Motocross
Top Female Motocross Riders You Should Know About
Fair warning: These women are way faster than you.
Women's Motocross has come a long way since the Powder Puff National in 1974, the first (relatively) big female motocross race held in the U.S. Now with the Women's Motocross World (WMX) Championship series along with the X Games, Loretta Lynn's, and the Endurocross series, girls in the modern moto era have an entirely new offering of events to showcase their abilities. Here are eight motocross riders, both past and present, who have excelled:
Ashley Fiolek at Southwick
© Chris Tedesco/Red Bull Content Pool
1. Ashley Fiolek
Ashley's impact on the women's motocross scene was felt even in mainstream culture. A super sweet girl born without the ability to hear, Ashley happened to be an incredible talent on a motorcycle ever since she first started practicing at the age of seven. Ashley nearly won the Women's Pro class at Loretta Lynn's in 2006 riding a Supermini dirt bike and would go on to become the first female ever to receive a full factory ride when she signed with Honda in 2009. She won the WMX Championship four times during her five-year career.
Tarah Gieger takes off
© Robert Snow/Red Bull Content Pool
2. Tarah Gieger
What can we say about Tarah Gieger? An athlete who first took to surfing before picking up motocross at 10 years old, she's the only girl on this list to backflip a motorcycle. She also has more X Games medals than any other female motocross rider in history. Tarah now chooses to focus her efforts in the Endurocross series as well as X Games, where she can compete in both the Moto-X and Enduro-X events. She has won three Loretta Lynn's AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship titles and was the first female to compete in the Motocross des Nations.
3. Jessica Patterson
Jessica Patterson has had a longer career than just about any other female racer, and it's because of her life-long dedication to the sport.
Riding motorcycles since the age of seven, Jessica's first accomplishments were early. At the young age of 12, she qualified for her first Loretta Lynn's Amateur Motocross National Championship. Since the WMX series officially began in 2003, she has won the title an unprecedented five times (and would have won a few more if it wasn't for Ashley). In 2013, Patterson ended her motocross career with a bang by winning the Women's Motocross National Championship.ng transitioned over to the GNCC series to give the woods a go.
4. Vicki Golden
Vicki first started riding at seven years old after she saw her brother and father traversing the rough hills of San Diego. She won Loretta Lynn's in 2008 when she was just 16 years old. In 2014, Vicki Golden became the first female ever to earn a pro license after competing in the men's Arenacross series. Vicki has won the last three women's Moto-X events at X Games, and even made it on the podium in Best Whip in 2013, against the best male freestyle riders in the world.
5. Mercedes Gonzales
Most current moto fans might not recognize the name Mercedes Gonzalez, but she ruled women's motocross in the early ‘90s. Mercedes started riding at the age of seven and first competed against male riders before the world of motocross expanded to include more females. Before the WMX championship was even formed, Mercedes was receiving support from Kawasaki to race the few rounds of the Women's Motocross League, which she dominated.
Mercedes holds nine national championships, which is the record among female American motocross athletes. Mercedes left the sport in 1993, returning for a two-race stint in 2000, earning podiums at each round even though she'd been away from racing for seven years.
6. Stefy Bau
Stefy started riding dirt bikes at the early age of four, and she was only six when she joined her first competition, placing third. She began winning races from an early age, which led to an impressive motocross career in her home country of Italy. In the late '90s, Stefy's career began taking off in the United States, first with a win in every round of the 1999 WMA AMA Women's National Motocross Championship. In 2000, Stefy earned a professional license to compete against men, becoming the first woman in modern motocross to strut her stuff on the male circuit.
Unfortunately, in October 2005, Stefy experienced an accident that brought an end to her racing career, but she's still an active part of the racing community.
7. Sue Fish
Sue "Flying" Fish is another motocross legend. In 2012, she was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, and in 2013, she earned the title of FIM Legend. Sue won both the 1976 and 1977 Women's National Motocross Championship, and later, dipped her fingers into downhill mountain biking. If that wasn't enough, she was also the stunt double in "The Terminator."
8. Sara Price
Sara Price's record speaks for itself. Sara has been riding since the age of eight, and her record includes 17 national motocross championship wins. In 2010, Sara raced for Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing, becoming the first female to do so with factory support. You can also spot some of her stunt work in TV shows like "How to Get Away with Murder" and movies like "Jumanji: The Next Level."
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