Reaching the motocross nationals at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, was already Prairie High School student Carson Asay’s dream.
He expanded on that goal to win the amateur national championship in 125cc.
The 16-year-old was inspired by his dad to start racing motocross. Asay first hopped on a bike at just 2 or 3 years old, he recalled. After working his way up on motorcycle sizes as he grew older, Asay decided to go for a shot at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch last year on the 85cc frame, but a season-ending injury kept him out.
“I ended up breaking my hip on Feb. 8 (2023),” Asay said. “I was down in California training and that took me out for like the whole year, basically.”
With the 2024 season being his first shot at nationals, Asay, fresh off of full recovery, made it to one of the regional racing events that could land him at his dream race. He ended up qualifying for nationals with 250cc limited and two alternate classes. He could only choose one alternate for nationals.
Asay chose to ride 125cc as his alternate, leading him to further success than he could have ever imagined at Loretta Lynn’s.
“It was so unreal,” Asay said. “There’s only like two or three other people in history that have won a class as an alternate and those were like Jeremy McGrath, Cooper Webb and Ryan Dungey, which are all multi-time pro motocross champions. So that was pretty cool to hear.”
Going from West Coast racing to the hills of western Tennessee brought Asay some challenges to conquer in practice. From figuring out the right tire for the different soil, to carborating the bike for the different humidity, Asay was able to find what worked for him.
The top 42 motorcycle riders in each class descend onto Loretta Lynn’s Ranch for the Monster Energy Amateur National Championship from July 29 through Aug. 3. Asay started off with a third place podium finish in his first 125cc moto. He followed that with a first-place finish in the next moto. He capped off the moto portion with another third-place finish heading into the 125cc championship. In his first class, 250cc limited, he ended up 12th overall out of 42.
Next year, Asay will be moving up a class, from C-class to B-class, which will bring faster competition.
“This has been Carson’s childhood dream to just make it to Loretta’s, not even to win. That was never on our radar, like ever,” Asay’s mom, Kim, said. “And the fact that he made it to Loretta’s was a big deal. Like, OK, he can retire now. He’s made it to Loretta’s.”
His mom added that they didn’t expect a podium finish in any of the motos, so his family was shocked when they were shown a video of him crossing the finish line in third place.
“We were going to be happy with top 10,” Kim Asay said.
Now, Carson Asay can head back to Prairie High School for his junior year as a national champion.
