Mercedes Santana shows the drive it takes to get to Loretta's

Motocross racers converge on the Air Nautiques AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships to test their skills against the best amateur motocrossers in the nation.

And the racer who probably traveled the farthest, and faced difficult challenges to qualify for the championships held at Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, is Mercedes Santana, 14, of Waianae, Hawaii.

To qualify for Loretta Lynn's, amateur racers must do well in regional competitions around the country. There are no regionals in Hawaii, so Santana had to fly to the mainland U.S. to compete.

Butch Jenkins of Gonzales, Louisiana, who is Santana's mechanic, said she had to fly to Louisiana and then endure an immediate nine-hour drive to a regional to race. She did well enough to earn a spot in the women's race at Loretta Lynn's. 

"This little girl's got a lot of talent," Jenkins says. "Now she's racing against 21-year-old pros. She's a special kid with a wonderful family."

Santana lives just down the road in Hawaii from former pro motocrosser and Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum Hall of Famer John DeSoto. She practices on the island of Oahu's only public motocross track with DeSoto's grandson, Makana.

Asked why he goes through the financial and traveling hardships necessary to have Santana race at Loretta's, Nelson, her father, says, "To get better you have to come here. You can't stay home."

Santana rode an 85cc machine last season. Now, she's on a Suzuki 250F.

In the Women (12 Plus) race Thursday, Santana finished 13th out of 42 racers. Tarah Gieger of Vero Beach, Florida, won the race, followed by Jessica Patterson of Tallahassee, Florida, and Sarah Whitmore of Cheboygan, Michigan.

"The Mainland girls are super fast and hard to beat," Santana said after the race. "The tabletop, 10 commandments (a series of 10 small hills) and some of the turns were hard. The ruts were super deep." 

Her home track is  hard-packed dirt, so she says Loretta's loamy, rutted track poses quite a challenge.

Her goal is to win a women's race at Loretta's.