As we count down the 36 days until the start of the 2017 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Loretta Lynn’s AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship, we are going to look back at each year in the history of the event. Today we look back at 2000.
It’s fitting that we end our 36 day countdown to the 2017 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship with the 2000 event, which was effectively halftime between the start of the race in 1982 and what begins tomorrow. It’s been a blast counting down all of these years, remembering old names and races, rivalries and conspiracies, and just generally reliving 36 years of the world’s greatest motocross vacation. The year 2000 looked like a very big year on the calendar (remember the whole Y2K computer ballyhoo?), but the races at Loretta Lynn’s were just another good, fun year, full of exciting motos, general chaos in the campground, and the occasional cautionary tale.
By this point former LL standouts like Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Carmichael were at their best, and RC would soon supplant MC at the top of the professional realm. Travis Pastrana seemed to be the next big thing as a hotshot 125cc rookie, but he would become even bigger than anyone imagined through his X Games and freestyle exploits. But in 2000, he was just a Loretta Lynn’s graduate trying to win his first 125cc National motos.
Four-strokes were coming, and by 2000 a stand-alone “Four Stroke” class was a part of the program, just as electric bikes may have their own class someday soon, and then what? It rained some, it was always hot, and the gates were full in every class. Just another year at the ranch.
Bart Lucas won the Senior +40 title over part-time race announcer and one of Indiana’s all-time fast guys Larry Witmer. Larry, the familiar voice of RedBud in Michigan, would come to the ranch and camp and race and then go up into the announcer’s tower to work other motos. He pulled off three AMA Amateur National Championships over the years, his last coming in 2002 over longtime rivals Fred Vertucci and Johnny Borders. I meant to mention the fact that Larry was the only announcer I ever knew of that also won his class the same week at Loretta Lynn’s. The closest we would have now compared to what Witmer did is Jimmy Albertson, who will be here helping out on the mic this week, though he’s still a bonafide pro, albeit currently injured.
A kid from Kentucky named Ben Riddle would win both the 125 A and 250/Open A classes en route to the AMA Horizon Award. But he would become something of a cautionary tale for all. Riddle was immediately signed to a big deal with Suzuki, but then lost his way rather quickly. He was soon out of professional racing altogether.
