Bad Girl Jessica Patterson Wins 5th National Championship

August 28, 2007, 2:50pm

The most accomplished rider in the history of the WMA, Bad Boy Power Drink / Honda of Houston / Fox Racing rider Jessica Patterson, won her fifth AMA / WMA Pro National Championship on Sunday, August 26th at the Steel City Raceway in Demont, PA.

photo: Steve Bonnau

After winning both motos in round five, Patterson had a 16 point lead over Yamaha’s Tarah Gieger heading in to the sixth and final round on Sunday. Due to severe thunderstorms on Saturday night, the first moto at 9:30am was wet and wild. Tarah Geiger went down in the first corner, and then came roaring back in to contention by lap four. But the mud and the ruts got the best of Geiger, she fell a few more times, and ended up with a DNF. Jessica Patterson’s third-place finish behind Sarah Whitmore and Vanessa Florentino, combined with the DNF by Gieger, locked up her fifth WMA title with one moto remaining.

With nothing to lose, and a desire to end the year in style, Jessica Patterson lined up with her WMA competitors for the second moto late in the afternoon. The track was now dry and rough, and the Sunday crowd was psyched for the final moto of the 2007 WMA Pro Championship. Ashley Fiolek, making her pro debut, grabbed the hole shot, with Jessica close behind. After a few laps, Patterson made it by Fiolek in the double-double section at the top of the track to take the lead. Patterson, with the championship already in hand, put the icing on the cake with a first place finish in the final moto of the 2007 season.

photo: Steve Bonnau

“Winning the second moto was very important to Jessica”, said Rick Ware from Team Bad Boy. “She’s a fierce competitor and she really wanted to end the year with a bang, and that’s just what she did.”