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Top 10 Female Motorcycle Racers

There are some things for which the world deems women unfit. These may not always be big, but are just ways in which women are stereotypes. Women have been to the space ad back, and they fly airplanes, but all hell breaks loose when women are seen riding a bike. Bikes or motorcycles are considered strictly a man’s sport. It is almost expected that if women ever do venture into the sport, they should be butch and unfeminine. But, here is the list of Top 10 Female Motorcycle Racers. Let’s take a look at how these women have broken all kinds of stereotypes, and succeeded in the field of motorcycle racing. Let us take a look at these women and their achievements.

Top 10 Female Motorcycle Racers

1. Ana Carrasco

Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racer Ana Carrasco Gabarrón was the first female rider to achieve points in the Moto3 class of the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2013. He is also the first female rider to achieve points since 2001 in any class. She participated in 17 races for KTM at Moto3 class in 2013 and appeared in 14 races more for the same company in 2014. Carrasco won the title of the Extremeña 125cc class. The Copa de España 2T and the Murcia 125cc class in 2009. She became the first female rider to achieve points in the CEV 125 Championship in 2011 and became the first female rider to be promoted to the Moto3 format in the same competition. Carrasco participated at the Moto3 class with the RW Racing GP outfit in 2014 and then started to ride for the RBA Racing Team with a KTM in 2015 besides Gabriel Rodrigo and Niklas Ajo.

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2. Jenny Tinmouth

English motorcycle racer Jennifer Rosanne Tinmouth is the current female record holder in the Isle of Man TT for lap timing. She achieved the Guinness World Record as she sets a new record in her first ever TT in 2009 and eventually broke the record during her second TT in 2010. She achieved an average lap speed of 119.945 mph thus creating another Guinness World Record in 2010. Tinmouth is the first and the only female rider to participate in the British Superbike Championship. She currently rides for her own team Two Wheel Racing in the British Superbike Championship since 2013 with the support from Manx Glass & Glazing Ltd. She is also the first British female rider to participate at the World Supersport. Tinmouth received The Women’s International Film and Television Showcase International Visionary Awards ‘IT Girl’ in 2012.

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3. Katja Poensgen

German motorcycle racer Katja Poensgen is the only female rider to score a point at the Road Racing World Championship in the 250 cc class. She first achieved the fourteenth place in the 205 cc class at the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello in 2001. She started her racing career while participating in the ADAC Junior Cup at the Nürburgring in 1993 and won the junior cup besides being named as the “ADAC Junior Athlete of the Year” in 1995. Poensgen achieved 6th place on Suzuki in the Superstock Championship in 2002 and scored 2 points in the 250 cc class at the Road Racing World Championship in 2001. She participated in the 7108 kilometer long Transsyberia Rally for the Suzuki team in 2007 and achieved 15th place overall. Poensgen achieved the runner-up in the 2012 E-Bike World.

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4. Gina Bovaird

Former American motorcycle racer Gina Bovaird is regarded as a pioneer female rider ahead of her time and is the first and only female rider to participate in the 500 cc class of the motorcycle world championship. She participated in the well-known American race Daytona 200 at the Daytona International Speedway in 1979 and broke the record for the fastest newcomer for her average speed of 228 kilometres per hour. Bovaird rides a white Yamaha TZ 500 that bore no advertising at the moto-race in Brands Hatch in 1980. She drove the MBA 125 at the Grand Prix of Germany in Hockenheim. Even after the Japanese factory teams were boycotted at the Grand Prix of France in Nogaro in 1982, they managed to provide their Yamaha TZ 500 for Bovaird for the grid which she later resigned.

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5. Maria Costello

British motorcycle racer Maria Costello held the Guinness World Record for being the fastest female rider at the Isle of Man TT with her average lap speed of 114.73 mph until Jenny Tinmouth surpassed the achievement at the 2009 TT. She is the first female rider to stand on the podium at the Isle of Man MGP 2005 after she rides her RLR Motorsports Honda RVF400. She achieved third place in the Ultra Lightweight category in the Manx Grand Prix in 2005 while riding her RLR Motorsports Honda RVF400 and became the first female rider ever to take a podium finish. Costello was named BBC Northampton Sports Personality of the Year in 2005 and was nominated for the East Midlands Sports Personality of the Year award in the same year. Costello received the Outstanding Achievement Award twice from the EMRA in 2002 and 2004.

