By ALAN HOSKINS
KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- Six-year-old Brody Cook has done it again.
For the second straight year, the young dirt bike racer from Kansas City, Kan., has qualified for the largest amateur motocross race in the world, the 33rd Annual Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships presented by AMSOIL at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn.
Cook took on more than 20,000 hopefuls from across America to earn one of just 1,446 qualifying positions. “To make it as a 5-year-old is a rarity so it is very unusual for someone to make it two years in a row,” said Cook’s father, Josh.
A wreck in the first race of the preliminaries cost Cook any chance of advancing to last year’s finals but he’s hoping last year’s experience will help him this year. “Everyone is so good that a wreck can really make it difficult,” said his father. “But he’s hoping to a lot better this time.”
Cook, who will be in second grade at Glenwood Ridge Elementary in Basehor this fall, has been riding since he was four years old. Winner of several races in the last two years, he’s competed in eight states – Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas – this year and is entered in a four-day national championship event in Ponca City, Okla., the week prior to the AMA championships.
The AMA national championships will held in Hurricane Mills July 27-Aug. 2. He’ll be accompanied by his parents, Josh and Mindy Cook; his younger brother, Jack; and his great grandparents, Bob and Sylvia Hartman.
More than 20,000 bikers competed over the last four months in qualifying for the national championships with the top finishers in area and regional qualifiers earning a berth into the National Championship race. Racers may enter a wide variety of classes, from mini-cycle 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 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 2012 it became part of the Red Bull Signature Series, airing race coverage on NBC for the first time ever. In 2013, the coverage of the Red Bull Signature Series was broadcast live on NBC for the first time ever. In 2014, the racing will be streamed live on-line all week long on RacerTV.com.
The track is built on a section of Loretta Lynn’s Ranch and Campground in Hurricane Mills. The course contains a variety of jumps, corners and other obstacles designed to test the skills and stamina of the racers. Most riders attend the event with the help of their families.
In fact, many groups consider the event their family’s summer vacation. Besides races, the ranch provides family-friendly facilities including a game room, swimming pools, arts and crafts activities as well as a fashion and talent show.
