Tyler Collingwood
Every year, we spend hours upon hours talking about the pro “silly season.” Who is going where, what gear they will be in and so on and so on. But you never see anyone talking about the crazy off-season for amateur motocross and where the top amateurs will be going. Well, this off-season has brought a major hit to the amateur scene with the NSA Yamaha team closing shop and leaving a lot of the top amateurs looking for a home next season. Let’s look at everyone on the team and where they are/could be going.
Avery Long
Avery Long is one of the top amateur riders in the US right now and finds himself closing a chapter in his career with his final race under the NSA tent at Mini O’s. While this chapter is closing, unfortunately a new one hasn’t opened for the kid. Even after having such a good 2024 season, Long finds himself without a team next year. In an interview, Long did confirm he has some help coming that would ease his mind, but nothing has been confirmed. Long trains at ClubMX mainly and bounces around down to MTF. Long is comfortable on the Yamaha and has proven he can win on it. Training with the Club guys, working with Alex Martin and Troll Training, I feel like ClubMX would be a great fit for this kid.
Max Shane
Max had some standout rides in the spring/summer of 2023 and with the good results found himself landing a spot on NSA before the 2023 Mini O’s. Shane did not have very much time on the bike, but over the last year his results seemed to be a little lower than what we had expected of him. He is a kid that can 100% win and I just think he needs some time to shine. With NSA closing, Max quickly found a new home with Daniel Blair on the amateur Husqvarna team. I’m unsure how long Max has on the new bike, but I saw some videos of him a few weeks before Mini O’s and he ended up with some good rides down in Florida and looked comfortable. I’m excited to hopefully see Max in SX Futures this spring.
Kade Johnson
Kade is one of the top B rider prospects and has been on the NSA team for what feels like forever. While Kade didn’t sign with a team as of now, and looks to be doing his own thing, this didn’t seem to slow him down, as he was able to bring home a title in the 250B Limited MX class at Mini O’s. I don’t see this kid staying as a free agent for very long.
Tayce Morgan
The youngest rider on the team, Morgan looked to be on a Atlus backed Yamaha at Mini O’s. Tayce is one of the top 85 riders in the country and has one heck of a resume. In the past six months, Morgan had two podium finishes at Loretta’s, won the YZ85 class in the bLU cRU Europe Super Cup Finale, and had some impressive Mini Sr rides this past week at Mini O’s. Tayce is obviously riding the Yamaha super well, so Atlus Yamaha should be an easy transition.
Rest of the team
Pro Sport rider Leum Oehlhof has been putting in some serious results the past two years and has proven to be one of the top amateurs. Leum posted on November 1st that he would be departing from the NSA team and that’s all we’ve heard. He has been silent since then so I’m anxious to see where he lands with Supercross Futures not far away.
Owen Covell brought home two championships to NSA at Loretta’s this year and won Youth Rider of the Year. New to the 250 season, I would think Owen would be one of the most sought after amateurs right now and could bring a championship to any team.
NSA newest team member was Mckayden Fitch who signed with the team at the end of September this year. Fitch to me would have his breakout season at the end of 2023 with his results at Mini O’s. Fitch would quickly become one of the top guys in the Schoolboy 1. Like Covell, he hasn’t had much time on the 250 so I could see this kid fitting in anywhere and it will be interesting to see where he ends up.
