Racing wraps up at Loretta's

Aug. 9 – The champions have been crowned, the awards and trophies handed out, and trucks and trailers loaded with motocross bikes and gear are on their way home. Here’s the final wrapup on the racing action from the last day of the AMA Amateur and Youth National Motocross Championships, sponsored by Air Nautiques.

250/Open C: Andro Korlaet of Antofagasta, Chile, stayed steady in the final moto and finished with a 2-1-2 record to win a championship in his first visit to the United States. The 18-year-old Honda rider had limited ability to give a victory speech in English, but there was no mistaking his smile as he held the number-one plate.

150cc Supermini 12-15: Mike Alessi put another one in the record books. He finished the week undefeated, with six straight moto wins, beating archrival Ryan Villopoto, who came in second in all six of those races.

That gives Alessi nine titles, tying him for second in all-time wins and tying James Stewart for most wins ever in the mini-bike classes.

"It’s been a great week," Alessi said. "My number nine championship at Loretta Lynn’s."

250/Open A/Pro Sport: Brian Gray did what he had to do, but he didn’t get enough help from the rest of the field. Gray charged to the front and won the final moto, to follow up two second-place finishes in the class, but that left former national pro champ Jeff Emig with a 1-1-2 record to claim his fifth amateur championship.

125 Modified 12-15: Davi Millsaps finally had an uneventful moto and it earned him his ninth title at Loretta Lynn’s, putting him in a tie for second on the all-time win list.

A day after Millsaps won the 125 A class by charging from last place to second after an early crash, he pulled out to a comfortable lead in the old "schoolboy" class and won without drama ahead of fellow Suzuki rider Josh Lichtle. Matt Boni of Geneva, Florida, finished third in the moto and in the championship.

Millsaps plans to race professional AMA Supercross next year, but he finished his run at the amateur championships the way he wanted, with two class championships.

"Next year I’m not racing here and Josh will win every class," Millsaps predicted, after getting Lichtle’s congratulations on the podium.

65cc Stock 7-9: It doesn’t get much closer than this. Walker Brightwell turned consistency into a championship. His 2-4-2 finishes left him tied with Cameron Reas, of Georgetown, Indiana, who ran 1-3-4. Brightwell’s better finish in the final moto handed him the title.

Brightwell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, won the championship on a Suzuki.

Senior 45 Plus: Fred Vertucci just keeps going and going. Seven years after he won his first title at Loretta Lynn’s, the Kutztown, Pennsylvania rider finished 1-2-1 on his Suzuki in the Senior 45 Plus class to take another one.

With former pro racers coming back to Loretta Lynn’s to compete for amateur titles, the veteran classes just keep getting tougher each year.

"Look at the pros coming out of the 40 class. There’s a pile of them coming," said Vertucci.

250/Open B Stock: Shaun Skinner won the battle but Cody Gilmore won the war. Skinner, a Suzuki rider out of Stuart, Florida, won the third moto to follow up his second-place and fourth-place finishes in the first two motos. But Gilmore, of Spencer, Iowa, riding a Kawasaki, passed his way into second place, exactly where he needed to be to win the championship.

Gilmore’s 3-1-2 record put him one point ahead of Skinner.

Vet 30 Plus: Showdown denied. The much-anticipated final-moto battle between former pro champ Jeff Emig and popular Tennessee rider Kevin Walker failed to materialize. Both entered the race with a first and a second, but Walker and Kevin Cozadd collided hard out of the starting gate. By the time Walker got up and got his four-stroke Yamaha restarted, Emig was coming around on his familiar green Kawasaki to put him a lap down.

Emig cruised to the victory for his sixth title overall, his second in 2003.

85cc Stock 12-13: Dominic Izzi turned in three top-five runs, including a first-moto win, in a class where many of the competitors suffered at least one bad finish.

Izzi, from Deland, Florida, put his Suzuki on the top of the box with a 1-3-5 score. Joshua Hill, of La Center, Washington, came back after a 26^th-place finish in the first moto to finish first in the second two races.

