You’ve won the 2023 and 2024 WXC ATV Championships. Tell us about those championships and how it felt to win them back-to-back.

It felt super good to win them back to back. I wasn’t expecting it at all. I was one point away in 2019 from winning the championship in Women’s amateur, and then in 2020, I was able to win that. Then 21 and 22, I took third, and I just kind of tried to see where I fit, where I placed. I was learning from Traci, and I was thankful I was able to ride with her and learn a lot from her. I was competing with Traci, Kate, and Hannah. Then Chloe moved up to the class and made 2023 a little bit more challenging because I feel like all of us girls just kept pushing each other, and in every race, I felt like we were all learning, just how each other rode, pushing each other and pushing each other to go faster, do better, and work harder.

I feel like the speed has increased from when I started racing women’s pro to now. So, being able to win them back to back, I’m super thankful for. I know Yamaha has been a great sponsor and helping out and just supportive and pushing me to do good. Like Jen from Yamaha and Donnie, they are super great and just make it fun. Being able to go to the Wall of Champions my first year with Yamaha was super cool, so I was like, okay, I really wanna do this again, and now everybody's like, “How about a third time in a row?” I’m like, “I’m working for it, but the girls don’t make it easy!” It has been a fun journey along the way. I still would say I’m newer into racing, so at the beginning, I feel like I progressed very quickly, so I was still learning how to ride a four-wheeler and being able to handle it, when those girls have been racing since they were young and worked their way all the way up.

I started as a women’s amateur and then went right to women’s pro, so they have a lot more seat time than I do. Still, it was also difficult to progress quickly because a lot of people were like, “Jess, you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself, and you don’t have to do good every single race.” I’m like, I know, but I’m very competitive myself, and I hold myself to high standards, and I push myself as hard as I can. So, I’m always out there to do my best. Just like I said, progressing quickly has made it hard because I was still even learning how to ride a four-wheeler opposed to racing it. I guess I should say riding a sport quad. Like I said, I grew up riding four-wheelers, so I knew how to ride them, but a 450 compared to a utility four-wheeler is two totally different ball games.

You grabbed the win at the season opener. Walk us through that win and how everything came together for you at the Big Buck.

So, the first race I was obviously hoping to do good. The weather took a turn, and it was a little bit muddy for us. That was a little unexpected, but it's pretty hard-packed there, so it didn’t get like super deep with ruts or anything, but it was very slick. Just with goggles, that was a struggle because you’re trying to keep your goggles clean and if you’re behind lappers or behind someone in front of you that makes a difference and just trying to keep your goggles clean the entire race, and then you’re breathing heavier because you’re working harder with trying to maneuver the bike around other people getting stuck or like I said it was just a super slick track. Early off, I didn’t get a great start, but then I was able to work my way through the pack. Unfortunately, Chloe ended up breaking, and I was able to get around Hannah and work my way up to the front. Then I was like, if I can just pull a little bit, I should be able to hold the gap and pull off the first race with a win. So the first race was just difficult because of the weather conditions. But all winter long, we were training and working towards it, knowing how we ended last year and that the girls were going to be working just as hard as I was. So I just have to work that little bit harder and push myself a little bit more, but like I said multiple times already, they don’t make it easy, and I know that as much as I want to win another championship, they want it just as bad as well. Yeah, I mean, the first race was great, being able to clip off the win, but now it's been the second race was Hannah, the third race was Chloe, so we’ll see what the fourth race brings.

What are your goals for the rest of the 2025 season?

2025 season, I want to stay on the podium consistently. Last year, I had all firsts, seconds, and one fourth, so I’d like to just keep it in the firsts and seconds because consistency is key, and you don’t have to win them all, but you have to be consistent. We do get two drops, but I try not to take that into consideration because I want to just do good in every single race. My goal is not only to place good, but also to feel good on the bike. I want to be able to come off and be happy with how I presented myself on the track and off the track and just be happy about the entire weekend in itself. Obviously, winning the races is a big part of it, but being an example to the younger kids is also a part of it for me. I guess all in all in the 2025 season, I have multiple camps that I’m going to be at, just to be able to be there for the younger generation as well. Obviously, my main goal is to win another championship, especially with it being the 50th year anniversary, which I think will be cool.

