INTERVIEW
P102
AMA HORIZON AWARD WINNER RJ HAMPSHIRE
STORY BY SHAN MOORE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MOORE AND
KIT PALMER
R
J Hampshire said good-
bye to his amateur career
in grand style by capturing
two AMA Amateur Motocross Na-
tional titles and the coveted AMA
Horizon Award, having swept all
six of his motos in the Open Pro
Sport and 250 A classes at Loret-
ta Lynn's, yet some of you might
not have heard much about him
up until this point.
Unlike many of the superstar
amateur racers that have come
before him, many of whom have
had support from the factory
teams while still in the mini ranks,
Hampshire's rise to the top came
in a relatively short period of time.
The Florida-native first made
waves less than two years ago
at the Winter Olympics, also
known as the Mini O's, in Florida,
where Hampshire turned heads
when he won a B-class title on
a 10-year-old motorcycle. But
it wasn't until little less than a
year ago that Hampshire put his
name on the map after having a
breakout performance at the an-
nual Florida race—it was a perfor-
mance that greased the wheels
for a deal with Factory Connec-
tion.
"Two years ago a friend helped
me out at the Mini O's by letting
me ride a 2005 Honda 450, and
I ended up winning the 450 B
Stock-class championship," says
Hampshire. "Last year I went
back and won five titles, which
was cool because no one ex-
pected that from me."
Hampshire wound up getting
hurt at this year's Spring Nation-
als, so he wasn't able to prove to
everyone that his five-title perfor-
mance in Florida wasn't a fluke.
And that motivated him to come
to Loretta Lynn's this year and
prove his worth.
"I think I've done that now,"
says Hampshire. "I just have to
keep it up."
Hampshire recently signed
with Factory Connection and by
the time you read this will have
made his pro debut at Unadilla
aboard a GEICO Honda along-
side his new teammates Justin
Bogle, Zach Bell and Matt Bisc-
glia, all recent Loretta graduates
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