Main image by Cody Darr

Welcome to Racerhead, coming to you on an off-weekend, from the middle of the busiest motocross spot on earth right now (or at least anywhere other than Lommel, Belgium). While the Monster Energy SuperMotocross World Championship and the AMA Pro Motocross Championship take a break after four straight races, the 45th Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch are shaping up here in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. The biggest amateur motocross race of all has been held here at the Ranch since 1982. It has seen every top American rider from Jeff Stanton to Haiden Deegan graduate, as well as some very fast international visitors, including Jett Lawrence, Ken Roczen, Jo Shimoda, Cole Davies, and more. Opening ceremonies are Sunday night, practice all day Monday, and then the races start at 7 a.m. sharp on Tuesday. Every class runs three long motos, which means the race won’t end until next Saturday afternoon. You can watch on Flo Sports with a subscription, as well as two hours each afternoon, Tuesday to Thursday, free on YouTube, Amazon Prime, Roku, and more. There will also be the Radio Fox preview show on Monday evening, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. live from the Fox Racing Tower, followed by two more Radio Fox shows before the week is over. 

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• Loretta Lynn's

  • August 4 - 8:30 AM

    

  • August 5 - 8:30 AM

    

  • August 6 - 8:30 AM

    

  • August 7 - 8:30 AM

    

  • August 8 - 8:00 AM

    

Speaking of Flo Sports, there’s a lot of people that are understandably upset that RacerTV.com is not streaming the races live and free like they have the last 15 years or so. But the move to Flo means that next year all of the American Motocross Majors will stream live—Oak Hill’s Spring-A-Ding, Mammoth Mountain, the Dirty 100 at Ponca City, Mini O’s, RCSX, and more—as well as all of the Loretta Lynn’s Regionals next summer. GNCC Racing has also made the move to Flo. The deal also opens the door to some better production, added programming (like previews and post-race wrap-ups), and more comprehensive data across the board. Yes, the move stings, especially after being able to watch it for free for so many years, but like Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Pro Motocross, the FIM Motocross World Championship (MXGP), and more, the move to a streaming service presents more opportunities to watch pretty much of the big amateur races, not just Loretta Lynn’s and Mini O’s. And after a week, all of the motos will be archived and available to watch for free on RacerTV.com and YouTube.

Beyond that, it’s business as usual for the 45th annual Loretta Lynn’s event, which means fun, drama, triumph, heartache, headache, heat, mud (likely), reunions, industry gatherings, and of course playing in the creek and hearing Loretta Lynn’s music filling the entire Ranch all week long. Keep an eye on Racer X Online and our social media all week long for updates, results, highlights, photos, and news from the ranch. And good luck to all of the riders and their families next week.

The two weekends off between Washougal and Unadilla might be the widest difference between racers and many industry personnel. For the racers, this is a much-needed break. Two weekends off provide a real opportunity to take a few days off the motorcycle and truly recover. Sure, riders will still get workouts in but mostly on a maintenance cadence. They might actually be allowed to have a day or two completely away from training and riding entirely! Imagine the thought. It’s a welcome reprieve that won’t come again until after the SMX Finals towards the end of September.

For many others (especially MX Sports staff), this “break” is simply a shift of focus. They will descend upon Loretta Lynn’s Dude Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, for the biggest and most important event in amateur racing. Loretta’s is the big one. Everyone has it circled on their calendar and while the nationwide amateur schedule has expanded since my days of attending, it’s still the most impactful. Winning Loretta’s simply means more. I view it as the only true national championship for amateurs. This weeklong event has everything. It’s a fitness test first and foremost as the humidity of LLMX is unmatched across championship racing. The pressure that comes with this race is palpable, too. I was a nervous wreck long before we arrived to our campsite along the river. Mother nature usually had a curve ball waiting to take things to another level as if things weren’t challenging enough. Almost without fail, thunderstorms will arrive at some point to create mud motos for many. This race tests every facet of a racer’s skill set. Speed, fitness, mud skills, and mental fortitude. It’s the real deal and why so many judge it as the biggest barometer for future success.

Whether getting a break or grinding at the ranch, this period marks the last break before the stretch run to October. Yes, there is Labor Day weekend, but many will be changing to playoff “hybrid” settings and getting back to SX-type riding. With the change in racing discipline, there isn’t enough time to truly check out mentally or physically. This is the time to hit the lake, hit the beach, hit the links, or just lay on the couch. The next time I am writing about life away from the track, there will be Spirit Halloween signs haunting your morning commute. 

