The penultimate round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross in Denver Colorado was one to remember. Jett Lawrence racked up his fourth consecutive 250cc title and Eli Tomac suffered a freak Achilles tendon injury, all but handing the championship over to Chase Sexton. But there was another big deal on Saturday night. For the first time in the electric SX-E5 era, a girl has won the KTM Junior Supercross Challenge! We actually asked KTM if this is the first time a female has ever won the race, they’re not sure, because they don’t keep records in the 20-plus years of the KJSC. Either way, last Saturday’s performance in Denver was a standout.
Reagan Heighton, out of Wildomar California, showed up to Denver confident after practicing on her friends supercross track. She showed she was a force to be reckoned with right from the first practice when she set the fastest time. In the main event she was fifth off the start but was already in the lead by the second turn. Launching the wall jump much to the pleasure of the crowd, she harnessed her inner Jett Lawrence and managed her lead to take the win.
We knew right away we had to feature this young lady for Next. When we got her and her father Stephen on Facetime, she was shy at first, but then opened up showing off all of the things she got for her birthday the day before, and of course her trophy from KJSC. Though her most prized possession seemed to be her Jettson Donuts towel as she held it during most of our call. Besides winning, her favorite part of the day was meeting her favorite rider, Jett Lawrence. She even credited Jettson Donuts for giving her the energy to take the win. The KJSC race starts at about 8:00 pm, when most of these kids are usually in bed so the extra sugar seemed necessary.
The crazy thing about winning the second to last round of KJSC is now they have to turn around and do it all over again. Where Reagan will race the winners of the other KJSC rounds at the finale in Salt Lake City. Nothing like planning a last-minute trip but add it onto an already full racing schedule and things get a little tricky.
“We have a Road to Mammoth qualifier at Pala this weekend, so we will go to Pala and practice on Friday and then fly out after practice. Then we will race Salt Lake and take a red eye back home to race Pala on Sunday.” Explained her father.
That’s quite the schedule for a just turned nine-year-old but Reagan loves it. She started riding Stacycs at three years old and has been improving every year. Although she also has an interest in gymnastics, motocross, and school (she is a straight A student) take up most of her time. Adding in the full schedule that gymnastics requires would take up all her time. She also enjoys cross-fit for training and can walk on her hands better than some people walk on their feet!
The finale in Salt Lake will not be as easy as it will literally be the best of the best. But Reagan has already put her name in the history books alongside greats like Eli Tomac, Ryan Dungey, and Mike Alessi who was the first rider to win a KJSC race and then go on to ride for factory KTM.
Is that what’s in store down the road for Reagan? She said her goal is to race supercross when she grows up. Could she best Vicki Golden who qualified for a night show, and make a main event? Vicki is an incredible rider, but I don’t think even she was riding supercross tracks and doubling rhythm sections on a 65 at nine years old. Reagan claims she loves big jumps, the steeper the better!
Her dad Stephen said chances are likely they will run the WMX class at the MXGP’s when she gets older. He is from England and even scored some points in MXGP back in 2005 so it would be like going home for him.
As for the near future Reagan is getting ready for Mammoth and Loretta Lynn qualifiers. If she qualifies the family plans to spend a month in or around Tennessee this summer to prepare. One thing is for sure whatever Reagan decides to do in the future the boys better be ready because she will not make it easy on them.
Oh yeah, one last thing, when I asked her if she made any boys cry in Denver when she beat them, she replied with a smile, “Yes! One boy was crying.”