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6. Beryl Swain

Former female motorcycle road racer Beryl Swain was there with us from her birth on 22 January 1936 till she died on 15 May 2007. She was the first female rider to compete in one of the world’s most famous closed public road races “TT race” on the perilous Isle of Man TT. She created sensation in the male-dominated racing world but sadly her international license was later revoked due to the perception of the sport being too dangerous for women. Her participation created so much attention that the authority banned female entrants until 1978. In 1962, the 50 cc event was included in the Island’s program which carried World Championship points and Beryl Swain achieved the 22nd place on a 50 cc Itom at the Mountain circuit Race on that same year. She married a motorcycle shop owner Edwin Swain in 1958.

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7. Inge Stoll

Former female German motorcycle racer Ingeborg Stoll-Laforge was there with us from her birth on 11 February 1930 till she died on 15 May 2007 in an accident on the track. She started competing as a female passenger with sidecar driver Jacques Drion and achieved the title of French Sidecar Championship twice in 1952 and 1954. The duo participated in the World Sidecar Championship from 1952 to 1957.  She became the first female rider to participate in the 1954 Isle of Man TT Race. The sidecar outfit of their bike hit a fence and turned over on a right-hand corner on the penultimate lap while Drion and Inge Stoll held the 2nd place at the Czechoslovakian Grand Prix in 1958. The incident immediately took the life of Inge Stol and Jacques Drion also died after he was admitted to hospital.

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8. Taru Rinne

Former Finnish motorcycle racer Taru Rinne was the first female rider to score points in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. She started her career in kart racing and competed against Formula One drivers Mika Häkkinen, Mika Salo and Jyrki Järvilehto, and won the Finnish Karting Championship in 1979 in the 85cc class. She made her debut on the bikes at the Road Racing World Championship which is now known as the MotoGP in 1988. Rinne qualified with the second place and eventually achieved seventh place overall at Hockenheim in 1989 for the 125cc class. She received a letter from Bernie Ecclestone after she met with an accident at Paul Ricard which stated female riders are no longer allowed to compete in the series. The letter ended her career at top-level and Rinne described that letter as the biggest disappointment of her life.

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9. Elena Rosell

Female motorcycle racer Elena Rosell was the first female rider to participate in the Moto2 class. She made her debut in the circuit as the alternative of injured Julián Simón in 2011 at the Assen circuit. She was eventually invited to race as a wildcard by Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez and secured 33rd and 25th place respectively at the Aragon and Valencia GPs. Elena Rosell raced for the Aspar sponsored Team Laglisse in the last three rounds of the CEV Moto2 Championship. She made history after joining the QMMF Racing Team and became the first female rider to race full time in the Moto2 World Championship class in 2012. She appeared in 2 races for Suter at Moto2 class in 2011 and then made her participation in 17 races for Moriwaki and Speed Up in 2012. Rosell achieved 23rd position in the 2012 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix and her career’s best 19th position in the 2012 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix.

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10. Tomoko Igata

Japanese former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer Tomoko Igata is one of the very few female racers to participate at Grand Prix level over the course of racing Championships history. She competed at the All Japan Road Race Championship in the 125cc class from 1991 to 1993 and secured her place among top10 in every race she participated during that time. Igata made her Grand Prix debut as a wild card entry riding a Suzuki in 1992 and created media sensation while achieving 20th place at the treacherous wet track. She signed a full time contract with the FCC Technical Sports team for riding a Honda RS125 at the 125cc World Championship since 1994. She, immediately after joining the team, scored two points at the first race in Australia. Tomoko Igata achieved her career best 7th place finish at the Czech Grand Prix in 1995.

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These women have taken up an area of sport that is absolutely dominated by men. They have broken down all clichés, and have made sure that as women who are into motorcycle racing, they are not typecast as butch or in any way. These women have done exceedingly well in motorcycle racing, and have done so by being themselves. Sports fans are hopeful that more and more women will be seen on the tracks in the future.