Vicki Golden is no newbie to the world of Motocross. In fact, she’s a back-to-back X Games Moto X racing champion who will look to three-peat next month in Los Angeles. But for the first time in X Games history she will do something no other Moto X athlete has done – break the gender barrier.
Golden will be competing in the Men’s Moto X Best Whip event in the hopes of pulling off the biggest trick but she’s certainly no stranger to competing with the boys. In fact, it’s becoming her specialty.
When she began racing at the age of seven there were no other girls competing, so she learned to hang with the boys, and in 2011, became the first woman to qualify for a main event on the AMA Arenacross circuit. Now she competes against the opposite sex regularly and last month became the first female team member of Metal Mulisha, a notorious bad boys’ riding club.
But let’s not forget what she’s accomplished on the women’s circuit.
In 2008 Golden won Women’s Amateur National Champion and followed it up the very next year with TransWorld Motocross Female Rookie of the Year. Now, the two-time X Games gold medalist will look to continue to prove her dominance of the sport, though it won’t be easy.
The best whip competition will require Golden to perform on a smaller bike, putting the 20-year-old at somewhat of a disadvantage. And then there’s four-time Best Whip gold medalist Jeremy Stenberg. The rider known as “Twitch” is a fan favorite in the event and a perennial front-runner to once again win. However, that’s not deterring Golden from doing what’s worked so far in her career.
“All of those guys throw some dirty whips,” Golden told ESPN. “But I do think mine have more than a bit of style. I think being the first girl in the contest is a good story and maybe that will be in my favor.”
Golden will face off against other riders, including X Games Barcelona Best Whip gold medalist Edgar Torronteras, Robbie Maddison and Josh Hansen – but all eyes will likely be on be on the California girl.
Ed is an MMA/Extreme Sports contributor for CraveOnline Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @PhillyEdMiller, and subscribe at Facebook.com/CraveOnlineSports.
Photo via RacerXIllustrated Youtube
