For those of you who didn’t know, our women’s series once went across Canada with two rounds out west and three rounds out east with both east and west riders racing together. I still think that was the best time I have ever had in my racing career. The gates were almost full at each round, and having both east and west women riders together made for great racing throughout the entire field. My Dad, older sister Amber and I spent our summers travelling across Canada racing against the best of the best. I met a lot of great people over the years and got a chance to race on new tracks that were a lot different from what we have out west. Most of them were sand tracks, which I am a huge fan of! One of the big advantages I had back then was being in great shape. In all of my races I had consistent lap times and most of the time ended up having faster lap times by the end of the motos.
It was in 2009 when my race career took a big leap. I got my first podium at the Calgary National, and from that race on I hit the podium every round up until this past season where I was forced to sit out due to injury. It took me a few years to get comfortable racing with a big group of fast girls, but once I got my first podium I gained all the confidence I needed to keep going and I believed that’s where I needed to be each and every round.
One memory I will never forget was the 2009 Moncton National. Everyone in Canada knows who Heidi Cooke is; she has always been the fastest women rider out there. On this day I was feeling great on the bike and had a good flow around the track. This is where I got my very first holeshot and had gone back and forth with Heidi for the lead for what seemed like forever. It was the best I had ever felt on my bike. Just to be able to battle at that level was an experience I keep with me. I ended up finishing that day 2nd overall but felt like I had gained not only just a podium spot that day but a new level of racing.
Jocelyn and I battled for second overall in the championship that season and I ended up falling short just a couple of points after the last round. After that season ended I had made a goal for myself to train hard and win the championship the next season, to beat every girl both east and west, and to be able to say that I beat Heidi Cooke. It was 2010 when the series was split into east and west. I was devastated! All of the hard work I had put in to this one goal I had was not even an option. There would be no chance of racing against the east girls. I never ended up getting another chance to race against Heidi. All I could do was sit back and watch the rest of the east series unfold, wishing that I could be there to prove myself to everyone.
I believe one day that the series will be all together again or at least be given an East/West Shootout. It would bring the series we have built now to a whole new level! It would be the ultimate way to end the year and would create the most absolute bar to bar racing in women’s MX!
Fingers crossed, we are moving in the right direction.
Good luck to everyone at Gopher Dunes! 🙂
Denaye