Page 38 - MPG-AUGUST

THE USUAL SUSPECTS
38 MPG • AUGUST • 2018
CANYON RICHARDS
Canyon Richards experienced his first taste of victory at the Loretta Lynn Amateur National Championship back in 2015, winning the overall in the 51cc (4-6) Shaft Drive Limited divi- sion. The youngster out of New Jer- sey wasn’t able to replicate the feat
in recent years, although he did finish fourth in the heavily competitive (7-8) division last year, but he’s definitely one of the favorites to come away with some heavy hardware this year in the 65cc ranks. Richards’ recent re- sults and the introduction of Yamaha’s new YZ65 have provided him with
the opportunity to join the bLU cRU, making him the newest addition to the Yamaha Factory Amateur program for the 2018 season. The opening portion of the season was a bit of a learning curve for the ten year old, but he still managed to score a couple of solid top ten finishes at the Daytona RCSX and Spring A Ding Ding. Richards
has kept busy in recent months and punched his tickets to the Ranch in style, dominating proceedings at the Mideast Regional in the 65cc (7-9) Limited class with a first place result in addition to a second in the 65cc (7- 11) class at the Northeast Regional.
KATELYN CLAUSS
Katelyn Clauss matched her best ever Loretta Lynn Amateur National Champi- onship result in 2017 with a fifth place in the Women (12+) Amateur class, tying the fifth place that she scored in 2015
in the Girls Jr (9-13) division. The New Mexico native has been ultra consistent throughout the 2018 racing season thus far, piecing together second place overall finishes at both Spring A Ding Ding and the JS7 Freestone Spring Champion- ship. She kept things moving in the right direction and took the leap to the top
step of the podium, winning the Women (12+) class at the California Classic just before logging second place in the same class at the Loretta Lynn Southwest Regional Qualifier, successfully punching her ticket to the Ranch. Clauss switched manufacturers from KTM to Honda just before making an appearance at Mam- moth Mountain Motocross, but it made no difference to her results -- she kept her podium streak alive and finished second overall at the week’s end, elevating her confidence in preparation for the battle at the Ranch.