Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126527
----Texaiteen-----on the move-~ 00 0') ~ fell in front of me on the double jump at Conroe MotocrOllS Park outside of Houston. I landed on top of him. I was out about two months before I could ride again. The races rained out, and I punched the wall and broke my knuc"kle and was' out for four more weeks because of that. In all, I was out almost a whole year. When I got well, I rode my '80 model Hondas only one or two weeks, so I have been back as long as the '81 Hondas have been out. . How often did you win money as an Expert? I never won any really big money, but I'd win some fairly often. When I got hurt, I moved back to Intermediate. During the Texas Series of '79, there were 68 or 70 125cc Experts entered, and I finished 22nd, and about 19th in the 250s. I was riding in the top third or fourth. I wasn't going to beat Shaun Kelly or Mel Newman, but I got a lot of holeshots. I'm pretty fast out of the gate. (No doubt being the lightest rider on the line helps.) I'll work back up to where I'm riding Expert again, but it will probably take a while. Right now, I can't get my bikes set up. I'm not doing as well in 125s as I think I could. I don't want to switch bikes - I like riding Hondas. All the bikes are about even till you get on a track where you're just wide open. I was wide open everywhere today. Turning is my main strenJ{tb; I can gain a lot of time on peopfe in corners, especially in deep berms; I can really lay it over. Jumps and rough straights are my weaknesses now. That's probably because that's where I broke my collarbone. It·s taken a lot longer than I t.hought it would to come back from all those injuries in a row. I takes a lot out of me when I don't ride. I never did get to use my Pro license. I was going to ride the AMA RegiOnals. I was really getting warmed up for the Regionals. I was racing two Expert classes every weekend. . My collarbone took the longest to heal. 'It hurt worse than my back. _NlItionell1Umber 331 Is a ... glrll Kathy Holman. from HoUston. TX. rides hard. and gets supprt from her tether (Inset). By Karel Kramer l' A number board rises in the air signaling seconds before the gale drops for the 2'Occ Intermediates. The engines shn·ek. clutches feel the abwe of horsepower transfer, and JO bikes leap awayfrom the gate. Out in front is a Honda with a n'der aboard who couldn't weigh too much soaking i u c t . · . . Long hair flying behind, Kathy Holman smokes another ckw of boys to the first tu~. Kat~y is, no doubt, the fastest female motoCTosser in Te:x:as, and many people - mcludrng Kathy - feel she may be the fastest female motoCTosser in the country. She was well acquainted with competition when she began racing; she had already been a world ckw trampoline artist and a hotshot soccer and baseball player. Her rise through the ranks was stellar as she went from Novice to Pro in two years! She started on aYZ80 at IJ and was racing 2'Occ apert by the time she was 1'. At 17, she received her AMA Pro motocross license - the second one ever issued to a female. During that time she raced two or three times a week, n"ding in two or three ckwes each time. .she still n'des in two ckwes a day two times a week. That's an ac· complishment for anyone during the summer months in the Lone Star state. Inju~"es kept ~er down but not out during 1980. She still managed to win the GNC grrLs ckw m the Howton Astrodome a month and a half after breaking her back. . She's a spunky competitor who doem't give an inch, especially in turns, on the race track. Off track, she is pleasant, feminine, a little quiet (but assertive when she has something to say) and attractive. Kathy goes to proms, dances and surfs un'th he·r boyfn·end. Below, she talks about her racing, goals, injuries and plans for her career. How did you get into racing? I got a little minibike when I was 38 eight, but when I was 12 or lSI finally talked m dad into tti me a YZ80 Yamaha. I knew Shaun Kelley who used ta be an Expert in Houston and rode some Nationals. He lived right out by us, and through him I got interested. I couldn't t dad to go out to the races for about a year after we got the Yamaha. Then we finally went out and watched one time. After we went out that one time, dad asked me if I wanted to race the next weekend. We went out and raced. I crashed and got loaded up in the ambulance. I got out of the ambulance and raced the second moto and got third place in the Powder Puffs. That was okay! I've raced every weekend since then. I went up through 100s and 125s. I guess I didn't get hurt until last year. My back was my.first injury; I broke my back - 'compression fracture of a venebra. I ROt hit in the first turn when I was on the 250 riding the Expert class. I got to where I was winning or doing well in the Intermediate class fairly regularly, so I moved up to Expert. I rode Expert for about 10 months before I got hurt the first time. That was in February of 1980. I got halfway well and won the Women's class wearing a back brace at the Astrodome on March 20th. r quit riding again after that, because I kinda hurt my back again in the 'Dome. I started racing again, and not long after, I broke my collarbone. A guy Do you think that you would ever try any other kind of racing? I don't plan on quitting motocross, but I'd like to try one of those Olympiad ~~ngs. Motocr~ is the main thing; It s the most excltmg. You IIeeIIl to be a very athletic penOn. I've just always wanted to be doing something all the time. I jumped trampoline and did gymnastics till I got so serious about them that I had to. give up one. I quit gymnastics. I jump· ed for four years and went to the world championship threitimes. When I started racing, I pulled out of trampoline because I liked racing so much. I kept playing soccer till I broke my collarbone and had to quit. How do people react to the fact that you aft a motoereMl racer? A lot of the girls don't like it. Guys, I think, like it because I don't sit around and do nothing. Girls think, "What a brute." I don't give the guys any breaks, and they don't give me any. Around here, I'm just one of the guys. I've made some real good friends in motocross. In 'the 125cc class, the guys are younger, and they don't seem to care whether I'm a girl or not, or at least they don't let me know it. 250cc riders are usually older, and I've seen them let someone by fairly easily, then notice I'm behind them and go berserk. A lot of times they crash trying to stay ahead of me. I· guess they would rather have a guy beat them than a girl. Aft your goals still the same after your injuries? Right ~ow I just want to win the Women's Championship in both class·