Stefanie's Corner
Well,
summer break is here. A break
of a couple months always seems like a long time, but before we know it,
it will be back to racing and then winter.
Many people go on vacation, but no vacation for me, my time and
money go into racing. For most
people it’s just a hobby, for me it’s my life.
Everything revolves around racing.
I must say what an adventure it has been too.
It all
started at the Flying Dutchman Motorcycle Club in Pine Grove, PA in 1989.
They hosted District #6 Harescrambles and that track had to be the
muddiest place I have ever been to. I
started racing in the 90cc class, one of the most competitive classes,
with the stock LT80 as the top starter machine.
I was 8 years old. As
my racing career progressed my father supported me by building me the best
machine on the track.
In 1997 I
won every race except for one, and that’s because of water problems
(like I said, that track was ALWAYS muddy).
Needless to say the boys weren’t happy about getting beat by the
only girl in attendance. Since
I was growing out of my LT80, and was finally of age to move up to the
next class it was time for another bad azz machine.
At "The Dutchman" the last race of the season counts as
the first for the next year. Because
my new machine wasn’t born yet, I not only raced the morning but also
the afternoon race in the 0-230cc class on the same machine.
After finishing in the top 5 against guys on blasters, I realized I
had broken my wrist and would spend the next 15 weeks in a cast (don’t
worry, they changed it half way through).
After a
long winter, my father and I finished our new creation, an ATC200X motor
in a Honda 250X frame.
Two weeks to go before the first round of the GNCC races in 1998
and I finally got my cast off. I
finished 1st place in the women’s class at Round 1 in
Okeechobee, FL. It was
an experience of a life time, and my family and I were hooked.
Although we were unable to make all of the races that season, we
decided the following season we would make as many as we could.
In 1999 I
raced 9 rounds of GNCC to finish in 4th place.
It was an awesome battle amongst the best women in the country,
Nikki Hawkins, Traci Cecco, and Stephanie Parton.
The following seasons I was unable to race the whole GNCC series
but did a couple close ones. We
mainly focused on our local District 6 Hare scramble series.
In 2003 we
raced a GNCC at Rausch Creek. It
was unanimous that we were all still hooked and my family and I would make
a come back in 2004. It took
working 2-3 jobs to support my racing habits and this made it nearly
impossible to ride and train. Despite
the hardship I finished in a respectable 4th place in both 2004
and 2005. To stay fast
and keep up with the new crop of upcoming women racers I decided to change
jobs and concentrate on being #1!
I've been
going to the gym, riding, and racing as much as I can, striving to be the
best. Well, 2006 has
brought some extremely fast women to the scene and very bad luck for me.
After the best race I have had in a long time, I have come to the
reality, hard work and drive really does pay off.
You never know what’s going to happen.
I may not be #1 this year, but I’m getting closer and closer
every time and can't wait for the break to be over!
Enjoy your summer.
Ride hard, be safe, and have fun!
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