More Women In Motorcycling
By Riding Man
More women in motorcycling; these sisters have always been doin’ it for themselves

October 4-7, Femmoto 2007 comes to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This four-day Woodstock for female motorcyclists is more proof that motorcycling is no longer totally male-dominated. But the fact is, there have always been skilled and daring female riders. Here are the stories of five such “fast women.”

1.) Margaret Wilson – “Most Popular and Typical”
Margaret was a partner, with her husband, in Wilson’s Motorcycle Sales in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She helped organize the Corn State Riders Motorcycle Club and was the only woman member of the club’s precision drill team. Not all of her riding was in parades, however – one year, she rode through all 48 contiguous states. In 1958, she was awarded a large trophy from the AMA, proclaiming her to be “The Most Popular and Typical Girl Rider”!

2.) Debbie Evans – Trials, not tribulations
Debbie was born in Southern California in the late ‘50s. “I think they wanted a boy,” she said about of her parents. Debbie grew up competing in trials and enduros, long before there were separate classes for girls. Not that she needed them – she was soon beating all the boys. She was the first woman to compete in a round of the trials World Championship, and once finished fourth in the 175cc class of the grueling Scottish Six Day Trial. After retiring from competition she became one of Hollywood’s leading stuntwomen.

3.) Angelle Sampey – Life’s a drag
Angelle was the NHRA Pro Stock Bike drag racing champion in 2000. She proved that season was no fluke by winning the title again the next two years, making her the most successful female motorcycle racer in U.S. history.
Being five-foot nothing and weighing barely100 pounds doesn’t prevent Angelle from manhandling a 320 horsepower Suzuki that covers 1/4 mile in about 7 seconds. Maybe her ability to wrestle that beast is enhanced by her other passion – the no-holds-barred martial art of Brazilian ju-jitsu.

4.) Katja Poensgen – Don’t hate her because she’s beautiful
Katja, born in 1976, was the daughter of a German motocross racer and loved everything to do with speed. After working her way up through the German supersport ranks, she became the first woman Grand Prix racer in the modern era.
In truth, her GP results were meager. Her detractors said she was there on the strength of her looks and not talent, but she was never given the best of equipment – in a bigger and better-funded team she might have been more competitive. One thing is certain: in the 2001 Italian GP at Mugello, she rode smoothly

and well in torrential rain. By finishing 14th, she became the first woman ever to score points in a modern Grand Prix.

5.) Susan Robertson – First to break 200mph
Susan Robertson grew up riding dirt bikes on her parents’ farm in central California. Years later, when she was a successful executive with a real estate development firm, she rode a modern sport bike and was instantly hooked on speed.
Riding for Falkner-Livingston Racing, she set land speed records in several classes. Then in July, 2004 she found herself in a race to become the first woman to go over 200 miles an hour at a Southern California Timing Association meet. Riding a turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa detuned to 400 horsepower for the event, Susan clocked 205mph on El Mirage Dry Lake. Her street bike’s personalized license plate reads ‘1FSTCHK’.

Mark Gardiner is an internationally acclaimed motorcycle journalist, the subject of a documentary film, “One Man’s Island” and the author of “Riding Man”, an account of his struggle to qualify for—and survive—the world’s most dangerous motorcycle race. www.ridingman.com