2020 AMA Amateur National Motocross | Friday-Saturday Race Report

2020 AMA AMATEUR NATIONAL MOTOCROSS | COMPLETE COVERAGE

2020 AMA AMATEUR NATIONAL MOTOCROSS RESULTS ARCHIVE

Racing at The Ranch. Families and riders from all over have flocked to central Tennessee for the 2020 AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship, the crown jewel of amateur motocross competition, for a week of battles, come from behind rides, career-defining results, and an all-around great time. Here’s a recap of Friday’s top motos…

SUPERMINI 1 – FRIDAY

Ryder DiFrancesco’s effort on Friday was about maintaining his run of wins, and since the SuperMini 1 Moto was the first race of the day, the Team Green Kawasaki rider was able to get the race over quickly and focus on Saturday’s championship-deciding races. An excellent start put DiFrancesco at the front of the pack early and allowed him to lead every lap and win by nearly 16-seconds.

While DiFrancesco ran alone upfront, it was the charge by teammate Gavin Towers that kept the crowd entertained. Towers struggled with starts through the week, a trend that continued in this Moto, and he crossed the scoring loop on Lap One in seventh place, but a hard charge and plenty of passes pushed him up to second place at the finish. 

SCHOOLBOY 2 – FRIDAY

Jett Reynolds’ hard crash in Thursday’s 250 B race loomed over this Moto. Clearly battered and sore, the Team Green Kawasaki rider made good on his word that he’d continue to line up to fight for this other title against Nick Romano and Nate Thrasher.

Romano got to the front of the pack early and looked like he was the rider to beat, especially after he outdueled Thrasher for the top spot. Disaster struck midway through the race for Romano, though, when the clutch in his Star Racing Yamaha went out and forced him to DNF. This gave Thrasher the chance he needed to get the win and the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM rider took full advantage of the opportunity, as he blasted away to a 12-second margin of victory over Reynolds; the runner-up later said it was the longest Moto he had ever done.

While Reynolds received praise for his gutsy ride, he wasn’t the only Team Green Kawasaki rider fighting for a chance at the title. Chance Hymas overcame another mediocre start and went from 14th place on Lap One to third place at the checkered flag. With this, the trio of Thrasher/Reynolds/Hymas all went into the final race of the class with a shot at the overall.

450 B

Matt Leblanc’s consistency in the 450 B Class got the Star Racing Yamaha rider one of the first and most coveted titles of the week. In the mix from the moment the gate dropped, Leblanc got in a battle with Luke Kalaitzian early in the race, but it was unfortunately shortlived. As the two went through the rutted hairpin before the mechanic’s area side by side, the MotoConcepts Honda rider got out of sorts, hopped out of his rut, and bumped Leblanc’s rear wheel. This caused Kalaitzian to tip over and drop down the running order while Leblanc rode away unbothered, scored the Moto win, and clinched the championship with 3-1-1 finishes. Kalaitzian would regroup and end the race in sixth place and the 2-2-6 rides helped him barely beat Matthew Curler for second overall; SLM KTM rider Curler claimed third place in the final moto and his 4-4-3 put him within one point of second place.

250 B LIMITED

1-1-1. Levi Kitchen claimed his first title of the weekend with a clean sweep of the 250 B Limited division. The Rock River Yamaha rider took control of the race almost as soon as the gate hit the ground and by Lap Five, he had a massive 14-second lead on Daxton Bennick. It wasn’t a perfect race, though, as a get-off on Lap Five left his bike with a bent front brake disc and chopped the gap he had built down to just 3.9 seconds. Kitchen spent the last half of the race rebuilding his advantage and crossed the finish line up 16.9-seconds on the field. 

250 PRO SPORT

All eyes were on Stilez Robertson, Mason Gonzales, and Dilan Schwartz going into the last 250 Pro Sport race of the week. The trio all had a chance at the title and the speed to win the race, so the start of the final race was crucial.

Roberston aced the start on his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna and took immediate control while Schwartz was ranked fifth on his BarX Suzuki and Gonzales was sixth on his Rock River Yamaha at the end of Lap One. The two riders effectively linked up and worked their way up to second and third, respectively, but the time spent passing other riders allowed Robertson to establish a seven-second gap in just a few laps. Once in front and well ahead, Robertson eased up his pace, maintained the sizeable lead, and “cruised” home to the win. The 2-1-1  gave Robertson the 250 Pro Sport title and during the post-race celebration, the factory Husqvarna team told him that he would line up for the opening round of the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship the next week.

Schwartz secured second overall with his 1-5-2 finishes and Gonzales took third with 3-2-3 results.

WOMEN

Jordan Jarvis was the dominant rider of the Women Class. The SGB Babbitt’s Kawasaki rider led all but one lap through the week (that’s 29 of the 30 laps run across the three Motos) to claim her third title at The Ranch. KTM Orange Brigade’s Tayler Allred finished second overall with 3-2-2 finishes in the Women’s class, while Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Tayla Jones took a break from her off-road career to go 6-3-4 for third overall.

