ELIZABETH CITY — Sixteen-year-old Austin Meads of Elizabeth City finished 7th overall in the Schoolboy 1 class at the 45th Annual Monster Energy/American Motorcycle Association Amateur National Motocross Championship, held last month at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.
A gallery of photos from that event appears below.
More than 23,000 riders nationwide vied for a spot in the event, which fields just 42 competitors in each of 36 classes — roughly 5% of those who attempt to qualify. Fewer than 1.7% of all competitors finish in the top 10, according to MX Sports, the event’s organizer.
Meads, riding a Yamaha YZ 125 under car number 91, competed in two classes: Schoolboy 1 and 125 Jr. B/C.
His run got off to a rough start. In the 125 Jr. B/C class, a crash left him with a strained trapezoid muscle and forced him to sit out one moto with a “Did Not Finish.” He rebounded with back-to-back ninth-place finishes in the next two motos, ending 15th overall in that class.
His strongest results came in Schoolboy 1, where he placed 7th, 8th and 13th across three motos for a 7th-place overall finish. The result came despite a hard hit in the final lap of his last moto, when another rider collided with him as Meads attempted a pass.
“I thought for sure all my teeth got knocked out when he hit me,” Meads said. “I wasn’t going to quit.”
This year marked Meads’ eighth appearance at the national championship and his best finish to date — a milestone made more significant by his recovery from a fractured femur and acetabulum, an injury he sustained while training for the 2025 race.
Meads said he hopes to eventually race professionally.
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