Kelly’s Korner: Making MotoDiscoveries
Last Updated: February 5th, 2021
(Bryan Smith, Winner of the 2016 Arizona Mile)
Just when I think I’ve settled on my favorite form of motorcycle racing, someone introduces me to a new one. This spring’s discovery? Flat track. It’s a demanding all-dirt endeavor, conducted on various lengths of oval track and comes with a long history. Spectators spend the first part of the day getting up close with the racers and their bikes in the pits, and then, during the race itself, standing close to the action. That’s one of the best parts, the chance to absorb the uniquely thrilling and primal experience of feeling the ground shake and listening to the whine and roar of motorcycle engines as the bikes scream past. But another one is knowing that women are creating a significant place for themselves within the flat track world.
I got to experience all of this with friends in May when the AMA Pro series held the Arizona Mile sponsored by Law Tigers, for the first time in 30 years, at Turf Paradise. And I had no clue what to expect; in fact, I thought the day would just be a hot and dusty affair with stinky porta potties and no running water. So I was pleasantly shocked when we were given VIP passes to the air-conditioned Law Tigers suite (thanks, folks!), which was stocked with non-stop food, coffee and cold bottled water, and looked right over the start/finish line area of the straightaway. I might be ruined for sitting in the grandstands anymore.
Milling around the pits is a lot of fun, too, in spite of the sun. The experience feels very different from MotoGP, where the racers and their teams tend to stay out of fans’ reach and sight. With flat track, you can watch the racers (or, if they have them, their mechanics) wrenching on the bikes; and you can stop and chat with them. These pros have yet to become unavailable and unapproachable, and I hope they don’t. Because you end up encountering interesting people with unexpected stories.
(Kelly gets a moment with Shayna Texter in the pits)
To that point, I stumbled upon Shayna Texter, who rides a Honda CRF 450 (my 230 is nothing in comparison!). I didn’t know anything about her until after I got home and did a little research. Turns out, she boasts a hell of a bio. She’s been riding since she was three, taught and supported by her now-deceased father. She has done all of the work on her bikes since she started riding (that’s changing somewhat now). She competes against her brother Corey. The two siblings stand out in the flat track world as the first brother and sister duo to face off in the X Games and to qualify for an AMA Pro Flat Track GNC1 event; they also started their own team, RLT Racing, some years ago. Throughout most of their lives, these two rode with just their father, a motorcycle racer in his own right, as their backer. He died in 2010, leaving the family with debt they didn’t know he had incurred in his support of his kids’ careers. Luckily, hard work often pays off and Shayna at last landed a team, Richie Morris Racing, and various sponsorships, last year. Shayna is the first woman to win the AMA Grand National Dirt Track race (2011 Pro Singles Half-Mile, Knoxville, Iowa), and has since made other big strides, including taking first at the Sacramento Mile (2013). I’m most impressed with her because she’s a young woman making waves in a traditionally male field but she’s not out to prove anything other than her own abilities and love for riding. Here’s what she told sponsor Roland Sands Design in a recent blog: “To be a female in a male-dominated sport truthfully doesn’t feel any different when my helmet is on. When I am on the track I am treated like a racer each and every weekend and I am never given any slack. I appreciate the boys for treating me no different and racing me just as hard as they would anyone else. Off the track it is always cool to interact with the fans and hear the women in particular say they race flat track now because they saw me ride.”
I love that attitude and I’m excited to see how many more women keep pursuing careers in flat track because of role models such as Shayna and Nichole Mees, another longtime racer who has made a big name for herself.
All in all, I’m enjoying learning more about the depth and breadth of opportunities, especially for women, in motorcycling. Tell me, what have you stumbled upon this year that’s got you excited about your lifestyle as a rider?
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