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Joe Toppe

Staff Writer

Seven-year-old Easley native, Logan Riggins, is already an accomplished dirt bike racer but has recently increased the level of his success by qualifying for the largest amateur motocross race in the world.

The 31st annual AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch runs July 29 – August 4, and is located on a portion of Loretta Lynn’s ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.

Logan competed against more than 20,000 other riders from across the country to earn just one of the 1,386 qualifying positions.

“The Amateur Nationals at Loretta Lynn’s is the event every motocross racer in the country wants to compete in,” said Event Director Tim Cotter. “A win at the Amateur Nationals gives a rider instant national notoriety and can serve as a springboard to a lucrative professional motocross career.”

Some of America’s top professional motocrossers, including James Stewart, Ricky Carmichael, Travis Pastrana and Jeremy McGrath, have won AMA Amateur National Championships at Loretta Lynn’s.

Riggins is sponsored by several businesses out of Greenville and has had the opportunity to compete in seven states.

“I like having fun, winning, and competing against the other riders,” said Riggins.

Riggins is also a student at Forest Acres Elementary School in Easley and has the complete support of both his father and mother.

“He loves racing, so as a mother, anything that he participates in, I would back him,” said Logan’s mother, Crystal Riggins.

Logan’s favorite professional motocross racer is, Ryan Dungey, who is a former winner of the Amateur National Motocross Championships at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in 2005.