July 2014
Breaking Expectations: Women Of Off-Road Racing Set New Standards
Photo Josh Marshall
Motorcyclists Overcome Barriers To Entry
WOMEN OFF-ROAD RACING
KACY MARTINEZ DREAMING BIG By James Holter
When Kacy Martinez’s dad, Mark, first put her on a dirt bike during a family camping trip, the then-8-year-old Kacy rode it straight into a wooden fence. Martinez was unfazed, however. She got back on the bike. Little did she or her dad know at the time, but that second effort would launch a career that has seen the FMF KTM rider become one of the premier women off-road racers in America today. In the 2014 AMSOIL AMA Grand National Cross Country Series, Martinez has five class wins and one secondplace finish through the first six rounds of the series. In the overall results of the morning session, which can include nearly 400 riders an event, Martinez has placed as high as fifth. Most kids get involved in the sport because one or both of their parents are long-time riders. Martinez says her whole family started riding together. “My dad and I pretty much started riding at the same time,” she explains. “His friend took him out riding once, and he came home and started looking online for used dirt bikes. He got one for both of us. My first dirt bike was a (Yamaha) PW80. We went out a couple times, then he bought my mom and my
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sister a dirt bike too, and it became a weekend family camping thing.” Martinez says some of her best memories are camping with her dad, her mom, Cindy, and her sister, Marqui. “Our local riding area is Hollister Hills (State Vehicular Recreation Area),” she says. “We had a great time, and met some good friends. Then, we heard about a national harescrambles at Hollister, and that was my first race. After that, we started doing harescrambles in AMA District 36.” Kacy, who was 12 when she started racing, started winning her class in AMA District 36 events. She and her dad decided to make a larger commitment to national-level competition. For 2014, that journey has led her to one of the most-popular AMA-sanctioned series: Grand National Cross Country. Martinez says that while the series, which is mostly in the eastern United States, is a long way from her central and northern California stomping grounds, it feels like home to her. “Although I grew up riding out west, I raced more harescrambles,” Martinez says. “So for me, racing the GNCCs is a little bit like coming back to my roots. I really like riding single track.” Kacy Martinez
Simon Cudby
THE OF
Martinez also says she’s impressed by the professionalism of the series. “The series is awesome,” she says. “They’re really working hard to get women out there and get our names out there. It’s just crazy how many spectators come out and watch the whole show, so it really helps to advance women in the sport if we have a good platform at the GNCCs.” Martinez says this is aided by the GNCC/harescrambles format, which puts multiple classes on the course at once, allowing a direct comparison between men and women racers. “After every race, we have an overall podium, which combines all the classes, so we have an opportunity to get up there with the guys,” she says. “This shows that women can do it, too, not just in their own class but overall.” Martinez wants an AMA national No. 1 plate in GNCC competition. “I want to win a couple titles in the GNCC series,” she says. “I’d also like to get an X Games gold medal for EnduroCross. After that, I would like to have a career in the industry and help the off-road women’s market grow.” Martinez is often asked for advice from young girls. She keeps it simple. “When you start getting more serious about racing, and you start training more and riding more, always keep it fun,” she says. “Don’t overwhelm yourself, and always look back to the fun you had and why you wanted to ride in the first place.”
Josh Marshall
RACHEL GUTISH MASTERING ENDURO By Shan Moore
Racing the Kenda AMA National Enduro Championship Series is just part of what makes Rachel Gutish who she is. She’s also an honor student at her high school and a pole vaulter on the school’s track team—all accomplishments that require focus and determination. This is something she says she’s learned from racing motorcycles from an early age. Rachel’s dad owns the local KTM dealership in their hometown of Terre Haute, Ind., and she was 7 years old when he helped her compete in her first race, which was a District 17 hare scrambles in Casey, Ill. Rachel has been hooked ever since. “My dad had always been an enduro guy, so that’s what we did when I was growing up,” says Gutish, who just celebrated her 18th birthday. “I like the single-track trail in the enduro series and the series is a breath of fresh air, compared to other series I’ve ridden, although I’m not so good at pacing myself. But in the long run, I think that will make me a better rider.” Gutish is in her third year of racing the Kenda AMA National Enduro Championship Series. Her most recent finish was a second behind Mandi Mastin at the Rad Dad Enduro in Westpoint, Tenn. “I like the Tennessee race because the trails flow really good and it’s a fun place to ride,” Gutish says. “Texas is a cool race too, just because it’s totally different from what I grew up riding,
Rachel Gutish
and that’s another part of what I like about the series, riding different types of terrain.” Along with her racing wins, Gutish is proud of her academic performance. “I make mostly As in everything, except maybe a B every once in a while in math,” Gutish says. “It’s hard trying to balance everything, but I like the diversity of it all, racing motorcycles and competing in school sports. It keeps me pretty busy, though.” Gutish also races the GEICO AMA EnduroCross Series, and sometimes she has to miss school, between that
and the enduro series. “My teachers let me do my homework in advance, which helps,” she says. Sometimes her schedule gets pretty intense. On one weekend, Gutish raced an EnduroCross in Las Vegas on Friday, then she had to be in Louisiana on Sunday for a national enduro, and still made it home to Indiana in time for a track meet on Monday. “It’s tough sometimes, but I love it all,” says Gutish. “Racing enduros and EnduroCross and competing in track have taught me discipline, for sure.”
