Eight young rising Australian stars hit the track this past week at the 2012 Red Bull Amateur National Motocross Championship at the Loretta Lynn Ranch in Tennessee.

Luke Clout, Mackenzie Tricker, Luke Reardon, Brad West, Hayden Mellross, Caleb Grothues, Callum Norton and Jacob Blomfield all earnt their places at the Ranch through a series of area and regional qualifiers.

The Australian riders joined a field of 1,410 speedsters for five days of hard charging battles, on the most infamous amateur circuit in the world.

Luke Clout, Mackenzie Tricker and Caleb Grothues led the green and gold charge, taking overall podium finishes in their respective classes.

After a week of standout performances, New South Wales native Luke Clout scored a double podium finish with second overall in the 450 B Stock division and overall third in the stacked 250 B Modified class.

The 17-year old used 2-2-2 moto finishes in the 450 B Stock class, and 4-3-5 in the 250 B Modified class to land his Honda on the podium.

Fellow New South Wales rider Mackenzie Tricker laid down a week of solid performances to take home the runner-up position in the Women 14+ divison.

The 16-year old raced her Yamaha to a 3-1 result in the first two motos, entering the final at the front of the field. But two costly crashes in the final moto resulted in a fourth place finish, which gave rival Taylor Higgins the overall win.

Young Western Australian flier Caleb Grothues took out an impressive second place in the 65cc (10-11 years) Modified class. The 12-year-old KTM rider narrowly missed out on a placing in the 65cc (10-11 years) Stock division, coming up just one spot short of the podium.

The podium proved elusive for 11-year old KTM rider Callum Norton from Victoria, who finished sixth overall in the 85c (9-11 years) Modified class and 16th in the (9-11 years) Stock division.

Queenslander Luke Reardon delivered solid performances in the hotly contested 250 B Stock and College B/C (16-24 years) classes, but failed to find the top half of the board. Finishing the week with 16th and 22nd placings, respectively.

First-time Loretta Lynn’s contender Brad West of Queensland wrapped up his rookie year at the ranch with a 41st placing in the 51 (7-8 years) AMA 2 Stock class.

Queensland native Jacob Blomfield, who has been living in the United States since 1996, failed to find the results he was looking for in the Open Pro Sport and 450 A Classes. Blomfield, was forced to retire from both categories after the first motos.

More bad luck was dished out to current Australian Junior Motocross Champion Hayden Mellross, who recorded DNF’s in both the 450 B Modified and Schoolboy 2 (13-16) B/C Classes.