JULY 28-AUGUST 3, 2013
LORETTA LYNN'S RANCH/HURRICANE MILLS, TENNESSEE
MOTOCROSS
P54
RED BULL AMA AMATEUR NATIONAL MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONS
Top B-class rider Aaron
Plessinger turned
a lot of heads en
route to two National
Championships.
>>NEXT IN LINE?
Aaron Plessinger. You might recognize the
name, especially if you follow off-road racing, more specifically GNCC racing. Aaron
Plessinger is the son of three-time GNCC
and multi-time AMA Hare Scrambles National
Champion Scott Plessinger and is already a
top GNCC racer himself, having won in the
XC2 Pro class once this year. But motocross
is where Aaron Plessinger wants to spread
his wings.
Plessinger has made a smooth transition
into motocross and showed that he's certainly capable of winning, which is something he
did a lot of this year. He dominated both the
250 B and 450 B Limited classes, sweeping all six motos en route. People could've
written off his championships saying that he
used his off-road skills to win in the mud,
but he also won in the dry and did so going
away, nullifying that notion. This 16-year-old
kid from Ohio is definitely for real.
Plessinger has already been snatched up
by the MyPlash/Rockstar/Star Yamaha folks,
but the Rock River Yamaha guys took care
of him at Loretta's for the Star team. Plessinger certainly impressed Star Racing owner
Bobby Regan who was on hand to watch his
blossoming rider win everything in sight on
what were fairly stock Yamaha YZs.
In the months leading up to Loretta's,
Plessinger has been training with Matt Walker, who said one of his real challenges with
Plessinger has been getting him to sit down
more on the bike, which is something good
off-road racers tend not to do so much. The
tall and lanky Plessinger has a unique hang
all-over-the bike style that is unmistakable on
the track. He's aggressive, too, and he no
doubt made good use of both his off-road
and MX skills at Loretta's. Walker also said
that Plessinger has been working with Plessinger on his sprint speed, where in off-road
racing it's more about maintaining a fast and
consistent pace for a much longer period of
time than it is in motocross. Plessinger obviously has gotten that figured out, at least for
the 20-minute motos at Loretta's.
Don't be surprised if Plessinger skips
his A-class year as an amateur and heads
straight to the pro ranks soon, much like his
Star Racing Yamaha predecessor, Cooper
Webb, did this year.
