2012 Loretta Lynn MX: Tuesday Race Day Recap And Results
The 31st annual Loretta Lynn MX Amateur Motocross Championship got off to a great start on Tuesday, July 31st 2012. The track conditions were near perfect, though serious ruts developed quickly, and some early mud gave many riders a good challenge. Another major challenge besides ruts and stiff competition, was the insane heat. Temperatures soared around the 100 degree mark all day, with the heat index boiling over that by late afternoon. Race after race, the top three finishers had their chance to share their thanks and thoughts on the famous Loretta podium. Team Chronic MX had a decent day with lots of great rides and no bad injuries. Thankfully no major injuries were reported, though there was certainly a few gnarly wrecks…of which we captured many in our facebook albums. The sun continued to beat down all day, slightly drying out the track from muddy and loam in the morning to pretty sandy by later in the day. As a matter of fact, some claimed that it was the most sandy they’d ever seen the conditons at Loretta’s. Spectators enjoyed the incredible venue and racing from Loretta’s own make-shift beach area…but most spectators hit in the shade amongst the track-side trees and booths.
The biggest race of the day was that of the 25+ class. Ricky Carmichael made his controversial entry count, by taking home first place in the classes first moto, which ran late in the day. In many people’s eyes, the true champion of the 25+ class was the talented Andrew Matusek. Not only did Matusek holeshot the regional qualifiers at Millcreek, but he did it once again at Lorettas. Few amateurs have the luxury of saying they pulled a holeshot on ‘The Goat’. Even more amazing was that Matusek was on a borrowed bike…a Suzuki RM 450f lent to him by Travis Pastrana. RC got off to a rough start, he was pushed to the outside by Matusek and had to work his way back up front. His charge didnt take long, and he quickly worked his way from 6th up to first within the first few turns. Matusek held a steady second behind Carmichael for the entire remainder of the moto… surprisingly not too far back from RC and steadily keeping up with RC’s pace. On the podium, Matusek gave an emotional speech about how he was once injured, and told by doctors that he would never ride motocross again. Years later….he has seriously proven them wrong with a podium finish at Loretta’s right behind Ricky Carmichael. While interviewed by Jason Weigandt on the podium infront of hundreds, Matusek said, “I took second place behind the greatest of all time…it doesn’t get much better than that”.
Many familiar faces showed up at the ‘Ranch’ on Tuesday’s opening race day. Jeff Emig, Blake Wharton, Jessica Patterson, Blake Baggett, Ryan Dungey, Joe Gibbs, JBone, and about a dozen other legendary motocross names were around. As expected, the mx racing was intense all day long, as amateur motocross riders pushed hard towards conquering their dreams of making a podium finish at Loretta’s. One of the most dominant rides of the day came from Cairo, Georgia’s Zachary Bell. The Honda rider pulled an impressive holeshot in the stacked 250A class and ran away with a huge win. He rode flawlessly and built a massive lead. There is no question that he was dialed in, and proved to all that he could one day be a dominant force on the professional circuit. Speaking of ‘circuit’, Mitch Payton set up camp helping numerous pro circuit sponsored riders. Adam Cianciarulo won both super mini classes, showing promise as another future professioanl star.
Overall, the opening day was a complete success and not only did the event dodge any major thunder storms, but the logistics of the venue ran almost perfectly…probably because of 31 years of improvements and feedback. An astounding 22 seperate moto’s ran on Tuesday, from 7:30 am until almost 7pm. By the end of the day 24 riders were able to brag of their first place podium finish. Almost everyone, including the Chronic MX crew, treated themselves to a dunk in the cool creek running behind the ranch. The night ended with a showing of Nitro Circus at the pavilion. Stay tuned to Chronic MX for full video coverage and interviews of the entire week at Loretta’s… coming within the next week or so. Talented video producer Dillon G is cooking up some great coverage for all to enjoy. We will continue to post daily race recaps and winning results all week long, plus our killer photos of each day’s racing in our facebbook albums on http://www.facebook.com/ChronicMotoX . Check out the opening day’s race shots and take a moment to “LIKE” us too! We are ‘motocross for life’…we are ‘Chronic MX’. Cheers, Rocket 88.
Tuesday Race Day Results: 2012 Loretta Lynn Amateur National MX Winners
250C Modified: Tallon Lafountaine
Vet 35+: Robbie Reynard
Mini Sr. (12-14): Justin Hoeft
250B Stock: Shane Mxelrath
85 Modified (9-11): Jordan Bailey
250A: Zachary Bell
450C: Cody Herzog
65 (10-11) Stock: Conner Mullennix
450B Stock: Matt Bisceglia
65 (7-9) Stock: Pierce Brown
Super Mini (12-15): Adam Cianciarulo
Open Pro Sport: Jesse Wentland
Schoolboy 1 (12-16) B/C: Jarek Balkovic
College B/C (16-24)” Tyler Enticknap
Senior 45+: Doug Dubach
85 (9-11) Stock: Garrett Marchbanks
Girls (12-15): Hannah Hodges
Girls (9-11): Jazzmyn Canfield
Junior 25+: Ricky Carmichael (Andrew Matusek 2nd)
250C Stock: Axell Hodges
250B Modified: Hector Rodriguez
Super Mini 2 (13-16):Adam Cianciarulo
Vet B/C 30+: Kevin Smith
