“Why are PROS racing AM races?”
celain-faced, half-clothed one. Let’s
be honest, the Monster girls get more
coverage at motorsports events than
all the female racers combined.
Female athletes can only hope to
be blessed with a pretty face, so that
maybe the camera will be so generous as to gaze upon them.
Now before you misconstrue my argument, please understand that I mean
no disrespect to the models. Haters:
pipe-down. There’s room for both
Dianna Dahlgren and Jessica Patterson
in this industry. All I’m saying is, what if
we celebrated talent just as much as
we celebrated beauty in our young
women? What if we gave WMX another chance, a REAL chance? What
if we, THE FANS, invested a little more
time and interest into WMX, not just for
ourselves, but also for our daughters,
our sisters, our girlfriends, our wives, our
mothers, and the sport we love?
Maybe instead of being angry about
WMX joining the amateur events, we
can see this as an opportunity. After
all, this year female racers have eight
national events at which to compete,
compared to last year’s measly three
events with the Triple Crown. At least
one of these amateur events will be
televised, and that number is expected to grow in the coming years. Look
at the attention amateur national MX
events are getting these days: last
year, Loretta’s garnered a larger television viewership than the X Games!
These amateur events are going to get
a lot of press, and WMX is going to be
a part of that.
The decision to hold WMX races alongside amateur events was merely a financial one, one that was necessary
in order to give female athletes the opportunity to race. Now, it’s up to us to
decide what the future of WMX holds.
Left: Marissa Markelon; 2nd, GH
Top: Sayaka Kaneshiro; 3rd, GH
Bottom: Mackenzie Tricker; 1st, GH
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