The opening round of the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship from Loretta Lynn’s Ranch is officially in the record books. In the 450MX class, Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne took home the first-ever overall win of his young premier class career, while Monster Energy / Star Racing / Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis kicked off his final 250MX season with a dominant 1-1 day.
Check out what both winners had to say about the first-ever national at Loretta Lynn’s, along with what 20 other top finishing riders had to say as well.
Zach Osborne: (1st in 450MX) “I’ve worked really hard to come back from my injury and to be here on this podium I’m blessed and so grateful to the people that have put this together to let us go racing in a very uncertain time,” Osborne said. “I knew we had a racehorse when we came here today because it’s the bike I finished with at Indiana last year and when a team brings you a bike like that, it’s hard to not do it justice.”
Dylan Ferrandis: (1st in 250MX) “It’s awesome. It was a perfect day. We got two good starts and were strong in both of the motos. There’s always a little bit of an unknown when you don’t race for a long time, and with the Outdoors, you never know where you are. We have a good setup on the bike, and with the team behind me, I feel like it’s going to be a great year. For sure, I will have to stay healthy, but after today, I feel like we can go for the win every weekend.”
Jason Anderson:(2nd in 450MX) I feel like my pace was good in the second moto but my arms pumped up and I was headed back with four to go,” Anderson said. “All-in-all, I’m out here and I’m on the podium so I can’t be too bummed. I’m excited to get out here next weekend and try to redeem myself.”
RJ Hampshire: (2nd in 250MX) I wish we could have gotten a win but that felt good,” Hampshire said. “I tried to hang on but Dylan was riding really good and I just had to settle in otherwise I would have been on my head. I’m happy to be up here, thankful to be here and ready to go for next weekend!
Eli Tomac: (3rd in 450MX) “Third overall on the day and the best way to put it is it was hot and cold. I was up front with the leading group in Moto 1, but I just went backward because I was struggling a bit and with the track. I just wasn’t comfortable, so the team and I made some changes to the bike between motos and I was able to improve and push to the front to be in the fight for the win in Moto 2. We’ll take this result on the day, but we’re looking forward to getting better when we get back out here again next weekend.”
Marvin Musquin: (4th in 450MX) “It’s great to be back after almost a year since my last race at the Indiana National. I put in some good work and it gave me time to get ready, so I’m okay where I’m at. To be out there and to be competitive, that’s exactly what I wanted. When you’re not racing for a year like that actually, to be honest, I didn’t know where I was going to be but overall, I’m happy. I wish I would have hung on to get on the podium, but it’s my first race back and fourth overall, I’ll take it.”
Shane McElrath: (4th in 250MX) “I’m happy to get out of this first round with some decent finishes. I got some good starts and led some laps, but we still have a lot of room to grow. I’m excited for next weekend!”
Justin Barcia: (5th in 450MX) “Loretta Lynn’s was a good weekend overall. I had some good practice times and ended up qualifying fifth. I didn’t get the greatest start in the first moto, but I had one of the greatest charges I’ve had in a long time. I charged all the way up to third but just ran out of time. In the second moto, I ended up going down two times. I just used a lot of energy in that first moto and unfortunately I wasn’t able to get back up to the front, seventh was all I could muster up. There are definitely some positives on the weekend. I’m going to go back and work on a few things and be even better at Loretta’s next weekend.”
Alex Martin: (5th in 250MX) “It was exciting to be back at the races. I was happy with the speed we had, we just need to minimize the mistakes. Three crashes throughout the two motos kept me from a podium. But I’m happy I could still manage a top five result for myself and the team.”
Cooper Webb: (7th in 450MX) “It was a very up-and-down day for me. Practice went well and I was feeling good heading into the motos but I was riding pretty tight so I just kind of lost my flow about halfway through the first moto. The second moto, I had a bad start and on about the fourth lap I landed really weird and jammed my back, so I’m not sure what’s going on but I was in a lot of pain for the rest of that race. I’ve been dealing with a pre-existing back issue from Dallas so I’m going to get it looked at this week so I can be ready to go next Saturday.”
Chase Sexton: (8th in 450MX) “This weekend was pretty good. I qualified first, which was a good confidence booster. In the first moto I came from 11th to third on the first lap and then I ran up there for probably half the race. I ended up going down and then from there on it kind of just went downhill; I fell about four or five times, so definitely not a great moto, but I showed I had a good speed. In the second moto I had a good start and was running third. Then Adam [Cianciurulo] fell, and I got into second but kind of got freight-trained by Eli [Tomac], [Jason] Anderson and [Marvin] Musquin. I just got on the back of those guys and made a run, getting Anderson and Musquin back which was good, and ended up third. I went 13-3 for eighth, but overall I showed really good speed and I’m happy with how it went.”