Has anyone’s title run ever cratered as quickly and badly as Lucas Coenen’s? The very impressive Belgian rider was 68 points ahead in the FIM Motocross World Championship when he came back to America for the Southwick National, along with his twin brother Sacha. After a first turn crash and a brilliant ride through the 450 pack, Lucas ended up going over the bars in the late stages of the first moto. He DNF’d the day from there (and Sacha posted a stunning 1-1 to win the 250 National that day—while breaking his collarbone late in the second moto!) and went back to Europe to race the Foxhills MXGP in Great Britain. It was there that he was hit in the back in a first lap crash in the Saturday afternoon qualifier race. He tried to go on Sunday but the pain from his leg made it impossible to finish. Jeffrey Herlings went 1-1 and suddenly the points lead was down to barely double-digits.

The next race was in the Czech Republic last weekend and Coenen again tried to ride, but the pain was still too great. He scratched after the Saturday qualifier AND the Sunday motos, and Herlings won again, 1-1 again. In the course of two races, MXGP saw a 117-point swing in Herlings’ favor. He now leads the championship by 49 points going into the Lommel, Belgium MXGP this weekend, a track that Jeffrey absolutely loves. (Check out Eric Johnson’s interview with Herlings right here). At this point it is Coenen is a question mark for what is effectively his home race. Plus, he is damn good in the sand, too. We also don’t know if he will be able to return for the Ironman National at the end of the month, as planned.

Sacha going has also been struggling since Southwick, having crashed toward the end of the second moto and breaking his collarbone. Sacha got it plated here in the U.S. before he headed back to Europe and is doing his best to race through the pain and stay in the MX2 championship battle, but the points lead he held is also gone. Sacha is now 33 points behind the red-hot Triumph rider Guillem Farres of Spain, who, like Herlings, has gone 1-1 in the last two rounds to take full advantage of Sacha’s injury.

Also, silly season already in overdrive in Europe as Romain Febvre announced his move from Kawasaki to Ducati next year, and Kay de Wolf extended his Husqvarna contract to stay in MXGP. The one to watch will be Farres, as he’s 23 and will be too old to race MX2 in 2027. Is a move back to America in the offing?

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• MXGP

  • August 1 - 7:35 AM

    

  • August 1 - 8:10 AM

    

  • August 1 - 8:55 AM

    

  • August 1 - 9:40 AM

    

  • August 1 - 10:25 AM

    

  • MXGP Qualifying Race 

    Live

    August 1 - 11:15 AM

    

  • August 2 - 3:35 AM

    

  • August 2 - 5:25 AM

    

  • August 2 - 7:00 AM

    

  • August 2 - 8:00 AM

    

  • August 2 - 10:00 AM

    

  • August 2 - 10:00 AM

    

  • August 2 - 11:00 AM

    

  • August 2 - 11:00 AM

    

You can play in the first-ever Loretta's Fantasy on the Vurb Prospect app or online. You can play ANY class and pick ANY rider. Compete against the entire world or just your buddies in a private group. Build lineups in up to five classes by predicting where five riders will finish overall. The closer your picks are to the actual results, the more points you score.

Once the official rider roster is released, Fantasy will go live inside the Loretta's Zone. Get your picks in before racing kicks off Tuesday morning, then follow along all week as scores update after every moto.

Again, it's all FREE. You'll just need to create an account at prospect.vurbmoto.com/app. Once you're in, make sure to claim your rider profile (also free) and dive into everything we've built over the last few years. You'll find your career results, all-time rankings, MotoPlayground Dirty 100 rankings, race metrics, complete Loretta's history, and honestly... way more data than most people probably ever wanted to know about themselves.

Matthes and I headed to Millville (again) to test ride the all new 2027 Honda CRF450R. Honda went ALL IN on the CRF450R platform, with an all-new lighter frame, updated (and lighter) engine, updated suspension, as well as a new shock, and new bodywork styling. The 2027 machine is almost 10 pounds lighter than the ‘26 and although I can't say much right now (because of the embargo that will lift August 4 at 6 a.m. PST) so make sure to look for a full video review that will go up right here on Racer X. Steve will bring his usual Yamaha-opinion outtakes to the table so you can take it or leave it but I do think you all will find his comments interesting as well. Who knew? Test Rider Steve!

