Cycle News

MOTOCROSS 2014 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ATV-MC AMA AMATEUR NATIONAL MOTOCROSS JULY 29-AUGUST 2, 2012 LORETTA LYNN RANCH/HURRICANE MILLS, TENNESSEE P92 over late in the race, handing Marchbanks his second win. Marchbank's only loss came in the third and final moto where he got off to a sixth-place start. By the time he got to second, Sexton was long gone, but that was okay since all he needed was a second to wrap up the title. For his effort, Marchbanks was honored with the AMA Motocross Youth Rider Award, which goes to a rider under the ADVERSITIES AND SACRIFICES Every year at Loretta's, we see hundreds of motocross racers giving it their all on the track, but what we don't see is how they gave it their all just to get there. Racers don't just show up the day of Loretta's, sign up and hope to do well. Each rider has to first qualify/earn their spot on the starting gate and then, for most at least, make the long journey to Tennessee, which means paying huge gas bills and giving up precious vacation days or taking unpaid time off from work. For some, however, the road to Loretta's is 10 times rougher than just trying to qualify, pay gas bills and use up precious vacation time, just ask 18-year-old Stone Edler. Edler, who hails from Destrehan, Louisiana, and wants nothing more than to leave The Ranch with a Lo- retta's title in his hands, was forced to put racing on the back burner a couple of years ago before returning in 2014. "I've been through a lot in the last two years," says Edler. "In 2012, I had a crash and when I went to the doctor, they found I had Hodgkin's Lympho- ma. I was 16, and that put me out for a year, which is the reason I missed Loretta's that year. Then last year I was training for the race and I crashed and broke my humorous, which put me out of last year's Loretta's." Despite dealing with cancer and all the injuries (and there were plenty more), Edler never lost sight of his goal - winning a championship at Loretta's. "It's just about loving the race," says Edler. "I just wanted to show peo- ple I could do this - that nothing was going to stop me, not even cancer." Edler's determination finally paid off. Two first-place finishes and a sixth gave Edler what he always wanted, a Loretta Lynn's Championship, which came in the College B/C 16-24 class. And he also finished a respectable 12 th overall in one of the most competitive classes at Loretta's, the 250 B class. While some racers deal with adversity like Edler, some deal with sacrifices, like Daniel Baker's family Stone Edler, a cancer survivor, claimed a National Championship number-one title at Loretta's this year. Maximus Vohland and his dad, Tallon, had a good time at Loretta's. Maximus and Jeremy Ryan had quite a battle in the 65 10-11 Limited class.

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