Motocross Racing: Bond County dirt bike racer earns spot at National Championship at Loretta Lynn’s ranch
Dawson Chesnut of Sorento just made his dream come true. The 16-year-old dirt bike racer has qualified for the largest amateur motocross race in the world, the 34th Annual Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship presented by AMSOIL at country music star Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn.
Chesnut took on more than 20,000 hopefuls from across America to earn one of just 1,483 qualifying positions.
“The Amateur Nationals at Loretta Lynn’s is the event every motocross racer in the country wants to compete in,” said Event Director Tim Cotter. “A win at the Amateur Nationals gives a rider instant national notoriety and can serve as a springboard to a lucrative professional motocross career.”
Most of America’s top professional motocrossers, including James Stewart, Ricky Carmichael, Travis Pastrana and Jeremy McGrath, have won AMA Amateur National Championships at Loretta Lynn’s. The race is so prestigious that in 2013 race coverage was aired on NBC for the first time ever.
In 2015, the coverage only gets better as the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC National Championship will air LIVE streaming from Loretta Lynn’s on RacerTV.com throughout the week and be broadcast later in the fall on NBC Sports Network.
Chesnut, who attends Greenville High School, has been riding since he was 4 years old. With the help of sponsors and his parents, who help in many ways with racing, Chesnut has had the opportunity to pursue his dreams. He has won many races in the last 12 years and competes nearly every weekend at Lincoln Trail Motorsports, Archview MX, Skyhigh MX and many other local area tracks.
Chesnut will make the long journey to Tennessee along with his family. The race runs July 27 through Aug. 1.
Chesnut spent the last four months qualifying for the event. The top finishers in area and regional qualifiers earn a birth into the National Championship race at Loretta Lynn’s. Racers may enter a wide variety of classes, from minicycle classes for children as young as four, all the way up to a senior division for riders over 50. There are also classes for women and classes for both stock and modified bikes.
The Rocky Mountain ATV/MCAMA Amateur National Motocross Championship is the world’s largest and most prestigious amateur motocross racing program. The national qualifying program consists of 59 Area Qualifiers (February through May) and 13 Regional Championships (May through June), hosted at select motocross facilities across the country. The qualifying system culminates in the National Final the last week in July.
This story was originally published July 24, 2015 at 3:15 AM with the headline "Motocross Racing: Bond County dirt bike racer earns spot at National Championship at Loretta Lynn’s ranch."