It was cool to have 450 Pro Motocross points leaders Hunter and Jett Lawrence there spinning laps with us, as well as joining us on Monday night's PulpMX Show that we had inside the lobby of the Hilton hotel in downtown Rochester, Minnesota. A day was had at Spring Creek: Lars rode a dirt bike, Track Talkers talked about the track, Trey Canard goon rode well, as did Steve (though Trey’s was on purpose), and I had the legendary Drey Dircks wrench on our bike for us! What a day it was! Check out the video on Tuesday if you want to learn more. 

Photos of Keefer and Matthes at the Honda 2027 CRF450R intro at Spring Creek Motocross Park.

As Kris wrote about, sometimes our job doesn't suck, right? Honda flying us out to Minnesota to ride the all-new 2027 Honda CRF450R and giving us a steak dinner as well makes for a tough job everyone. A good time was had by all, and you'll see the results after the embargo lifts Tuesday morning. Cool to see Buddy Antunez there riding for Whiskey Throttle. Budman is living in Texas now teaching riders and working with the Brett Downey foundation and rides a little bit more now than he used to. I was in a conversation with him and Hunter Lawrence where he was asking Hunter about some technique he uses and Budman was into learning more for his students. The Lawrence boys both rode with us and they went pretty fast ICYWW.

I'm not a test rider at all, that's Keefer's department, but I had some thoughts on the new Honda you'll see on Tuesday right here on Racer X Online. Good time was had by all and thanks to my friend Kris for getting me a Delta flight when United had a rough day out of Minny!

Ryan Dudeck at Honda was stoked on my idea of pulling off a PulpMX Show Monday night from the hotel in Rochester and the show as a lot of fun. Kris and I recapped Washougal a bit and then it was a cornucopia of Honda guests: Jett and Hunter Lawerence, Trey Canard, Lars Lindstrom, Brandon Wilson, Grant Hutchison, Brandon Schaer all came on the show as did Milt Reimer from FXR, Adam “722” Enticknap, and we called Phil Nicoletti about his Canadian National appearance as well. The Lawrence brothers were pretty relaxed about the whole thing although Jett dropped an F bomb when I thought his penalty for Washougal was appropriate. Check out  www.pulpmx.com/pulpmxshow for the entire thing please and thank you.

It’s that time of the year again. The 2026 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations is nine weeks away and the buzz has started as to who will be on Team USA. Haiden Deegan would be the #1 choice as our MXGP (450cc) rider, and it appears that Levi Kitchen would be the top pick for MX2 (250cc). The third rider would be more of a head-scratcher at this point, as Eli Tomac is just coming back from an injury, Chase Sexton is out with injury out until 2027, RJ Hampshire will be switching teams, Cooper Webb’s motocross career is winding down, Justin Cooper is a big question mark after his head injury a few weeks ago… You get the picture.

What doesn’t change is the cost of flying three riders and their mechanics to France for the race, having a place to stay, and all of the other costs that go into fielding a competitive team. One way you can help is by visiting  www.RaiseIt4USA.com and getting in on the 2026 raffle to help raise funds. There are some really collectible items there already, and new things are added each week. Among the riders who pitched in to help the raffle were Deegan and Webb, Garrett Marchbanks (who seems like a good choice for that third spot on Team USA),Chance Hymas, Julien Beaumer, Phil Nicoletti, the recently retired Austin Forkner, and more. Even Cole Davies pitched in, and he’s from New Zealand!

So back to the original question: Who should be on Team USA at this point?

At 39 years old, Gary Sutherlin put it into the 40-man field via a third-place finish in the LCQ at Washougal last weekend. Gary raced his first outdoor national back in 2006 and went 35-32 in the 250 class. In ’26, two decades later, Sutherlin went 33-35 for 34th overall and becomes one of the oldest riders to make it into the 40-man field. A full 20 years have passed since Gary raced an outdoor national and he made it in! Gary was pressured into doing this by his wife Christy (formerly LaCurelle) who worked for KTM several years and is one of the biggest fans of moto that you will meet. Will Sutherlin try again next year? According to him this was his last go and he will go back to his normal 9-5 at Fly Racing. 

It was a busy week of racing around the dirt bike world. Here's a shortcut to see the big winners, according to the win ads in cyclenews.com.

Michael Mosiman: High Stakes Practice Day With Star Yamaha!

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