With the ACU British Women’s Motocross Championship getting underway on May 16th at Lyng. Here at Live Motocross HQ thought we would catch up with a multi Girls National winner Lauren May-Collingwood who will be lining up in the WMX Adult class for the three round British Women’s Motocross Championship.
Check out what Lauren had to say below.
Can you give us a bit of background on you and also your Motocross career to date?
“Well my name Lauren-May Collingwood and I love to ride dirtbikes. Nothing much else to speak about haha! Yeah, so I’ve rode & raced motocross since the age of 6. Before that I raced quads that is really how I started out riding. The club I was racing with was no longer doing racing for the young kids on the LT50’s with us only being 4 years old, so my dad decided to get me a husky boy 50, and that is pretty much how my motocross career started out. I have literally raced at every track in the UK, started out racing the autos, think I won 4 club championships in one season as well as a British title, so I’m guessing that year cost my dad a lot of money haha. Ive raced every group, it was only recently I decided to take a break away from the motocross and put my career first. I do work around the motocross with our company worx sports insurance, so even if I wasn’t riding that much I was still around bikes 24/7!”
You previously won the Girls UK National event a number of years ago. Can you tell us more about this and how it felt?
“Yeah, I believe I have won it in each group along the years. I remember the first one i ever did , I was 7 I think and I’ve never competed in one before so didn’t know what to expect. I had also never ridden at culham before as I only started racing the year before. But went on to win that title, and I think thats where the obsession of motocross started. Think it felt pretty cool as back then it was the only British championship for girls!”
This year sees RHL Activities introduce an Official ACU British Women’s Motocross championship. How do you feel about this and of course your be riding in it?
“I am over the moon that RHL have introduced a British motocross championship for us women, as this is always something I wished would happen in the UK to make women in motocross big! And yeah luckily I am racing in the championship this year, really looking forward to it as i know all the guys behind the scenes have been working so hard to do this for us, so I can’t thank RHL and ACU enough! Finally us women might get some proper support to chase our dreams.”
Looking at the calendar for the WMXGB. Which track is your favourite and why?
“Literally I would say Whitby is probably my favourite track on the calendar, just because its not too far from where I live lol. But no on a serious note ive never rode lyng but have been told that its sandy? and anyone that knows me knows I love sand!”
Can you tell us a bit of your youth racing career in detail and how it was competing?
“Yeah so I have won quite a bit going through the youth ranks, i think I’ve won around a dozen club championships over the years and also 5 British titles. I must have not got a weekend off riding as a kid because I don’t remember doing anything else. I loved motocross from a young age, but that is probably because my dad wanted a boy, so when i was a kid i was basically like my dads son with all the bikes lol. I wouldn’t change it for the world though, as its what i love, even more so these days.”
Do you have any plans to race int he FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship in the future?
“Yeah I would love to compete in the women world motocross championship, that has been my goal since I first started out racing at 6 years old. Hopefully this British championship highlights the women of the sport in the UK, as would be fab if some of the professional teams had some women riding for them especially in the GP’s!! Lets hope we can turn a dream into a reality.”
Do you think the uk should send a ladies team to the MXoN?
“100000% I do!! I believe now we have a Official British championship run by RHL and ACU, I think we are finally being taken serious. It would be awesome to compete in the MXON! We have some unreal male riders that were made in the UK, so why not add some unreal women in the mix too?”
Do you have advice for a female rider looking to get into the sport?
“If you are a female rider looking at getting into the sport, the only advice I would say is stay away unless you want to be skint forever!! haha im joking I would definitely say get involved it will be the most fun and rewarding thing you will ever do!! I don’t have one minute in my motocross career that I regret, we have had tears, bust lips, broken bones, concussions, laughs, wins and also losses, travelled the world, met some amazing people along the way that will be friends with us forever. I dont know one person that has been involved in motocross thats hated it, so i would say get involved, the more girls riding, the bigger our motocross will be! Also if your scared of crashing you can always get accident cover from a girl that knows best.. aka…. ME! haha”