What does being a woman in a male-dominated sport like ATV racing mean to you?

I think it’s pretty cool. I think that it shows other women that you can do anything you put your mind towards. Me personally, I have struggled with being able to handle the bike like a man, because a lot of the guys that we practice with or a lot of the people I practice with are males, and just to see them being able to handle the bike in certain sections and situations, I just can’t do that and just to be able to figure out and instead of saying “I can’t do that,” being able to figure out how I am able to do that, just in a different way. Whether it's my body positioning being different or how I’m holding the handlebars, where I hit the gas, where I pull on the clutch, it might be totally different from someone else because they’re able to accelerate over it, and I have to brake before and accelerate after. I guess to me, proving that I can do it, maybe not just as good as them, because I feel males in general are just naturally stronger, but even if they can do it better, I can still do it and still accomplish the same things.

What do you think is the key to performing consistently at the highest level in the WXC class?

A lot of things play a role in that. I guess all of the things that you see are on the track at the races. Obviously, you want to perform good, but to be able to perform good in a pro class, it's more of what you do outside of racing. How you eat, how you hydrate, how you work out, and maintain your body. Stretching is a big thing because if you don’t stretch, your muscles get tight because you’re in that pretty much the same position all around the four-wheeler. You’re in that hunched-over attack position, over the handlebars for two hours straight, going through a very rough terrain, so you really have to stretch and make sure that your muscles are relaxed and don’t tense up and tighten, because a sore back is terrible. But to be able to perform good at that level, you really have to pay attention to what you’re eating, like I said, hydrating good, not even the week before, but every single day. I think what helps me out and plays a big role is I do landscaping, so my job is very physical, which is good and bad because it makes me more tired, but also, I feel it keeps me in pretty good shape to be able to compete at the highest level.

As a female racer, what advice would you give to the younger girls looking up to you in the sport?

Kind of like what I was talking about earlier, just to be able to say that you can do anything you put your mind towards. To know that you are capable of doing it, you just have to figure out how because a lot of people will look at you and say, “Oh, you’re a girl, you can’t race. You can’t go that fast.” And you can. You just have to figure out how to do it. How I do it is probably totally different then how my husband does it, and how the friends we ride with, and some of the girls that come to the camps. That’s why I like being able to teach at the camps. You have so many different instructors saying how to do one thing but five different ways because not one way works for every single person. So, just to keep your mind open, because every race you go out there, you are not going to do good. You’re gonna have your bad days along with your good days. Keep your head up because having a good mindset, no matter how you do, I feel, is going to help you towards the next race. Like I said, you’re not going to do good and perform the way that you feel you should every single race, but just never give up and keep pushing, because you will accomplish it. You just have to figure out what works for you.

Outside of racing, what else do you like to do for fun?

Well, like I said, my life kind of consists of racing, working on four-wheelers, and practicing, but I guess outside of all that, I enjoy landscaping. I do enjoy being outside. I have a horse, so I enjoy spending time with her and riding her when I have time. But a lot of my time consists of practicing, going to the gym, and working out. Yeah, I guess being outside in general even on crappy days, nice days, I just like being outside.

Finally, we know you can’t do this by yourself. Who are the people and sponsors you’d like to thank?

BNR Motorsports, Raccoon Racing, GBC Tires, Fly Racing, Houser Racing, HMF, Scott Goggles, Pro Graphics, Fox Rear Shock, WPS, Quad Tech DWT Wheels, Power Madd, IMS Products, DP Brakes, Tire Balls, Fast Flex!, Precision, AC Racing, Atlas Brace, Blue Crew, and Yamaha.