Check out the article below that was published in the Journal Review:

For amateur motocross racers, Ironman Raceway is where dreams can come true this weekend at the Rocky Mountain Motocross Amateur National Championship Regional Qualifier. 

Racers from as far away as Florida, New York, Alabama, South Carolina and Minnesota, and states in between, will attempt to make the “Big Show” later this summer at the Rocky Mountain National at Loretta Lynn’s ranch in Tennessee.

Tim Cotter, the race director for the event at Ironman, said pre-registration is trending to make the local qualifier one of the largest in the history of the Loretta Lynn Championship. More than 950 racers, ages 13-and-up, are already confirmed. 

“We are excited with the response we are getting for this qualifier,” Cotter said. “Once again, Ironman Raceway is hosting a quality event for some of the best amateur riders in the world. They will be coming to Crawfordsville this weekend.”

To compete in a regional qualifier, racers had to qualify at one of 54 area qualifiers across the country, where over 22,000 riders tried to move on. 

This weekend, the regional qualifiers at Crawfordsville, New Jersey and California will see 8,000 attempt to to make it to the national championship.

“Only 1,400 riders make it to Loretta Lynn’s, so this is the farthest most of these racers will go,” Cotter said. “That makes this weekend at Ironman Raceway pretty significant.”

The riders at Ironman Raceway this weekend have dreams of racing here in August as a professional one day. The Loretta Lynn race has a history of being the fast track to the professional level. Roughly 80 percent of the racers competing in the August Ironman National came through the Loretta Lynn national race.

Chelsea Taylor, Media Relations Manager of MX Sports, describes this weekend’s event as the qualifier to see “who goes to the Little League World Series in motocross.” 

Local residents can expect increased traffic beginning Thursday. Racing is Saturday and Sunday. The event is broken down into bike size and age groups.

The last  qualifier at Ironman Raceway was four years ago — the first motocross race held at the local track.