by: Rachel Gutish
Tuesday, April 17, 2018 | 1:05 PM
Becca Sheets is one of the fastest women in the country. She first began racing the GNCC circuit in 2012, and really hit her stride with a championship in 2016. Last year, Tayla Jones, a newcomer to the series from Australia, won the WXC division in a dominant fashion. However, Sheets has steadily been gaining ground, and was finally able to beat the Australian at round four, Steele Creek. The season is shaping up to be much more competitive than last year, and I caught up with Becca to talk about the last race, her thoughts on how the season is progressing, her plans for the year, and about women’s racing in general.
GNCCRacing.com: Hey Becca, how’s it going?
Becca Sheets: Thanks for asking, it’s going good! The early-season rush has finally started to calm down a bit. I’m back home in Ohio after a winter of traveling and we are just getting back to the groove here in the bipolar weather (laughs).
I know the feeling! So, congrats on your win! Can you take me through your race this weekend?
For sure. I got off to a good start and I just followed behind Tricker on the first lap with Tayla close behind us. Once we caught lappers on the second lap things got a little hectic. I had a few tip-overs but was able to catch back up. We all kind of went back and forth a few times. Staying right together like that makes for a pretty fun race. Tayla and I were both able to get around Tricker, but Tayla tipped over in the mud and I was able to make a pass for the lead. I tried to push to the finish from there - riding smart and carefully navigating through bottlenecks and unpredictable riders. It was a great race and felt awesome to finally put all my pieces together.
Tayla’s been pretty dominant for the last year or so. How does it feel to finally break that streak?
It feels good! It’s nice to slow the roll and get a win for myself four rounds in.
It seems like the battles between the two of you have been much tighter this year than they were at the start of last season too. Do you agree?
Yeah, I definitely agree that the battles have been closer between us.
Did anything change in your program that you think is making the difference now?
I have made some small changes. I am constantly tweaking things in my program in an attempt to improve it. That’s just kind of the way I work. The only major change I made for this season is that Tyler and I are my mechanics for the race bike this year. Johnny Gallagher has done my race bikes the past two years, but I really wanted to learn my machine better by working on it myself. It’s been hectic, but also really fun to run a full-on race shop out of our garage at home. Luckily we have many knowledgeable people like Johnny and the guys at KTM to help if we ever have questions. The long hours and hard work we put in to make sure my race bike is 100% for each race really make the whole thing more meaningful.
Are there any rounds you’re really looking forward to that you think play well to your strengths?
I actually look forward to Camp Coker [the upcoming round this weekend] a lot. I love that sand/clay mix there. But honestly I’m looking forward to all of them. The racing we have going on in the front of the WXC pack right now is so much fun. Everyone is killing it, and that definitely gets me pumped!
Speaking of women’s racing in general, I know you were one of the speakers at the Women in Racing conference a few weeks ago. What are your thoughts on the health of women’s off-road racing?
That’s right. It was really awesome to be in a room with so many other badass female athletes, and be able to share my perspective with them. I think the health of women’s off-road racing is good right now, but it can always be better. There are so many females that are racing right now. I just want to help motivate those who are already here, to keep working and improving and getting faster. There ARE opportunities for women in this sport. So my message to any chicks out there that are reading this - keep your eyes and ears open for some cool things that will be happening this year.
You’ve done a lot of different types of racing - GNCC, motocross, the International Six Days Enduro - what out of all of this do you consider your biggest accomplishment?
I would say my biggest accomplishment in racing is just becoming who I am today. Being able to make a living racing my dirt bike and having the opportunities to do things like the ISDE or whatever else comes my way is a dream come true. Yes, championships are cool, but it’s all about how you get to those championships and reach those goals! I’ve come so far from where I was when I started racing GNCCs in 2012.
GNCC is naturally your biggest focus, but do you plan on doing anything else interesting this season? The ISDE, some WMX, maybe even an extreme race like TKO?
After competing in the 2017 ISDE and doing so well for our first attempt, I am definitely looking forward to another chance to get the win for USA. And as far as other stuff, who knows what else I might end up doing. I’m not sure about the TKO, but hey, if I’m available, maybe I will give it a shot!
What are your goals for the rest of the season?
I have a long list of goals, but let’s keep this short and sweet: I want to continue to keep improving myself on and off the track. I’ll be grateful for whatever else comes of that.
Who would you like to thank?
First I would like to thank my boyfriend Tyler. I could write up a book to explain how grateful I am to him, but I’ll just leave it at that. Of course I would like to thank Johnny Gallagher too, as well as all of my amazing sponsors that make what I do possible: Fly, Maxxis, Seat Concepts and KTM.