65cc Modified 7-11: Jake Canada kept his Kawasaki one spot in front of Terren O’Dell, on another green bike, to score a 6-1-2 record and edge O’Dell by one point for the championship.

Canada, of Sun City, California, took the title in a class that saw three different moto winners.

125 A/Pro Sport: Steady finishes of 3-1-3 won a title for Bryan Johnson, of Cairo, Georgia, in the talent-heavy Pro Sport class. Johnson, on a Kawasaki, battled in the early laps with Brian Gray, who grabbed the holeshot on his Suzuki, before Gray pulled away for the moto win.

Despite a 16^th-place finish in the first moto, Gray’s win brought him back to third place in the class, just behind Yamaha rider Chris Whitcraft of Pickerington, Ohio.

Women 105cc, 125cc & Up: "I know there’s no crying in motocross, but I’m crying right now," said women’s champion Sarah Whitmore. "I’ve wanted this for so long, I can’t help it."

If Whitmore was overjoyed, she had good reason. After a second-place finish in the top women’s class in each of the past three years, she entered the final moto this year in a tie with number-one plate holder Jessica Patterson of Tallahassee, Florida. Patterson had two second-place finishes despite a fall in the second moto that left her with an injured shoulder and hand.

The two battled throughout the race, with Patterson holding a narrow lead until Whitmore crashed. It looked like a great race was over, but Whitmore didn’t see it that way. She jumped up and chased down Patterson in the final laps, passing her as the two flew past the white flag at the finish line.

Whitmore’s 3-1-1 record gave the Cheboygan, Michigan rider the title.

125 B Stock: A battle for second place in the third moto nearly cost Nick Evennou a title.

In a tight three-way battle for the championship, Evennou was fighting for second place with Cody Dickey on the last lap when Evennou went down. But Evennou, a Kensington, Maryland, rider on a Yamaha, got up and crossed the line in fourth, which was barely enough for a championship with a 2-1-4 record.

Dickey, a Kawasaki rider out of Weatherford, Texas, finished second in the class with 4-2-2 results, and Joshua Grant, riding a Honda, from Yucalpa, California, finished third with a 1-5-3 score.

85cc Stock 7-11: Ben Lamay and Tyler Bowers battled all week long in the Stock class, but in the end, the results were the same in all three motos: Lamay in first place on his Suzuki.

"I just tried to ride a smart race and keep the inside line, and it worked out my way," Lamay said.

Lamay’s 1-1-1 finish made him one of just three riders who were able to sweep a class all week.

125 C Stock: In a week with far more upsets and surprises than dominating performances, only three riders were able to sweep their classes with three moto wins. Two of those guys did it twice and Pasquale Morrocco was one of them.

Morrocco, from Voorhees, New Jersey, swept both 125cc novice classes with six straight moto wins on his Suzuki RM125.

That’s it. Ninety-nine motos contested, 33 champions crowned, five days of racing and the 2003 AMA Amateur and Youth Motocross National Championships, sponsored by Air Nautiques, is a wrap.

Davi Millsaps wins 2003 AMA Motocross Horizion Award

Maybe the most impressive ride of the week at the AMA Amateur and Youth Motocross National Championships, sponsored by Air Nautiques, wasn’t for a win. But it was good enough to earn the 2003 AMA Horizon Award.

When the 125 A class lined up for its final moto on Friday, four or five riders had a good shot at the title. One of those was Davi Millsaps, the fast Suzuki rider from Cairo, Georgia, who had finished sixth in the muddy first moto and won the second. When he went down at the start, it looked like his hopes for a championship were done.

But Millsaps didn’t give up. Instead, he fought his way from last to second, passing every rider in the field except moto winner Ryan Sipes, and passing some of them twice.

It was a comeback ride that had everybody talking and it was also just barely enough to put Millsaps ahead of Shawn Clark, of Montgomery, Indiana, with 2-3-5 finishes, and Sipes with an 8-2-1 record.

When Millsaps followed up that championship with another title in the 125 Modified 12-15 class, Millsaps earned his ninth title to move into a tie with Ricky Carmichael, Mike Alessi and Kevin Foley for second place on the all-time win list, behind only James Stewart’s total of 11.