Joey Savatgy: (9th in 450MX) “Yesterday was subpar for me. It was my first race back in almost a year and it got the best of me. There are some things I need to work on but my starts were good and that’s a big piece of the puzzle. So it’s now back to work this week and try it again next weekend.”
Dean Wilson: (10th in 450MX) “I’m obviously not very happy with the overall result but that was a good little wake-up call to keep pushing. The conditions were very tough and rutty today and the class
is stacked right now so I’m just going to have to keep pushing and it will all happen.”
Cameron McAdoo: (7th in 250MX) “All things considered, I am happy with today’s result. I tipped over early in the first moto which ended up costing me, but I was proud we were able to fight back up to ninth. In Moto 2, I got a much better jump out of the gate and was able to put in a solid ride from start to finish. I know what I need to work on and clean up for next week and we’ll come back out swinging again. I can’t thank my entire Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team enough for giving me such an amazing bike, my KX™250 was an absolute beast!”
Adam Cianciarulo: (12th in 450MX) “The Loretta’s track was nothing like I remember. I had zero sense of nostalgia out there. The track was ripped way deeper and you need to ride so much harder than I ever did as an amateur here. Obviously I’m tired of crashing, but I felt really good in Moto 2 and even grabbed the holeshot. We’ll keep working hard over the week and suit up for better results for Round 2 at the Ranch.”
Broc Tickle: (13th in 450MX) Today was a positive day for myself. I haven’t raced an Outdoor National in three years now. Yeah, the goal was to be in the top 10. I didn’t manage to finish there but it was good to get our first race under our belt. We’ll be back next week. We’re in a good place and we have a direction now after racing. I’m looking forward to heading back to California this week and working with the team to make some improvements and come back next weekend to build off of today.
Christian Craig: (14th in 450MX) “The weekend started off pretty good when I qualified 10th. The track was super muddy in the beginning. I went into the first moto pretty confident in myself, but unfortunately I got off to a bad start and had to make my way through the pack. It was already pretty hot out there, so it took a lot of my energy to get up to where I was. Unfortunately, that was only 14th, but I went into the second moto refueled and ready to go. I had a better start and was making passes early on, but me and another rider got together and we both went down. Then when I was getting up I got hit by another rider. It was nobody’s fault, just an unfortunate mishap on both of our parts. After that I just wanted to salvage what I could, and I came back to 14th again. My goals are to be inside the top 10, so we’ll try again here next weekend”
Justin Cooper: (8th in 250MX) “The track was really tough today. It was an up and down day for me. I had a bunch of crashes in the first moto that made me use up a lot of energy, and I was pretty fatigued for the second moto. All in all, I’m just happy to be back racing and to leave in one piece. There are only a few days on the bike before we race here again. We will be better for the next one.”
Freddie Noren: (25th in 450MX) “I’m super pumped to be back racing!. I had great starts and I holeshot my first ever pro motocross start, so that was great. Unfortunately, I had pretty hard crashes in both motos which made the overall result for the weekend not very good. Now we’ll regroup and recharge for next weekend!”
Mitchell Harrison: (15th in 250MX) “Well, I can’t be too mad about today. We showed some great speed and consistency throughout the entire day. In Moto 1, I was running top-5 and then I made a boneheaded mistake in the back sand sweeper as I was trying to protect my line and went down. It took me a bit to get going again which ended up hurting my overall. We bounced back in Moto 2 with a ninth place to finish the day out 15th overall. I can’t thank Mitch (Payton) and the entire Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/ Kawasaki team enough for this incredible opportunity to race this amazing bike each week. We are going to continue to improve and push each week and put this bike where it belongs, on the podium.”
Darian Sanayei: (18th in 250MX) “Loretta’s was a tough one for me and I was just off all day. In the first moto, I fell around 10 minutes into it and had to work my way up from 20th to 14th. The second moto I started off good, but I made a few mistakes and I just wasn’t riding at a good pace. Later in the moto, I crashed and popped my shoulder out, so I wasn’t able to finish out the race. I’ll go get it checked out and hope to be back on the bike and ready for Round 2.”
