Some of the biggest news to come out of the Ricky Carmichael Amateur Daytona Supercross (RCSX) this year is that WMX is back! To the delight of fans and racers alike, MX Sports has brought back the series, which will run at select amateur nationals, as well as the High Point and Ironman National rounds of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship. Florida native Hannah Hodges was able to get out to an early lead on a rough and rutted Daytona track and win in a dominating fashion. We were able to catch up with the newly wed (literally she got married the week before) to get her take on the race and how excited her and the rest of the WMX class is to be back.
Racer X: So, Hannah, tell us about Daytona. I was able to watch it on Racer TV and you were able to get into the lead right away and then pulled out a big lead. How did it feel?
Hannah Hodges: Yeah, Daytona was good. I wasn’t sure how it was going to be looking at the weather, the weather looked pretty rough for all weekend. I actually decided to race my practice bike just because I didn’t know how muddy it was going to be. So that was sort of a last-minute decision. And the track ended up being really good, the track crew did a great job getting everything dialed in for us. I had a decent gate pick, got off to a good start and then just tried to click off my laps. I knew that lappers were going to be bad on that tight of a track, and just tried to get out front and make a push at the beginning. I was able to get a comfortable lead and take it all the way to the end.
Two things on that: first of all the lappers looked absolutely insane. Secondly, you had the fastest lap of the entire race on the last lap of the race, which is pretty impressive.
Yeah, I honestly wasn’t expecting to have good lap times until the end, I haven’t been able to ride much. Both of my bikes were broken right before the race. I had a wiring harness go bad and they were on back order, so just kind of a freak deal. But that was probably the most unprepared I’ve felt going into a race. I tried to get some laps in the day before Daytona at home just to get some seat time. But I wasn’t sure how my endurance was going to be being off of the bike that long. So, I was really happy to be able to put it together, like you said, all the way until the last few laps. That felt awesome. Great for my confidence. And yeah, the lappers were insane the whole race. I’ve raced Daytona a lot, so I knew the lappers get pretty bad at that race. And I feel like this year with the track and the ruts being as deep as they were that definitely played a huge role in it as well.
![Hannah Hodges takes the green flag at the start of the WMX main event.]()
Hannah Hodges takes the green flag at the start of the WMX main event. Mitch Kendra ![]()
Mitch Kendra ![]()
"Going into it I didn’t know where I was going to be. I knew I hadn’t been on the bike... I loved being there, it felt great getting the win, especially with it being the first round of WMX." -Hannah Hodges Mitch Kendra ![P1 for the Florida native.]()
P1 for the Florida native. Mitch Kendra
Well you also had other things going on right before Daytona, didn’t you just get married right before the race pretty much?
Yeah, so I got married on Friday, left for our honeymoon on Saturday, got back into the country on Tuesday night and then I did my group training on Wednesday and then got my stuff ready to go on Thursday and headed to the track.
Wow, that is some week, you must have a pretty supportive husband then.
If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have even had a bike to ride for that race. He was literally helping me throw stuff together because we actually own a business, and we were just getting everything back rolling from being out of the country. So, the few days leading up to Daytona were very hectic. That’s why I say that was the most unprepared I have ever felt because we were chasing our tails to even be at the race.
That’s wild, I wonder if it's like when you are sick and end up riding really well, like if it took the pressure off of you?
Yeah, going into it I didn’t know where I was going to be. I knew I hadn’t been on the bike, so I definitely took the pressure off of myself. I was like, “You know if I don’t do good, I can’t be mad. I have had a lot on my plate the last few weeks.” So, it was fun. I loved being there, it felt great getting the win, especially with it being the first round of WMX.
Yes, so talk on that. WMX was in its prime from the early 2000’s until about 2013 and then it fizzled out, probably about the same time you were about to go pro huh?
Yeah it definitely fizzled out right before I was meant to start looking towards going pro. Which was definitely unfortunate, I worked hard to get to that point. So, it is awesome to see that they’ve got something back in place. I think that it's a good steppingstone. I would love to see it be able to grow and give the next generation of girls something to work towards.
There was such a huge disparity in speed between the top five or so girls and the rest of the pack at Daytona. The field used to be a lot deeper, fifteen or so years ago, so hopefully now that there is a series again the girls will have something to work towards that will change.
Yeah definitely, I think with a solid program in place it will help the next generation of girls and even the current generation of girls to be able to focus more so on racing. I think the people around my age were starting to go, “Okay, it's time to either find a job in the industry or maybe cut back on riding and start finding a job,” because there was really no place to go. So, I think if there is somewhere for the women to go a lot of the women will take it seriously and start training and pick up a lot of speed.
Exactly. You mentioned you and your husband own a business, so you are working during the week too?
Yeah, I work a lot actually. We own a land clearing business and I run the whole office side of that. If there is ever anything that needs to be run to the job site, I’m doing that. And then I also train kids on the side multiple times a week. I love giving back to the sport and I have had a lot of newer girls actually getting into the sport so obviously I love giving back in that aspect as well.
That’s really great, what was the vibe like down in Daytona? Were the girls all happy that WMX is back?
Yeah it was awesome. Even the younger girls, they were super excited to have something to go watch. I know that the handful of girls that I train, because I live 30 minutes from Daytona, so a lot of the kids that I train were at Daytona, and even the girls that were there just watching were super excited to have something that they can relate to.
Yeah, it's important for young girls to see women racing to have something to aspire to. So, I know you live close to Daytona, so what is your plan? Will you be able to do the whole series?
Obviously, Daytona is easy for me to hit, it's literally in my backyard in the racing world. I definitely would like to hit some of the rounds, I don’t plan on doing any of the Texas rounds. They kind of released the schedule a little late and I had already commited to doing Day In The Dirt [Down South in Dade City, Florida], so I plan on heading to that race and then we’ll just see how the year plays out. I plan on doing a few qualifiers for Loretta’s and hopefully getting some stuff together to do a few more of the rounds. But like I said for me it all depends on how work goes too.
