Patterson Apologizes For Washougal Incident

I am writing this letter to publicly apologize to all my fans and sponsors for the incident that occurred at the Washougal round of the 2006 WMA National series between myself and Tarah Geiger.  I won’t get into the details of what happened between me and Tarah, other than to say that I regret my actions following our on-track get-together, which spilled over into an altercation after the moto. 

Tarah and I have had numerous run-ins on the track over the past few seasons, and it’s no secret that there is no love lost between us.  However, my boyfriend, Eddie Ray, myself, and our families work very hard and devote our lives to the sport of motocross, and I know we’ve had a positive impact on today’s growing interest in women’s motocross in America and around the world.  We also take a great deal of pride in representing our many excellent sponsors in a positive and professional manner, and my deepest regret with the incident at Washougal is that the great sponsors who support our efforts may have gotten some negative press because of what took place. 

Motocross is an emotionally-charged sport, and sometimes in the heat of battle things happen that lead to our emotions getting out of hand.  That certainly was the case at Washougal, and I have learned a lesson from what took place.  I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Honda of Houston, American Honda, Moto XXX, Fox Racing, Flexx Co, Vortex, Dunlop, Utopia, Sick Racing, Maxima, Marshall's Racing, DP Brakes, IMS, Kicker, ZLT, Ogio, SDG, MXWebsites.com, Twin Air, Works Cnnection, Pro Clean, Vortex Ignition, RK Chain and Excel Rims for their support in making our dreams come true in motocross, and I’m looking forward to putting this incident behind us and continuing my quest for my fourth WMA title.  It’s also my hope that all the competitors in this fantastic WMA series do our best to represent our sport well, and keep things safe and exciting for the fans on the track!

Sincerely,
Jessica Patterson