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/126654
UsaAkin 'I think of myself as a racer' By Karel Kramer A small and slim rider, whose waist was about eight inches below the seat height of the nearby YZ125, had obviously not made the run-offs for the NMA/Yamaha Grand National Championships and was changing the number on the YZ's number plate. After laying down a carefully cut 22 sheel of white contact paper, a single number one was applied with equal care. AMA Women's National number one Lisa Akin stood back to inspect her handiwork as other members of the Michigan Mafia, the name given LO the fast young riders out of Michigan who regularly dominate in AMA Amateur racing, raued her a little. Lisa takes il good-naturedly with a twinge of embarrassment. She has lots of experience racing Wilh - and taking razzing from - lhe male racers, ince she has raced nearly exclusively with men since 1971. She started in din drag racing and progre sed to motocross a couple of years later. She hails from Niles, Michigan, a d comes from a racing family. Her cousins are the AMA Amateur National Championship-winning Hinkles. As the number one plale on the Yamaha aueS1S, she has. been suc- cessful in her own right. Besides winning the Women's class of t.he AMA Amateur Championships lasl year Lisa has raced in lWO Women's ationals and one Women's Invitalional. She placed second in each outing-. One of the races had a 2SOcc class also, and she placed founh in lhat. She had her grealesl succes es lasl year, though, when she look third overall in the 1000c c1as in the AMA's National Hare Scrambles Series as well as going LO lhe Amateur ationals in Tennes ee where she claimed her number one plate. "Tennessee was lhe £irst major girl's race where 1 came oul as lhe champion, and il was really a good feeling. 1 looked back at the pictures that were laken a£ler my race, and 1 looked really relaxed and happy. 1 can'lexplain how 1had fell, because 1 had worked so hard and long for !he number one plale in thaI class. 1wem all the way oul LO California three limes. 1 finally went 10 a track where it was Neulral terri LOry. We don'l have anything like Carl bad in Michigan, al leasl not with run !hal hardpacked. The girls in California kinda had an edge on me there." "They had a 10l of girls at Tennessee; a full gate. Ka!hy Holman gol the holeshol and she led it for a couple of gaps. It was the last mOlO so 1 had il won anyway, even ifI had just stayed behind her. Tiny Clary was behind me and pressuring for a few laps in lhe first mota, bUl other than that, it wasn 'ttoo hard LO win. 1 mean it was hard, but 1 wasn't that scared. 1 don't feel like the girls can bully me around, nOllike when you race with lhe guys. Guys seem LO have a liule bit more of a temper when lhey see a girl bauling with them." MOlocross has nOl been aJl roses for Lisa. The 19-year-old girl bears scars on one arm from bones broken seriously enough to require an operation to repair the damage. She has also broken a collarbone and a finger in her II years of racing. Some hint of her seriousness was obvious last year when she raced all week at Ponca City with thal painful broken finger. She was the only female entrant in the NMA championships for the last two years. "I don't think 1could win here, but 1 lhink 1 have a really good chance of finishing in the LOp 10. 1 know that lhal is whal my sponsors want, for me LOfinish in the LOp 10. At Yamaha they think this is a big race and it is, and 1 want to go to all the important races and try my best at them. 1 probably would have made the top 10 t.his time if 1 had had my stuff together." Gelting her stu(( toge!her is somelhing thaI has been very much on Lisa's mind. "The AMA Amaleur Nalional Championships, this one coming up, is very important LO me. I've been training really hard. 1 run every day for two or three miles. 1 don'l jog, I run fast. It lakes me aboul 20 minutes. 1 also ride every day and work out on Nautilus machines every other day. Mostly 1 ride. "I was in one of lhose fitness things in school, and 1 think that 1 beat all t.he other girls; 1can't remember now. It wasn'l hard for me, but the other girls thought it was terrible. 1feel like 1 am physically fit right now. It has made a difference in my riding. 1 feel more sure on my bike, and this summer is the first time that 1 have staned jumping double jumps. I've been afraid of them, but 1 finally got il down LO where 1 can do lhem. I'm slill afraid of them, bUl my liming is a 101 better now, and that makes me more confident." Even though racing is her main activily now, seems she is thinking of her options in the fUlure. "When I'm on t.he track 1 think about the track and racing. But other times 1 think, 'I'm almosl 20 now, and 1 can 'I be racing all my life, because 1 don'l feel 1 can make career at it. Maybe 1could, but 1don't really think so becau e I'm nOl lhal fast. I'm thinking now thaI 10ughlLO gel slaned with my own life, gel a job' and stu£[ like that instead of being a 'bum' all the lime." She's considering lWO things right now. One is starting her own racing apparel line, and the other is becoming a beaulician. While she thinks 0 the fUlure, she seems happy with her life and one gelS lhe feeling tha mOLOrcycles will always playa pan. Talking LO Lisa one gelS the idea thaI winning is important, but lhal the racing ilself is the mOSl important. "Being involved in mOlocross racing has definitely made my life richer. Racing is so much fun for me, yet il is demanding lOa. It probably kept me OUl of a lot of lrouble. If 1 ever had kids, I think that 1 would like to bring them up in it. It jusl seems like somelhing good. I've never even though I of myself as a girl racer, jusl a racer." •