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MOTOCROSS 2014 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ATV-MC AMA AMATEUR NATIONAL MOTOCROSS JULY 29-AUGUST 2, 2012 LORETTA LYNN RANCH/HURRICANE MILLS, TENNESSEE P88 had Hampshire in his sights in all three 250cc A motos and end- ed up second overall with 4-2- 2 scores, and he went 3-1-1 for the overall victory in the 450cc A class, topping Alldredge's 1-3- 2 and Daniel Baker's 2-4-5 tally. (Alldredge finished third overall in the 250cc A class with a 2-8-4 tally.) Injuries, however, were a ma- jor factor in the A class. Plessing- er suffered an injury early in the week when his bike locked up over a jump, causing him to crash big-time. He had to deal with a broken toe the rest of the week. Smith also crashed at the start of LORETTA'S GOT TALENT If you're a young motocrosser with dreams of becoming a factory race- team star, there is no better place than Loretta's to get noticed. After all, almost all of the factory and major MX teams set up camp at Loretta's to scout out promising talent. Yes, if you want to get noticed, winning is the best way to do that but sometimes there is more to it than just being fast. Some teams also take into consider- ation how well one conducts them- selves off the track, other teams not so much. We asked some of the teams in attendance at Loretta's what they look for in a racer when searching for potential members. Tyler Keefe—Lucas Oil/Troy Lee Designs/Honda Team Manager: "Obviously, the speed has to be there. The way they handle them- selves after the races is huge, too. The emotional highs and lows this event can bring; it's good to see if a kid can handle that. If he has a bad moto, if he completely loses it - that is something you want to take a look at. Putting the whole week together, the starts, minimizing the mistakes and if you can see that at a young age, it'll roll over into the pros and will be less of a challenge for them. If he's win- ning, he's obviously doing something right, so it's what works for them, but if they have that much energy [throw- ing a tantrum] after the race, then you wonder if they left it all on the track. But, for the most part, you don't want to see a kid throwing his helmet down, throwing his goggles and having a total temper tantrum after a bad race; it's just seeing how they conduct them- selves, their families and all that. "Families have a lot of stress on themselves and in their lives, doing racing, because it is expensive, so it's an emotional roller-coaster for the par- ents as well. They put everything into it, they take two weeks off to come here and what goes on throughout the whole year, so you'd like to be able to control that the best that you can. But when they eventually come to the pro team, we want to make it to where the parents can just relax. When we get behind somebody and start support- ing him, the parents can kind of take a breath and, if they are high strung in the past, maybe we can work with them and they can mellow out and let their kids do it. "We want the best kids, and some- times there is a little baggage that comes along with it but you have to be willing to work with it." Jon-Erik Burleson—President KTM North America: "We model [our program] after, and I know it's a little cheesy to say, but we model it a little after that Moneybomb movie - it's results. Our company slogan is ready to race, you have to be able to show up in a really intensive environment [Loretta's] and you've got to be able to win this week, so we go to results ultimately. If there is a key injury, of course, we have to take that into consideration. We want the best racers. Of course, you also want good athletes and people that are going to have a future and a chance to be a good ambassador for the brand, but ultimately, it really comes down to re- sults. And if you can shine here - a lot of people can shine on a day that they pick, but this is a day that Loretta's picks and that's it. You've got to be good on a day that somebody else picks not on the day you pick. I think that really lets the cream rise to the top. For us to be successful, we have to look at results more than anything." The Kawasaki Team Green crew keeps a close eye on the racing.

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