Ludington kindergartener qualifies for national motocross competition.

Ludington kindergartener qualifies for national motocross competition. 

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief.

Brantley Sheren, 6, the son of Ashley and Adam Sheren of Ludington, recently qualified for the Monster Energy Amateur Motocross National Championship. The annual event is held at Loretta Lynn’s ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. 

“It’s considered the Super Bowl of Motocross,” Adam said. 

Brantley, who will be in kindergarten this coming school year at Ludington Area Schools, will participate in the 4- to 6-year-old 50cc shaft drive class. Adam said there are eight regions in the county and each region has six to eight area qualifiers. 

“At those area qualifiers you have to finish in a qualifying position to transfer to the regional championship,” Adam said. “You can attend as many area qualifiers in as many regions as you’d like, however, you have to race the regional championship where you qualified, and can only race at a regional if you qualify for it. This year there were over 640 kids who attended area qualifers in the 4-6 50cc shaft drive class – only 42 remain to race for the national championship the week of Aug. 1-7.” 

Adam said Brantley tried out and qualified in two different regions, the MidEast and the NorthEast. The MidEast held its area qualifiers in Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio with the regional championship held in Ohio. Brantley raced the area qualifier at Dutch Sport Park in Bloomingdale, Mich. on April 17 and took fifth place against 32 riders.

“We didn’t know this at the time, but that turned out to be the toughest area qualifier in the country as five kids from that area qualifier ended up qualifying for the nationals at Loretta Lynn’s,” Adam said. “That’s a lot, considering there are 58 area qualifiers and only 42 riders make it to nationals.”

The Northeast had its area qualifiers in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Brantley raced the area qualifier at High Point Raceway in Mt. Morris, Penn. on May 8 where he qualified for the NorthEast regional as well. 

The Northeast held its Regional Championship at Pleasure Valley Raceway in Armagh, Penn. on June 11. The Mideast held its regional championship at Briarcliff in Nashport, Ohio on June 24.

“The great part for Brantley is that the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) assigns a rider’s age by how old they are on January 1. So in the motocross world, Brantley is still considered 5,” Adam said. “He’s one of the few riders that qualified as an AMA 5-year-old, and he will have the opportunity to qualify again next year in the same class. The majority of these riders were 6 as of January 1 and will have to race a different class next year.”

Adam said getting to this point has been quite the experience.

“It’s been a long journey for our family. We’ve put almost 10,000 miles on our motorhome since April 1, traveling to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and all throughout Michigan. We race nearly every weekend, and if we’re not racing we’re usually training with DrivenMX out of Ohio, or SSR Training Facility in Indiana. During the week we’ll usually ride at our track out on Stiles Road in Amber Township and I’ll spend my evenings working on the bikes to fix anything that needs attention or perform the always needed routine maintenance.”

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