joshua's blog: Interview: AMA Women's Motocross Champion Jessica Patterson

Jessica Patterson is the 2010 AMA Women's National Motocross Champion. Here is Supercross.com's latest interview with JP$.

Annj: Jessica, congratulations on your 2010 AMA Women's National MX Championship. You walked away with some amazing trophies from this summer's race wins .... where do you put all those great awards, and what does it mean to you when you see them?

Jessica: Thanks Annj. I usually go straight to my parents house and drop them all off and let my mom decorate the house with them. But recently she told me that I have started to bring home too many, and to figure out where to put them at my place because her place is now full.

Her suggestion to me was to rent a storage unit if I didn?t want to keep them all over the house. They are all just hanging out at her house right now, and eventually when I decide where I want to move, then I will take them with me and start the decorating.

To see the trophies is pretty cool. It is what I have been working so hard for, and after struggling for for two years and now coming back and winning the championship in 2010, it makes it that much better. Seeing that I have all those number 1 trophies from each race except for two, it reminds me of how good of a year it really was, so it makes me really happy and makes me want to keep pushing.

A: Do you know what your plans are for 2011, specifically defending that number 1 plate in Women's Motocross?

Jessica: I am definitely going to ride for the Star Racing Team again, I don?t know exactly for how long just yet, but I am definitely racing next year, and would like to remain on that Yamaha throughout my career. Yeah, I am going to keep the same program.

Everything has been working out very well. I'll be on my Yamaha, and with my trainer Ryan Hughes again. We are working on other things as well, but right now I am staying with that and working everything else out. I definitely do not want to change what has been working.

A: The 2011 AMA Women?s MX series does not start for about seven months, when does your training really kick in for next season?

Jessica: When I got home after that last race, I started to get lazy. I don't want to do that.

I thought I should get going right away, but Ryno (Ryan Hughes) let me know I needed some time off and that it is good for me.

We will start in January, and that will give us enough time to prepare. I am actually going to have knee surgery - but it is something just real minor, so I will only be out about three weeks, so it is not a big deal.

After that I am going to start to prepare for the Supercross event in Geneva, Switzerland the first weekend in December.� So I will go over there for a fews days and ride some supercross. Before you know it, it will be January and I will start getting ready for the year.

A: Does Ryan have you doing anything during the off season then?

Jessica: It is always different. We have a pretty good relationship so we can talk about everything and that is great. We always keep it fun, and if it is not fun, it is not worth it. Keeping it fun and interesting everyday is important.

A: Do you have any advice for girls just getting into motocross?

Jessica: It is hard work for sure, and it took me a while to get there (winning). But work hard at it, and if you set your mind to that is what you want to do - remember to have fun at it!

It does takes time, but the more experience you get the better you will be. Keep pushing forward and keep trying.

A: Tell me more about this Supercross race in Geneva, Switzerland in December ...

Jessica: The promoters have invited two Americans and a couple of MX GP riders ... it is supposed to be more like a demo kind of thing, for us women to kinda' get our feet wet and show that women can ride dirt bikes, and eventually have a series.

I do not know yet if they are lining us up on a gate or not, I do not have all the details as of yet, but they asked if I would come and show everyone what women can do in Supercross.

A: What do you think of the idea of a Women?s Supercross series here in the USA?

Jessica: I really like the idea, but it is hard to get all the girls in the same game. It is a huge thing to do but I think eventually some day it is possible that there could be a series. We just haven?t had that much experience with Supercross riding.

When we found out three years ago that XGames was going to have it, we started practicing. I think with these younger girls coming up, and gaining that needed experience, there is a chance it could happen in the future. But for now we are just taking things how they come and it is all good. I definitely love to race Supercross, I have a lot of fun at it and XGames was a great place to start.

A: You reside in Florida, it is the off-season ... what is going on right now.

Jessica: Things are nice. I have been hanging out with the friends and family. Just relaxing mostly, doing some fishing, and I am planning on hunting soon. Really just spending time with the family because I do not get to see them as much when my focus is racing and traveling.

It is great to be able to hang out with the family and just enjoy everything and not have to worry about too much. I have also been going to a lot of Gator football games with my Grandma lately, because she is a diehard Gator football fan and I grew up liking them also, so we have been having fun during the weekends going to games. It is pretty cool and relaxing to take the weekend to do whatever you want instead of racing every weekend. : )

A: Okay, I have to ask about the hunting Jessica, what do you hunt?

Jessica: Well, mostly we will do some deer hunting, but my Dad asked me if I wanted to go 'gator hunting. My dad likes to hunt for anything, but when I go I mainly just do deer hunting.

A: Football - do you have any other teams you like?

Jessica: I love the University of Florida because my Grandma has had tickets, and the same seats since I can remember. When we go to a home game it is the same people by us every year, so that makes it a lot of fun. We live in Tallahassee so we are partially Florida State fans too.

A: Just a few weeks ago you did a bike swap with another female, how did that go?

Jessica: Yeah, for Speed TV, Melissa Perris and I swapped out rides; she is a 600 rider for Yamaha. We had a couple of days that we did filming. The first day the two of us rode on the street course on the 600s and she taught me how to do that, and we also rode with the host of the show.

We also had fun testing all the new stuff for GYTR Line products and tested those new street bikes for Yamaha, which was very cool. That went really well.

The next day we did Moto and got to ride the new 2011 bikes and all their new GYTR products. We continued the show with that, and we also had a cruiser ride with the Yamaha Star Street Bike. It was a cool week of switching things up.

A: Will your fans get to see you out in California for some of the first Supercross races?

Jessica: I will be out in California in January for sure, and I will be at the races hanging out with guys and signing autographs. I hope to be at most of the California Supercross races.

A: Have fun in Switzerland, we'll be reporting on that race. Thanks for the chat, and we'll see you in January!

Jessica: Thanks Annj!