Andrew Short and Mike Brown won one moto and finished second in another in the Senior (40+) division of the 2024 Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship, making the third and final race a head-to-head affair. Short emerged victorious on Friday, and to no one’s surprise, Brown was the runner-up in a thrilling photo finish.
Brown had the early advantage. He grabbed the holeshot and stretched his lead over second-place Short — until the field came upon lapped traffic. The gap narrowed through the final lap, with Short still charging.
Lapped traffic played a factor during that final lap.
As Brown and Short exited the final turn, a decision had to be made. Brown dove to the inside of the lapper as Short went to the outside, and with greater momentum from a more sweeping arc, he nipped Brown at the finish line. Race officials determined the winner by a photo finish, and the margin of .016 seconds is one of the closest in Loretta Lynn’s history.
With 1-2-1 results, Short earned his second Loretta Lynn’s title. Brown was forced to settle for second with his 2-1-2.
Jeff Emig finished third in the moto and third overall with results of 5-3-3 in the Senior (40+) division. He and Brown would soon square off for a second time that day.
Brown earned a measure of revenge for his bitter disappointment in the final race of the Masters (50+) division.
Winning the first two races in this class, Brown nevertheless had to hold off a challenge by Jeff Emig, who was only two points behind after finishing second in the first two motos. A minor error could be costly, but Brown had not made any mistakes in the 50+ class.
Brown dominated the first two motos with solid starts and did so again in the finale. Brown had a five-second lead over Emig on Lap 1 and stretched it to 20 seconds on the following circuit.
While Emig finished a distant second, it was his third runner-up finish in as many races and placed him second in the overall rankings.
Gregory Pamart finished third in Moto 3. Combined with a fourth in the first race and a third in Moto 2, he scored third overall.
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