's been a
dream of mine to win it, too," Bisceglia said. "That's what I've been
working for for the last eight years.
Now I have it, I can't believe it."
Bisceglia proved that he's a worthy recipient of the Horizon Award,
too, by winning against some
serious talent and proven amateur
racers, such as Shane McElrath, RJ
Hampshire, Paul Coates, Thomas
Covington and many others, and
doing so in both dry and wet conditions, and in some pretty intense
pressure situations, too, including
his final race at Loretta's, where
he went into the title-deciding third
moto in the 250cc A class tied on
points with another much-talked
