Throughout the month of December, Racer X Online editors and contributors will be handing out one award each day for an outstanding performance or effort or product related to the global motocross industry in 2018. Each winner will receive this award, which we’re calling a Roger, just like the Academy Awards have their Oscars. It’s in honor of Roger DeCoster, a great ambassador for the sport of motocross for more than 50 years. Today’s topic is Racer X Women’s Rider of the Year.
We primarily cover motocross and supercross here at Racer X, so when we went searching for the best women’s racer of 2018, we checked the usual avenues. There were many deserving, and very fast female motocrossers out there, including Italy’s Kiara Fontanesi, who won her sixth world title this year. On the U.S. side, North Carolina’s Jordan Jarvis has begun to take control of the scene, winning the WMX title and winning the Women’s 12+ Class at Loretta’s while still attending high school full-time!
As we started to study the numbers, though, another female racer stuck out. Australian off-road racer Tayla Jones moved to the U.S. in 2017—and wasted no time dominating the scene. She then repeated that performance in 2018.
Here are Tayla’s stats for the year: She won all three championships she competed for—Grand National Cross Country, AMA National Enduro, and Full Gas Sprint Enduro. If she were a gambler, she’d have rolled Lucky 7s, because she won seven of 13 races in GNCC, she won another seven (out of nine) in National Enduro, and seven out of eight races in Sprint Enduro. That’s 21 wins in 30 races. Then, she headed to the International Six-Days Enduro (ISDE) in Chile to lead the Australian team to its sixth-straight Women’s World Trophy. Six years in a row! Remember, she also won all three titles and the ISDE Women’s World Trophy last year, also. So she’s due for some accolades, and for that we present Tayla Jones with the Roger for Women’s Rider of the Year.
While we’re on the subject of off-road racers, here’s a nod to Kacy Martinez, who announced her retirement from racing after winning the 2018 EnduroCross Championship. Martinez has completed a goal of winning at least one title in every major off-road discipline in America. She won the 2007 AMA Hare Scramble National Championship Series; the 2008 and 2009 AMA West Hare Scramble Championships; the 2014 and 2015 AMA Grand National Cross Country title; the 2016 AMA National Enduro Championship; and the 2018 AMA EnduroCross National Championship.
Last weekend, the AMA presented Kacy with the AMA Lifetime Achievement Award for winning titles across six disciplines.
Like we said, lots of fast females out there doing lots of impressive things!
MORE 2018 RACER X AWARDS
- Racer X Awards: Motocross Race of the Year December 31 - 4:40pm
- Racer X Awards: Rider of the Year December 30 - 6:05pm
- Racer X Awards: Best Intentions of the Year December 29 - 5:00pm
- Racer X Awards: Non-Racer Instagram of the Year December 28 - 4:25pm
- Racer X Awards: Rider Media of the Year December 27 - 4:25pm
- Racer X Awards: Podcast of the Year December 26 - 1:20pm
- Racer X Awards: Gift of the Year December 25 - 11:00am
- Racer X Awards: MXGP Race of the Year December 24 - 11:10am
- Racer X Awards: Commercial of the Year December 23 - 4:25pm
- Racer X Awards: SX/MX Ambassador of the Year December 22 - 10:30am
- Racer X Awards: Non-National Event of the Year December 21 - 3:40pm
- Racer X Awards: Press Conference of the Year December 20 - 1:30pm
- Racer X Awards: Replacement Rider of the Year December 19 - 5:00pm
- Racer X Awards: Crossover Rider of the Year December 18 - 5:00pm
- Racer X Awards: Fans of the Year December 17 - 4:15pm
- Racer X Awards: Vet Rider of the Year December 16 - 6:10pm
- Racer X Awards: Pass(es) of the Year December 15 - 11:20am
- Racer X Awards: Women’s Rider of the Year December 14 - 4:00pm
- Racer X Awards: Holeshot of the Year December 13 - 3:40pm
- Racer X Awards: Mechanic of the Year December 12 - 6:00pm
- Racer X Awards: Off-Roader of the Year December 11 - 2:30pm
- Racer X Awards: Party of the Year December 10 - 3:30pm
- Racer X Awards: Comeback Rider of the Year December 9 - 12:10pm
- Racer X Awards: Minicylist of the Year December 8 - 9:00am
- Racer X Awards: Trophy of the Year December 7 - 2:30pm
- Racer X Awards: Cover of the Year December 6 - 1:25pm
- Racer X Awards: Video of the Year December 5 - 1:00pm
- Racer X Awards: New Rule of the Year December 4 - 3:40pm
- Racer X Awards: Supercross Race of the Year December 3 - 1:45pm
- Racer X Awards: Broadcast of the Year December 2 - 12:50pm
- Racer X Awards: Team of the Year December 1 - 12:05pm