Jarvis and Allred both lined up for second classes, as Jarvis finished 19th in the College 18-24 division and Allred took 35th in 450 B Limited. 

250 B

With one championship to his credit, Matt Leblanc entered Saturday’s 250 B Final finale with the aim to seal the deal in the second class. The Star Racing Yamaha rider’s consistency early in the week was his biggest help, because the 1-2 finishes he had posted put him well ahead of Nate Thrasher (9-1), Chance Hymas (2-5), and Kaeden Amerine (7-4) in the points. 

Thrasher’s mid-week surge in speed continued in the last race of the 250 B Class, as he got the lead early, bolted from the pack, and put more than 10-seconds between himself and everyone else. Kaeden Amerine capped off his week of strong rides on his EBR Performance/Altus Motorsports/Yamaha by tracking down and passing Nick Romano for a second-place result; Romano finished third in the Moto. 

But because Leblanc knew that he practically had the overall in hand, he rode a mellow Moto to a fifth-place finish and doubled his title total for the weekend. Thrasher took second overall with 9-1-1 rides while Hymas got third with 2-5-4 finishes.

SUPERMINI 2

Ryder DiFrancesco and Evan Ferry were the top finishers in the first two SuperMini 2 Motos of the week, with DiFrancesco at 1-1 and Ferry at 2-2. The two riders from opposite ends of the country found their way to the front in the final race, with DiFrancesco getting by Benjamin Garib after the start and Ferry finding his way to second soon after. Despite the very small gap, as little as two-seconds at times, there was no bar-to-bar battle between DiFrancesco and Ferry, and DiFrancesco went on to secure his first SuperMini title with a clean sweep of the week. Ferry was similarly as consistent, with 2-2-2 to get second overall, while Chilean Garib took third with 4-3-3 finishes.

450 B LIMITED

Levi Kitchen completed his second clean sweep of the week with another start-to-finish run at the front in 450 B Limited finale and secured his second title, a huge feat for any racer. The Rock River Yamaha rider will move on to the A Class later this year.

Luke Kalatzian took second overall with 5-2-3 finishes and Brock Lassitier took third overall with 4-3-4 finishes.

OPEN PRO SPORT

Tie scores going into the last Open Pro Sport race of the week. It doesn’t get much better than that. Stilez Robertson and Mason Gonzales had swapped Moto wins earlier in the week, with Robertson getting Moto One and Gonzales getting Moto Two, so the title hinged on the outcome of their last battle. Gonzales had been a strong starter all through the week and secured another holeshot on his Rock River Yamaha, which put him in the lead for the opening laps. Robertson soon settled into a rhythm on his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna, clicked off a few quick laps, and closed the gap built by Gonzales. The two squared off in the middle of the Moto, when Robertson found his way by, then posted the fastest lap of the race (a 1:50.664 on Lap Seven), and went on to the win the race and his second title of the week. Gonzales took second overall with strong 2-1-2 finishes, while Dilan Schwartz ended the week with a 3-4-3 and third overall.

SUPERMINI 1

Anyone that’s followed amateur racing in recent years knows that Ryder DiFrancesco’s career had been building to a sweep of SuperMini titles, something the Team Green Kawasaki rider achieved with a decisive start-to-finish run at the front and 1-1-1 finishes. The two titles bring an end to DiFrancesco’s mini bike career, as he’ll soon move to the 250 B division.

Team Green Kawasaki’s Gavin Towers closed out his week with another podium appearance, 2-2-3 finishes, and second overall. Evan Ferry’s fifth-place finish in Moto Two put a damper on the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rider’s overall potential, and his second-place ride in the finale put him third overall. 

SCHOOLBOY 2

The last major race of the week might have been the best. Jett Reynolds’ 1-2 and Nate Thrasher’s 3-1 made them the favorites heading into it, but Chance Hymas was a close third thanks to steady 2-3 scores. Reynolds, still ailing from his earlier crash, knew that he needed to get ahead of Thrasher early in order to keep his title hopes going, and did just that when he cut over to block the line at the start of the race. Thrasher dropped deep in the field while Reynolds raced near the front but under near-constant attack from Nick Romano. 

A mistake by Reynolds in the middle of the changed the outcome considerably, as it allowed Romano, Hymas, and Thrasher to all advance one position (Romano to first, Hymas to second, Thrasher to third) and boosted championship hopes for Thrasher and Hymas. The hardest charger of the group was Hymas, as he soon dissolved the small lead that Romano had, made a pass for the top spot, and took off to a major win, his first on the big bike at The Ranch. Thrasher took second overall with 3-1-2 rides, while Reynolds got third with 1-2-5 finishes.