Brandon Clarke
Welcome to Championship Friday from the 2026 AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s. We will be providing updates from the first day of racing all day. Will we have every class? No, no we will not. Will we have a bunch of classes? Yes, yes we will.
You can follow live timing and scoring on the Vurbmoto Prospect app (it is free, go download it). Download on the App Store or Google Play.
Note: This post will continue to update throughout the day.
65cc (7-9) Limited
Edwin Meyer was out front early, but Kameron Buckman didn’t let him enjoy it for long. Two turns after their first trip through the Ten Commandments, Buckman made his move and took over the lead as the two quickly started pulling away from the rest of the field.
Meyer wasn’t going anywhere, though.
He attacked Buckman over and over, trying just about every way he could to make a pass stick, but Buckman had an answer for every attempt. Meyer would finally land a blow and make his way around Buckman, and for a moment, it looked like he might be able to check out.
Meyer suddenly was gobbled up by a rut and went from leading the moto all the way back to ninth. Just like that, the entire running order and the overall podium, got thrown into a blender.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the motot was Mickey Fluhart. He had been running sixth before working his way up to fourth by the checkers, which was enough to lock down second overall in the class.
Jeffery Saathoff would capitalize on the chaos as well, moving into second in the moto, with Ezra Armbruster coming across in third.
Meanwhile, Buckman had the easiest math problem of anyone at Loretta’s. No calculators. No spreadsheets. No abacus required.
1-1-1. That’ll do it. Behind him? You might want to call your high school math teacher.
Meyer managed to recover from his trip into the Loretta’s abyss and bring it home seventh in the moto, which was still enough to salvage third overall in the class. Buckman gets the title. Fluhart gets second. Meyer gets third.
250 B Limited
Darrien Pine brought the smoke to the Ranch this week, and when all three motos were in the books, his 1-2-2 was enough to get the job done and crown him your 250 B Limited Champion.
As the moto kicked off, it was Braxtyn Mes out front early, and he looked to be in complete control. But Pine wasn’t exactly letting him breathe easy.
With nearly two laps to go on Lap 8, Pine had worked his way within striking distance of Mes’ rear wheel. Mes got the message, wicked it up and responded by laying down his fastest lap of the moto.
Message received.
At that point, Pine went into championship management mode. He didn’t need to win the battle to win the war, cruising it home to the checkers in second and putting the finishing touches on a 1-2-2 week at Loretta’s.
Colby Lesser grabbed third in the moto, while Rez Seeba crossed the line fourth, which was enough to secure the final spot on the overall podium.
Ryan Jaramillo and Jack Pullen rounded out the overall top five.
Mes gets the final-moto win, but Pine gets the one that matters most.
65 (10-11) Limited
Coming into Moto 3, the question was simple: Could Yumena Berning knock Levi Leddy off the top step of the podium?
That answer got a whole lot more complicated almost immediately.
Early in the moto, Berning went down and found herself buried deep in the pack. Just like that, the championship battle flipped on its head, and Leddy was out front riding virtually pressure-free.
At least for a while.
During the second half of the moto, Jax Baker started putting on a charge. Baker slowly reeled Leddy in, made his way around, and took over the lead on his way to the Moto 3 win.
Meanwhile, way back in the pack, Bearning, who I’m now calling “lil shark” went hunting.
Berning put her head down and started picking riders off one by one, making an incredible 22 passes to claw her way back through the field. She would eventually cross the line ninth, but that charge was enough to salvage third overall with 2-2-9 moto scores.
Up front, Leddy did exactly what he needed to do. He may not have gotten the final-moto win, but he got the bigger prize.
Leddy is your champion, Baker takes second overall, and Berning salvages the final spot on the overall podium.
Mini Sr 1 (12-14)
Drama from wire to wire, and technically before the gate had even dropped.
Moto 3 started with a two-minute hold as Landon Lee, Dylan Graham and Jax Lang all dealt with bike issues on the gate. Lee and Graham were able to get things sorted in time, but unfortunately for Lang, his day was over before it ever really got started.
Then the gate dropped, and somehow the drama only got worse.
Joseph Vicari went down early, ending his race and turning what had been a strong week into another case of Moto 3 heartbreak.
Up front, Whalyn Ballenger looked like he had the moto under control, leading for most of the race. But Mason Murdy had other plans.
Murdy kept Ballenger within striking distance and waited until the final lap to make his move. With the overall championship hanging in the balance, Murdy made the pass stick, grabbed the Moto 3 win and, more importantly, locked up first overall.
Behind the Ballenger and Murdy battle, things weren’t exactly calm either. Graham, Eidan Steinbrecher and Tim Lopes found themselves in the middle of an absolute dogfight as positions shuffled throughout the moto.
When the dust finally settled, Graham had worked his way into third, Steinbrecher crossed the line fourth, enough to cement second overall and Lopes rounded out the moto top five while grabbing the final step of the overall podium.
Junior 25+
Phillip Nicoletti was out front again, and for a brief moment, it looked like we were finally going to get the Zach Osborne vs. Nicoletti battle we’d been waiting for all week. Then Nicoletti lost focus. He entered Storyland, tucked the front and suddenly found himself buried deep in the field. He remounted, dusted himself off and began what would turn into an intense charge back through the pack.
Meanwhile, Osborne was absolutely gone. Once Osborne got out front, he checked out and set sail, clicking off multiple laps under the 1:50 mark and throwing down a blistering 1:48.6 as his fastest lap of the moto. Nobody had anything for him.
Behind Osborne, Jake Weimer looked comfortable in second with Brandon Haas holding down third. But late in the moto, the deep Loretta’s ruts finally reached up and grabbed Weimer. He tipped over and, let’s just say, there wasn’t exactly a ton of urgency getting back underway.
Haas didn’t need a written invitation. He slipped by and took over second. Behind Hass, Nicoletti was lurking and wasn’t done.
Phil kept slicing his way through the field. Fourteen passes in all, with the final one coming on Hass on the last lap to complete an impressive charge.
Osborne takes the win, Nicoletti with the 2nd and Hass rounds it out with a third. And conveniently enough, your Moto 3 top three is also your overall podium: Osborne, Nicoletti, and Haas.
