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CNIIARCHIVES P144 Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives ple were used to. Competitors spent Wednesday practicing on the new track. Then each class raced one moto per day for the next three days, and scores were averaged to determine the winners. Each class had a 40-rider limit, and every rider was required to wear a racing bib with a large Wiseco logo on it. And each rider was assigned a number 1-40. Emery Anden is remembered as the first to take the check - ered flag at Loretta Lynn's. He won the first Open A-class moto on a Honda. According to our report, Anden crashed in the third and final moto, held in the mud, so he was denied a chance to win the class championship, which ended up going to West Virginian Dave Scott. Several riders competed in that first Loretta's race that went on to become big names in the sport of motocross and Super - cross, including Damon Brad- shaw, Mike LaRocco, Larry Ward, Brian Swink, Bobby Moore, Keith Bowen, Todd DeHoop, Donny Schmit and future road-racing legend Colin Edwards. But the first official motocross star to graduate from Loretta's and go straight to the bigs with good success was Ron Lechien. The young Yamaha support rider from El Cajon, California, competed in the 125cc A Stock and Modified Youth classes at Loretta's in 1982, winning both. Less than a year later, the now-factory Yamaha rider won his first Supercross in Orlando, Florida. He then won his first Motocross National (125cc) in Texas a week later. Some of the other Loretta Lynn's class champions in 1982 whom you might have heard of included Kyle Lewis (85cc Modified 7-11), Danny Storbeck (85cc Modified 12-15), and Ed- die Warren (125cc A Stock and Modified). Bowen (250cc A) and Ward (85cc Stock 7-11) also won titles that year. There was at least one rider who liked that first Loretta's track, and that was Women's Champion Lisa Atkins of South - ern California, who won all three of her motos. "I guess I really don't have anything to complain about," she said. "This track is a lot better than Carlsbad." CN wasn't perfect at that first Loretta Lynn's race—like, of all things, the track. It left a lot to be desired. It was flat and laid out in a middle of a field. It lacked jumps, and the dirt was funky and full of horse manure. It was much different from the hilly and more natural terrain layout that the racers were accustomed to at their home tracks. The Loretta Lynn's track didn't impress anyone, which wasn't good for such a high-profile race; after all, it was a National! It also dried out quickly and got dusty—until the rains came, and then things just got muddy and nasty. Luckily, everything else about the event was so good and fun that most of the racers and their families could ignore the track's short - comings and would return the following year, especially after promoter Coombs Sr. promised that the track would be better, and Coombs was never known to go back on his word. The 1983 track was indeed better, and thousands of racers have returned to Loretta's year after year. For many racing families, Loretta's has turned into a must- do every year. That first Loretta's race saw a new racing format. We reported that the Amateur National, Youth National, and Women's National, run separately in past years, were brought together for this new event. Plus, a Senior class and several new B classes were also added. Overall, there were far more classes than peo -