The 80′s brought out some serious talent in female motorcycling and one that stands above many is the California girl, Debbie Evans Leavitt. In an amazing testament to her skill at age 40, she came out of retirement after 18 years away from the sport to compete in the unofficial Women’s World Trials Championship and finished eighth in a field of 38 competitors from 12 countries. In addition to her considerable accomplishments in trials, Evans became even better known performing her day job as a Hollywood stuntwoman. She has performed in several films, winning the Taurus World Stunt Award for her motorcycle skills while filming The Matrix Reloaded in 2004. This scene simply blows me away!
Matrix Reloaded
Debbie Evans Leavitt trials shot.
The most recent years have brought a plethora of female stunt riders, each young and gorgeous and pushing the envelope. Jessica Maine from Albequerque, New Mexico, started riding at the age of 17, on a Yamaha YZF600R. It was only two years later that she began stunt riding. Her advice to other female stunters, “don’t be intimidated by the bike, it’s a lot of weight and horsepower to throw around, but it’s all mental. You have to overcome your fear psychologically.” I believe I need a bit more convincing! ; )
Jessica Maine
Jessica stunting / wheelies seem her forte
Team Rebella, of which Jessica Maine is a member, also sports two other female stunters, Brandy Valdez and Alicia Speck. The only information I could find on these two girls was at superstreetbike.com.
Brandy Valdez is 20 years old and rides a 2003 ZX-6. When she isn’t stunting she is a delivery driver for Pep Boys. She has been riding dirt five years and streets three. Her favorite stunt is acrobatics.
Alicia Speck is 23 and rides a 2007 GSX-R600. When she isn’t riding she is a substitute teacher. She has been riding street for two years, but raced motocross for eight. Her favorite stunt is Heel Clicker wheelies.
Joleen “JoJo” Farmer, Las Vegas resident, is one of the stars of Las Vegas Extremes. She grew up riding dirt bikes which taught her many fundamentals of riding, but is now hailed as one of the top female “extreme” riders and performers. At 17 she started her training by riding on the back of her ride partner’s bike as they performed. She soon decided that she wanted to ride for herself but had to prove her dedication to the sport and did so training in New York where they had traveled as a team to make a new film, Las Vegas Extremes II: Leap of Faith. Now at 21 she is performing her own stunts on her 2002 Suzuki GSXR 1000.
Jojo Farmer
Stunting Jojo
The UK has their female stunting representative in Chesca Miles who also began her stunt riding career riding and stunting two-up. For her 19th birthday, her friends decided to pool funds and get her a pit bike, which she immediately put to use. After 4-5 months training on the pit bike she bought herself a CBR600 F4i. Still doing most performing 2-up, Chesca embarked in some solo stunts. She remains the only female stunter in the UK riding a 600cc bike. She is expanding her sights into both modeling and music, but still keeps her skills for stunting. She will perform action riding at Thundersprint 2011, which will be held in Northwich town center, east of Liverpool, UK over the weekend of May 7/8.
Chesca modeling photo
One woman that I clearly forgot to include is a fellow forum member with me and others on the Twowheelfemales.com forum and I am ashamed that I didn’t include her as she is certainly a female stunt rider! She is currently traveling in France and riding and taking photos. Her name is Leah Peterson and you can check out her videos, photos, blog and more at LeahStunts.com Leah is a professional sportbike freestyle rider and freelance writer/photographer and hires out, if you are looking for a talented renaissance female!! She is both beautiful and talented!! Don’t miss her website videos. They are very impressive!! As they say….YOU GO GIRL, I am both humbled and impressed!!
In closing, I’d like to congratulate each of these riders. They are definitely pushing the envelope into male dominated territory and making their mark! BRAVO.
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