BREAKING DOWN THE STEREOTyPE
2012
2013
Nita
Cristina
welovemotogeo.com
2010
2013 Ana Carrasco Gabarrón First female rider to score points in the Moto3 class.
madnomad.gr
2014
Elena myers
Sarah “Lezito”
First woman to win an AMA Pro Racing sprint road race.
sarahlezito.com
Besides the physical challenges of navigating their way on mixed road surfaces across an entire country, the sisters also had to face down serious social stigmas along the way. They were harassed and even arrested for wearing military style leggings and leather breeches. They persevered and made it from New York to California, and even though the military would eventually reject their application, the sisters had already proven what women on motorcycles were capable of.
map and go wherever it landed. She traveled through all of the lower 48 states during the ’30s and ’40s at a time when racial prejudice and sanctioned segregation reigned. She was once run off the road by a bigot in a pickup truck, and another time she was denied a trophy for winning a flat track race after she removed her helmet and revealed she was a woman—but nothing stopped her.
The courageous exploits of riders like the sisters Van Buren and Bessie Stringfield have helped pave the way for future female riders, and set a precedent for finding freedom and adventure on two wheels. Today there are numerous women riding, racing and stunting on their bikes, Ana Carrasco Gabarrón is the first female rider to score points in the Moto3 class. This season she will be a REV’IT! rider.
She went on to train as a military dispatch rider during World War II and later settled in Florida, where she became known as the motorcycle Queen of miami. In total she made eight solo crosscountry trips and owned 27 motorcycles over a lifetime of riding.
1930 | Bessie B. Stringfield
Bessie B. Stringfield is another important figure in the history of female motorcyclists. She started riding when she was only 16 years old, and just three years later became the first AfricanAmerican woman to travel cross-country by herself. And she didn’t’ stop there— Bessie was said to toss a penny on a
REVzine | #10 spring / summer 2014
2013 | Ana Carrasco Gabarrón
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