Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Kevin Walker was in contention for breaking the all-time National Championship record of 11 wins, which is currently bound in a three-way tie between James Stewart, Mike Alessi and Walker. After leading the first few laps of the much-anticipated Vet Over-30 class, Walker suffered a freak misfortune when his gas cap came off, causing him to lose precious time and, ultimately, the champi- onship. While overshadowing Walker's heartbreaker, Suzuki's Mike Katin and Honda-mounted Trampas Parker locked into one of the greatest races ever at Loretta's, swapping leads for at least a dozen times. Parker came out ahead in that moto, but was basically spent for the rest of the week. Katin won out in the end with 2-2-5 finishes for the title. Walker finished 13th in that race but never skipped a beat in his following motos and accepted 13-1-1 scores. The 11-time-champion's "never give up" attitude emerged once again in the Vet Over-35 class where his last chance for the record breaker was on the line, but Walker couldn't quiet muster the speed of former Supercross and Motocross Champion Jeff Emig, who topped Walker's 2-2-2 finishes with his 1- 1-1 class sweep. Emig's speed was noth- ing short of amazing. "Kawasaki has been twisting my arm to get back on the throttle," Emig said. "It's tough to do the work of a parent and play like a rider. I just slammed a Monster Energy drink and went for it." An emotional Walker was asked if he would try for the record in '07. "I probably will," he said. "It was def- initely tough out there, but this was noth- ing compared to what I survived this past year with my family's loss. I can make it through anything now," said Walker, whose mother recently passed away. The Kawasaki duo of Austin Stroupe 29 Fittingly, the 25th anniversary of the Air Nau- tiques AMA Amateur Nationals at Loretta Lynn's presented by Amsoil was the biggest ever. As always, only 1386 riders qualified for the event, but this year that field was narrowed down from over 23,000 entries who attempted to qualify through the area qualifiers and regional champi- onships. The area qualifiers began in February. Since most of the top current American Pro rac- ers have raced at Loretta Lynn's as amateurs, many of them stop by to check out a few days of racing and relive some old memories. This year's graduate pack celebrating a homecoming included Ricky Carmichael, Jeremy McGrath, James Stew- art, Travis Pastrana, Kevin Windham, Nick Wey, Ivan Tedesco and Ryan Villopoto, among others. Travis Pastrana started the week off in wild fash- ion when he took his Thor/199 Monster Truck for a spin on the Loretta Lynn's starting line. The kids at the ranch packed in to see Travis crush some cars in his truck. After that, he signed a ton of autographs and headed to the X Games. Jeremy McGrath was the next to put on a big show, as Jeremy stopped by for Monday night's riders' meeting/opening ceremony. On Tuesday he went out and did some laps on a CR250R, and then, just as Pastrana, headed to Los Angeles for the X Games. One of the most amazing performances of the week was turned in by Ashley Fiolek. The young Womens-class racer is hearing impaired, and she shifts based on the vibrations of her bike, and at just 15 years old, she can battle with almost any- one. Fiolek qualified for the 85cc (14-15) Boys class this year and finished 11th overall. Fiolek only rides a CR85 due to her age and size, but that did- n't stop her in the Womens-class, where she overcame a crash with Sarah Whitmore in moto one and a bad start in moto two, to finally battle upfront in moto three. In that race, Fiolek was in the hunt for the lead of a torrid seven-rider battle which included Whitmore, Tara Geiger, Jessica Patterson, Elizabeth Bash and Leah Cantrell. And Fiolek hung right in there, even passing the CRF250-mounted Patterson twice, and ended the moto in an amazing fourth place. On Wednesday night, a special AMA Team USA ceremony was held in the jampacked Amsoil Arena (which is the Loretta Lynn's stage for the other 51 weeks of the year). First, the 2005 Team USA squad of Carmichael, Tedesco and Windham came to the stage to huge cheers from the fans, and AMA President Robert Rasor and AMA motocross series manager Steve Whitelock pre- sented them, again, with the Peter Chamberlain Trophy. Then a special video was played with highlights of the race, and a big bench-racing ses- sion broke out as the team exchanged stories from last year. Finally, the official 2006 AMA Team USA presented by Loretta Lynn's was announced live. The team will consist of Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto. On Thursday night, Team Green held a special ceremony celebrating their 25th anniversary. Founding Team Green riders Billy Liles and Keith Turpin came to the stage, as did Dave Jordan and Sandra Yarnell, who started the team in 1981. The four exchanged stories of the early days of Ama- teur motocross and Team Green. Then current Team Green manager Reid Nordin came to the stage and invited one of the Loretta Lynn's event founders, Rita Coombs, to the stage, and present- ed her, Jordan and Yarnell with special awards from Kawasaki. A 10-minute DVD was played, featuring all kinds of old-school highlights from the early days of the team. Kawasaki raffled off two custom KLX110s with silver plastic, and then the band, Skillet, hit the stage to entertain the crowd. Briefly... Continued on page 33 Jessy Nelsen won two class championships and five out of six motos. Doug Dubach aced the Senior Over-40 class. Austin Stroupe survived this crash and went on to win the 125 B Stock class. C Y C L E N E W S • AUGUST 23, 2006