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MEGAN BLACKBURN & RILY ELLINGER CONQUERING THE DESERT Story and photos by Mark Kariya Megan Blackburn and Rily Ellinger jokingly refer to themselves as the “Dainty Daredevils,” and they make up what might be the only all-female team in U.S. off-road racing: Team Off Road Support/ Kawasaki of Simi Valley (California). The team competes in the SRT AMA Hare & Hound National Championship Series and the AMA District 37/GPR Big 6 Grand Prix Series. Though Blackburn and Ellinger are teammates who share a passion for racing in the same events on any given weekend, their backgrounds are almost polar opposites. Eillinger was practically raised at the races. “My whole family rides dirt bikes,” she begins. “My dad still races dirt bikes. I got my first bike at 5 and I’ve been racing ever since.” Like many, Ellinger concentrated on motocross early in her career, which helped hone her speed but led to a crash that left her with a back injury. That altered her path but not her love for racing: “I wanted to come back to racing, but I didn’t want to do motocross as much. I wanted to go back to my roots. I grew up racing desert, so now me racing desert is kind of coming back to what I knew and what I grew up doing.” In contrast, Blackburn came into the sport relatively late, at age 22, saying, “I didn’t even know the difference between a two-stroke and a four-stroke until 19 or 20. “I dated a guy—that’s how it all started,” she explains. “I watched for so long, I finally said, ‘I want to do it!’” Blackburn quickly grew to love the off-road family as much as the on-bike aspect: “I just liked the environment, the people—the people I met [in the beginning] I’m still friends with today and it’s been six years, almost.” Like most weekend racers, Ellinger has a full-time job and commitments outside of competition. She’s in nursing school and fills the rest of the week working in a medical office, so her focus is on the hare and hound series with occasional forays into other events close to home. Blackburn enjoys a unique position in that she works in the motorcycle industry as VurbOffRoad.com’s editor, so racerelated activities can be a good portion of her work week as well. “Anything VurbOffRoad, other than
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filming, I’m doing,” she says. Besides the hare and hound and select Big 6 Grand Prix events, she plans to ride a few rounds of the AMA West Hare Scrambles Championship Series and the GEICO AMA EnduroCross Series. So what was behind the Off Road Support/Kawasaki of Simi Valley team’s decision to back an allwomen team? Blackburn explains: “[Team owner] Steve [Argubright] had always supported [my boyfriend] Jacob [Argubright], and now that [Jacob] has the ultimate ride [as a Bel-Ray/ FMF/Moose Racing Husqvarna factory rider], Steve probably just wants to do something to stay involved with hare and hound racing, and I think we’re pretty easy on bikes when it comes to that. So, it just kind of made sense for him to pick us up. Rily is definitely a top contender for the A class, and I’m getting there for the B class.” Blackburn finished the 2013 season second overall in Women A/B behind Maggie Pearson after winning the Women C class in 2012. Both racers compete for the No. 1 plate in their respective classes hungrily. “Not growing up in the sport, [winning Women C] was a pretty big deal to me,” Blackburn shares. “It was definitely an accomplishment, and I’ll always remember that. That’s when I knew I could do it. That’s what motivated me to do it looking forward.” So far, Ellinger has won local series titles in her native New Mexico and believes she can take the top spot in the SRT AMA Hare & Hound National Championship Series: “This year, I would say, I’m the most prepared to go out and win a championship. I finished second in the Big 6 series last year so that was pretty cool, too. Last year was my first year racing pro, so finishing second, to me, was a championship in itself. It was a big accomplishment to just get second [behind Elizabeth Bash].” Blackburn says that succeeding as a woman in off-road racing is no different than in anything else. It comes down to attitude. “It’s just what you make it, and I think in off-road, women can do anything the men can, especially when it comes to
technical riding. You can crash and cry, or you can pick your bike up and beat the dude that just passed you.” Even though she can beat some of the guys, Blackburn hasn’t faced recrimination, saying, “I’ve never come across somebody in the desert or any offroad racer that hasn’t been willing to help or cheered me on.” Ellinger’s take is a bit different. Perhaps because she is faster, the men she’s passing feel embarrassed. She says it did lead to one guy reacting to her with very unsportsmanlike conduct, but that was an aberration. As for the future, both are grounded in their goals. “I’ll be 26 this year, so I do want to have a family someday if that works out,” Blackburn says. “For now, I just want to keep racing and just have fun. That’s really the ultimate goal. I’m not looking to dominate the world. I just want to have fun
Rily Ellinger: Above and below.
