Imagine being one of the 1,200 out of 36,000 people that make it to a National Championship working your way through area and regional qualifiers. You would probably feel like a champion! Well if you know anything about Motocross, then you know that as an amateur you have to struggle and work hard all year to make it to the big leagues. For 26 years now, a little place in the middle of Tennessee known as Loretta Lynn’s Dude Ranch is host of the Air Nautique AMA National Amateur Motocross Championships. This is the place where these amateur motocross racers aspire to be. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication all year long to a sport that is demanding in every way. In the past, hero’s and champions like Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart are just two examples of people that proved themselves at Loretta’s and moved on to be the best.

Air Nautiques has been the title sponsor of this event for 6 years now and invites Hyperlite along each year help show these fans, racers and industry supporters what wakeboarding is all about. This is a chance to introduce similar demographics to wakeboarding and get them involved. For a full week these people live in motohomes and tents on site so they can race, race and race some more, each one of them chasing the dream of being a champion. There is nothing within 20 miles so the audience is completely captive and looking for things to occupy their time. Sponsors from Red Bull, Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki, to Gatorade, Kicker and Toyota are there to fill the week with activities. Air Nautiques and Hyperltie team up and hold wakeboarding clinics on the river and wench demos in the creek. We are taking wakeboarding to the people. This year Aaron Rathy and Jimmy LaRiche were there to sign autographs and teach people about wakeboarding.

It was a long, hot, dusty week but always refreshing to see each year themore and more people become familiar with our sport. The motocross industry is the fastest growing extreme sport in the world and they are very loyal to any company that support their passions. These riders know what they want and they focus towards it and do whatever it takes to attain that goal. Congratulations to all the racers that make it to this awesome event and get to live your dreams!