This was apparently announced just a week or two ago: AMA Pro racing introduces Women’s Motocross Championship
They mention 18 year old Ashley Fiolek, the “first full factory rider in American motocross history when she was signed to a contract with Honda Red Bull Racing.”
Makes me wonder if an AMA national women’s roadracing championship will ever come about. And how it could be successful. Personally, and at no surprise to anyone I’m sure, I think it would be awesome. I’d bet there are twenty to thirty female racers in the U.S. who would do a fine job populating such a series.
I’m not saying I think this is awesome, or terrible, just that it seems like a “thing.” It seems as though the more commercially successful womens’ sports give women the opportunity to look pretty. Tennis, The NCAA Women’s Softball World Series on ESPN, with their pretty braids and bows, beach volleyball…have to say it’s pretty tough to show off a sexy bod when you’re clad in ten pounds of colorful leather and a full face helmet. I guess a part of me feels it’s unfortunate, and related to my occasional general frustration that I can’t just move through life unnoticed (men and women notice and evaluate women based on their physical appearance, usually without even realizing it), but another part of me accepts it as the way things are and looks for ways to work within the system.
Blah blah blah. Anyhoo. I still think a women’s pro roadracing series would KICK ASS! So it’s not as obvious in motorcycle racing as it is in, say, football, that men are naturally more equipped with the physicality and aggression necessary to be world champion racers, but it is and will likely always remain that I do not believe that we are on an equal playing field. Playing against other women isn’t just more fun for me, it’s more legit. I feel it’s fair. I don’t feel a sense of unfairness being on the grid with men, shit, I have no other options and I love racing so much because it’s fun and when the face shield is down, it’s just you against other racers. But when I step back and think about it…about the aggression and boldness it takes to sneak yourself in between a racer and a curb as you’re both leaning in towards the apex…the physical strength and timing it requires to flick a bike from one side to another at speed…I just find it more fun and satisfying to compete against my fellow ladies.
There will always be female athletes that are so exceptional that they can best many of the opposite gender. I’d certainly consider myself to be more bold and aggressive than a man who’s been club racing for several years but hasn’t quite figured his way forward through the pack yet. But do I have the built-in chops to compete equally with a Ben Spies, a Kenan Sofuoglu, or a Mladin? Forget about the years spent training and developing skills, I’m just talking natural, born-in equipment, in the brain and in the bod.
Again, don’t get me wrong. I love racing, against men, against women, and I don’t have a chip on my shoulder or am looking for excuses. I am still just as driven as ever to crack the top ten of my competitive AFM 650 Twins class. But having raced a couple women’s races now, it’s freaking rad. It’s amazing. I can’t explain it. I day dream about a women’s pro roadracing series. This new AMA Pro Women’s Motocross Championship just makes me think it might happen even sooner than I thought.