Megan Blackburn: Above, below and left.
and say that I was good at [racing].” Ellinger has a shorter-term goal: “I would like to get an invite for X Games Enduro X. I want to continue to be a competitor at some of the EnduroCross races that I can make it to with my work schedule and racing schedule.” Both see more women expanding their horizons and venturing from motocross tracks to trails in the desert or woods, though it’s unlikely that the numbers will come to equal the level of male participation overnight. “There are a lot of good role models at this time in the industry, so hopefully [girls getting into the sport] can look to that and just grow up and keep racing and keep doing off-road,” Blackburn muses. Ellinger points to roadblocks to racing that have kept all types of riders—men and women, young and old—from making the sport a lifestyle. “It’s so tough,” Ellinger says bluntly. “It’s tough on your bike. It’s tough on your body. It’s mentally grueling.”
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MANDI MASTIN RACING THE WORLD Story and photos by Shan Moore
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Mandi Mastin got her first taste of the International Six Days Enduro when she traveled to Spain in 2000 to watch her brother Cody compete as a member of the U.S. Junior Trophy Team. Today, the Ohio-born Mastin is herself a veteran of 12 ISDEs. “I thought it was such a cool experience when I went to watch Cody that I made up my mind that I was going to compete the next year,” says Mastin. “I had basically been riding only motocross up to that point, so the whole off-road thing was new to me. But in 2001, I just put my head down, rode as much off-road as I could and went out and qualified.” Perhaps the biggest appeal for Mastin was the atmosphere and the challenge of Six Days competition. “It’s just such a unique event,” Mastin says. “You have to do everything yourself, working on the bike and getting ready each day, and I enjoy the weeklong struggle of finishing and staying on time.” Mastin admits that her first year she felt a bit over her head.
“That first year I went, I probably shouldn’t have been there,” Mastin says. “I was only a C rider, but I kept telling myself I was going to finish, and I did. It’s just that drive to keep going. Now it’s the determination to go back each year and try to do better.” As for her favorite Six Days experience, Mastin points to Chile in 2007. While it probably wasn’t her best performance, the U.S. Women’s squad won the Women’s World Cup that year in the first year the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme recognized women riders with the award. Nicole Bradford and Lacy Jones joined Mastin on the U.S. women’s team that year. “That Six Days really sticks out in my mind because we won the first World Cup and the excitement that the three of us shared,” Mastin says. “But they are all special in their own way.” Mastin says her goal each year is to finish with a gold-medal time, which she has yet to do. “That’s what keeps me coming back, to get that gold medal,” says Mastin.
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“I’ve come so close, but I’ve just had a couple of problems that kept me from getting it.” The camaraderie of riding as a team and competing for your country is another aspect of ISDE that appeals to Mastin. “Even though you are pushing for a gold for yourself, you also know you are riding for your teammates, as well,” she says. “It’s an honor to go to the event and represent the United States and to be a part of a team, it’s just a lot of fun.” This year’s Six Days is in Argentina on Nov. 3-8, and according to Mastin, the U.S. squads should have a leg up on the competition because most of the top teams will be doing what the U.S. team has to do every year: pack up and travel overseas to the event. “We have to work out of containers every time we go to a Six Days, so the Euro teams have it easier, because they can drive their support trucks to the event when it is held in Europe,” explains Mastin. “This year, they will be working out of containers and eating foreign food, so it will be a bigger adjustment for them.” With her vast experience in Six Days competition, the newcomers to the team will often look to Mastin for advice. “Like with Sarah Whitmore and Maria Forsberg, when they were on the team, I try to help them understand what’s going on and the format,” she says. “But Six Days is so much of a mental game, that the pep talks on days three and four I think are a big help.” Mastin is more than a racer on the team. The Six Days is a major logistical effort, and Mastin’s family is in charge of organizing the transport of bikes and parts to the event each year. It’s a huge undertaking. “It’s something we enjoy doing, and it helps the team, so it’s satisfying as well,” Mastin says. Admitting that she can’t compete at this level forever, Mastin says she would someday like to take on more of a team leader role in the race. “I think that would be very gratifying, to use what I’ve learned to help the U.S. women’s team do their best each year,” she says. That’s a long way off, however. For this year, Mastin is training as hard as ever so she can chase that elusive gold medal in Argentina.
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