The 2025 Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship, presented by AMSOIL was wrapped up this past Saturday afternoon at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. We saw amateur athletes from all over the United States and several international entrants compete for the right to be the 2025 National Champion in their race classes. The week was jam-packed with racing and off-track activities, and the host state provided the typical very hot temperatures that would play a factor in competition as they typically do. As part of the media coverage of the event, we saw a number of things personally, and some were discussed around the internet, and we wanted to mention a few of our thoughts. None of these are meant to glaze or trash anyone, just observations that we made in contrast to past years.
Cool down procedures
As mentioned briefly above, the temps at the ranch are typically a factor in racing as well as for spectators. There were multiple days when the temperature was in the mid-nineties and the humidity was also that high. This makes it difficult to spend much time outside, yet alone race a 20-minute moto with a smoking hot motorcycle between your legs and a 180-plus beats per minute heart rate. At the end of each moto, every athlete is exhausted and suffering, and the first thing they want to do is find a way to cool down. Over the years, there have been many trips to the creek to cool off, as well as the top ten finishers using the impound area as a cool-down zone. A new area was added to the exit of the track by the start line for finishers that did not place in the top ten. This new area provided cold water to drink, poor over themselves, and wet towels to wrap around their necks to aid in getting their body temperature down.
In addition, there were multiple spots that had ice baths located for the more extreme cases, should someone need an additional response. For the athletes waiting for their next moto in the staging area, also new this year was the Monster Energy Cool Zone, which was an enclosed area that was air-conditioned. This cool zone allowed the athletes who were next to race but not yet ready to be on the gate to wait in a safe zone out of the elements. Outside of wishing these options had been there a few years earlier, I can’t fathom anyone complaining about these improvements.
Race Control and Flaggers
I don’t know what the number was in past years, but on the track this year, there were twenty-two members of race control in grey shirts. This team served many purposes; they watch for safety, enforce racing rules, work with flaggers, and perform many other tasks. The topic of flagging in motocross is a hot-button issue, and I don’t intend on reopening that discussion now. Simply that throughout the week and heavily on practice day, we saw the race control staff working closely with the flagging crew. They were working to place them in proper positions, adjust how they guided the competitors around a downed rider, and other improvements. While things might not have been perfect, it was good to see a concerted effort to raise the level of safety and flagging during the event.
“The Tree Incident”
Yes, the tree on the corner entering Storybook Land is scary, but its removal or not is out of all our control. But after the rider hit the tree in a freak scenario, the race control team did not sit idle. While the entire internet demanded that the tree be cut down ASAP, which is probably out of the control of the event promoter. The next morning that jump and corner were altered to prevent the same thing from happening again. The lip was shaved down on the jump, and there was a berm added on the edge to keep riders further back from the tree changing their angle of approach. Both of these changes resulted in no further incidents for the rest of the event. If the tree is there next year, then I would suspect that the property owner did not want it removed, and the track design will be altered again to prevent any further issues. But the idea that nothing was done is not correct. We were right there at the spot when it happened and thankful that it was not any worse.
Media stuff
Each year at Loretta’s, a large group of media from around the world descends on the ranch and looks to tell the stories of these amazing athletes and the racing that takes place in this special week. This year, as well as last year, there has been a quiet set of work that seems to be slimming down the amount and type of media allowed, which we tend to agree with. The standards are being raised to match more closely with the Pro Motocross and Supercross series, and while we would have a few more suggestions, this is great to see. There was a safety meeting for the first year prior to the event starting, where the standards were explained as in other series. This is welcome, as some of the media attendees this might be their first credentialed event, and things are far different than your regular amateur event. Things were communicated clearly, and one of our favorite items is that they painted lines on the track to stay behind in dangerous areas. We got a track map with these zones also, which is very standard, but there can be a difference between how it looks on the card versus when you’re standing out there. These lines disappear throughout the day, and the field team did a great job of repainting them throughout the week.
