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Some of Bermuda's top young scramblers are heading stateside as they aim to qualify for the Loretta Lynn Amateur National Motocross Championships.

Brothers Jonah and Jonte Smith are already over in the U.S. competing in the North Carolina qualifiers for the classic — the top event for amateur riders in America.

Others like De-Andre Lightbourne, Kenshae Wilson, Craig Nesbitt and Allan De Graff will take part in regional qualifiers in Atlanta and Canada later in the year.

Dean Smith, of the Bermuda Motocross Association, said the competition between the top youngsters was pretty intense.

“There's battles all over the track. We have more junior riders out than in any other category.”

He said the young scramblers were doing well and would have a good chance of competing with the best riders in the states, but needed to be able to practice more than once a week.

“Their only downfall is that we don't have the facilities to train as much as we would like.

“All the other sports on the island get to train at least twice-a-week. We train on Saturday and race on Sunday. That's it.

“If we could practice during the week we would be more ready for races like this.”

He said the Loretta Lynn, named after the country singer and staged in Tennessee each July or August, was one of the most prestigious races on the amateur circuit.

“This is where all the professionals started out. People like Ricky Carmichael won this as a youth and went on from there.”

The Bermudian riders face a tough road to the event. They have to come through state and regional qualifiers just to make it to the start line.

But Smith said some local scramblers had made it to the race before and he was confident they had enough talent to get there and be competitive once again.[[In-content Ad]]

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