That made him the clear favorite for the AMA Horizon Award, which is given annually to the top amateur rider who is on the verge of a professional career.

"This is the greatest award I’ve ever gotten," Millsaps said.

He’ll try to carry that momentum with him as he tests himself in professional AMA Supercross competition next year.

"All the fans here are wonderful," Millsaps said. "My last year here, I wanted to come out on top."

He did.

Two new awards were also handed out this year: the AMA Youth Motocrosser of the Year and AMA Veteran Motocrosser of the Year.

There was no doubt about the Youth winner. In a year when the nationals included difficult and quickly changing weather and track conditions, few riders were able to dominate their classes. And nobody dominated like Mike Alessi.

The Apple Valley, California, Honda rider swept all six motos, some of them by wide margins. When he did encounter adversity, such as when he crashed in his final moto in the 85 Modified 14-15 class, he worked hard to win, instead of settling for second.

"I wanted to make a clean sweep and leave no doubt that anyone could win anything against me," Alessi said.

With nine championships at Loretta Lynn’s, Alessi is tied with Carmichael, Millsaps and Kevin Foley for second place on the all-time wins list, just behind James Stewart’s 11 titles. And Alessi is tied with Stewart for the most wins in the mini-bike classes.

Foley’s lifetime record, plus his title this year in the Senior 40 Plus class, earned him the AMA Veteran Motocrosser of the Year award.

Foley won his first two titles at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in 1983, just the second year the nationals were held there. Twenty years later, he’s not only still winning, he now has a street named after him. One of the streets in the midway area is now called Kevin Foley Way.

Andro Korlaet of Chile won a title in his first visit to the United States.	Andro Korlaet of Antofagasta, Chile, celebrates his win in the 250/Open C class	Mike Alessi, 80, works through lapped traffic on his way to one of his six moto wins.
Mike Alessi finished the week undefeated and was named AMA Youth Motocrosser of the Year.	Former pro champ Jeff Emig added two more amateur titles to his resume this year.	Jeff Emig ran up front on his familiar Kawasaki.
Jeff Emig’s return to Loretta Lynn’s has been filled with victories.	Davi Millsaps won two titles despite a few crashes and some difficult track conditions early in the week.	Josh Lichtle, left, congratulates Davi Millsaps. They finished second and first in the 125 Modified 12-15 class.
Jeff Emig won the Vet 30 Plus class with two wins.	Walker Brightwell of Cincinnati, Ohio, won the 65cc Stock 7-9 class.	Fred Vertucci celebrates his title in the Senior 45 Plus class with his sons, Steven and David.
Cody Gilmore finished in the top three in all three motos to win the 250/Open B/Stock class.	Davi Millsaps won two titles in his last year at Loretta Lynn’s.	Jeff Emig accepts cheers for another title.
Dominic Izzi stayed consistent to win the 85cc Stock 12-13 class.	Bryan Johnson, 57, and Brian Gray, 38, fight for the holeshot.	Jake Canada of Sun City, California, won the 65cc Modified 7-11 title.
Jake Canada shows off his new number-one plate.	Bryan Johnson, 57, leads Richie Owens, 18, in a 125 A/Pro Sport battle.	Two thirds and a win got Bryan Johnson a championship.
Sarah Whitmore, 89, tries to chase down Jessica Patterson, 1.	"I know there’s no crying in motocross," Sarah Whitmore said. "But I can cry if I want."	A win and two top-five finishes won Nick Evennou the 125 B Stock class title.
Pasquale Morrocco won six motos in the novice classes.	Ben Lamay, 8, leads Tyler Bowers, 3, in the 85cc Stock 7-11 class.	Nick Evennou tries to recognize all his sponsors on the podium.
Ben Lamay was one of just three riders to sweep a class this year.	Sarah Whitmore celebrates the championship she narrowly missed winning the last three years.	Pasquale Morrocco celebrates a week of undefeated racing at Loretta Lynn’s.