Blake Hazen knows how to ride a dirt bike faster than most people in the US.
This past weekend he raced in three classes at a regional championship at Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He raced the 250 B, 450 B and 450 B Limited classes, some of the hardest classes in amateur motocross.
Hazen finished in third place in 250 B and fourth place in 450 B Limited, which gave him a ticket to nationals for the fifth consecutive year.
He was on track to finish first overall in 450 B until a bike malfunction during the final race.
“I had the championship wrapped up and my chain broke and split my case,” Hazen said.
Hazen still had to race the 450 B Limited class after his bike broke.
“I have no idea how I made it,” Hazen said. “The bike was shooting oil on the line so I knew there was no oil in it that whole moto.”
Hazen said he was happy with his results, coming in third and fourth in classes that qualified him for Amateur Motorcycle Association Nationals.
“I was pretty excited about it,” Hazen said. “It’s my fifth year in a row but this year it meant a lot because my bike broke and I barely made it through the last race”
Hazen had traveled to Louisiana to train. He completed high school online in 2019, in order to accommodate his training schedule of four sessions of motos a day, four days a week.
“A lot of motos and workouts.”
Hazen said he hopes to race professionally in the future and this will be his last year at the amateur level.
“After Loretta’s (National Championship) this year I’ll start getting my points so I can get my pro card,” he said. “Then probably next year do the pro races.”
Hazen decided last winter that he wanted to race snow bikes. A snow bike is a dirt bike that has a timbersled conversion on it, meaning it has a track on the back and a ski on the front.
He qualified for the Winter X-Games 2020 in Aspen, Colorado and he competed in the SnowCross race. The event had two heat races of 10 riders and the top six from each heat moved onto the main event.
Hazen was on track to advance to the main event until the last lap when retired professional Supercross and Motocross racer Josh Hill passed him. Hill has competed in nine X-Games over the course of his career.
“It was cool and easier for me,” Hazen said. “It was way bigger than Loretta’s because of all the TV there. It was a great way to get my feet wet and now I know what I need to do to be up in the mix for next year.”
Hazen holds ten motocross sponsorships.
The Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National Motocross Championship is scheduled for August 3-8 in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.