A new generation of women racers is on the rise in the off-road motorcycle world, breaking boundaries, setting records and redefining what’s possible. We thought it was time to tip a visor to some of the top off-road and motocross racers in the current American racing scene.
While there are certainly many fast lady racers around the globe—the great Laia Sanz comes to mind—this list is focused on the fastest talents currently competing in the U.S. Some ride motocross, some ride off-road and some ride both. Most are American, but some are not. What they all have in common is that they are blazing fast, incredible to watch and forging a new future for women’s racing.
Here are the top dozen female talents railing berms on two wheels midway through the 2025 season. This is not a ranking, just a heads-up on who’s who when it comes to women on wheels.
Lachlan Turner
Lachlan Turner, or “La La” as she is known, is a rising star in motocross and, at just 18 years old, is already a force in the WMX Pro ranks. As her red number-one plate would indicate, she was the rider to beat in 2024, and she is once again dominant in her title defense this year. So far she has only given up one win in the 2025 WMX series.
La La was a late bloomer by motocross standards, only starting out at about 12 years old, but showed immediate talent on the bike. She and her brother, Supercross racer Lux Turner, began riding together, and even up to the beginning of this season, La La admits she didn’t ride that often, only on weekends when her parents could take her to the track. Now with the Altus Motorsports bLU cRU Yamaha Amateur team, Turner recently moved to ClubMX where she is training full-time. Elevating her program could help Lachlan end up where she truly wants to be—Supercross. “If I’m up to speed by January, I’m going to race SMX [SuperMotocross],” said La La. “For 2026 I definitely want to do most of the combines in the SMX.” Watch for the blond ponytail in next year’s AMA Supercross Futures National Championship.
Mikayla Nielsen
“Kay Kay,” as she is known to friends, is no stranger to anyone who has been following off-road racing in the West. In the AMA Grand Prix Championship series, Nielsen has shown scorching speed all throughout the mini ranks, racing against the girls and the boys, and is now dominating the Women’s Pro division. Racing with the SLR Honda team, Nielsen is chasing her third straight NGPC Women’s Pro title and might even be able to pull off a perfect season (she nearly did it in 2024, but gave up one win in nine rounds).
In recent years Nielsen has also decided to go back to her motocross roots and take on the WMX Pro Championship. She won the opening round of the 2025 season at her home track, Fox Raceway, and has been on the podium at each round. At only 19 years old, Nielsen is only at the beginning of her pro career. Her versatility and blazing speed mean she is clearly able to follow whichever path she chooses. Whether she’s got a small tank and 19-inch rear wheel, or 18-inch and mousses, she’ll be at the pointy end of the field.
Brandy Richards
If you were paying any attention to off-road racing in 2021, you know who Brandy Richards is. The AMA Rider of the Year not only led the U.S. Women’s World Trophy team to victory at the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE), but also went completely undefeated in every test for all six days—a feat that no racer in any class has ever done. Back home she also brought home three other championships, one of which was a Pro-Am championship racing against the men.
Now among the veteran women racers, Brandy Richards is still an absolute force in off-road racing. Having sufficiently conquered the West in the WORCS and NGPC ranks, Brandy set her sights on the East back in 2022, where she has been taking on series like GNCC and National Enduro. Richards has been hampered by injury in 2025, but remains a no-brainer for our list of the fastest ladies in the dirt. She is recovering from an early-season femur break, but will be joining Korie Steede and Rachel Gutish at the ISDE once again, where the trio will be looking for their third straight crown. The good news is it’s back in Italy, the site of Richards’ incredible 2021 feat. Go team USA!
Rachel Gutish
Rachel Gutish is one of the toughest off-road racers you’ll ever encounter—male or female. Gutish’s no-nonsense approach to racing has taken her to podiums around the world, and whether it’s cross-country, hard enduro, classic enduro, ISDE or even EnduroCross, she will grit and claw her way to the finish line.
Gutish shines in the technical terrain and is the reigning AMA Hard Enduro champion, along with a top veteran of the AMA EnduroCross series. She is probably best known for her efforts in ISDE, where she has three women’s world trophies to her name.
Gutish can not only claim a lot of first-place finishes but a lot of first-evers in her career. She was the first female finisher in the Tennessee Knockout #1 on Pro day (tied with Chantelle Bykerk) and the first female finisher at King of the Motos (tied with Morgan Tanke). Last year she became the first American woman to top the Enduro Women podium in the FIM EnduroGP World Championship.
Early 2025 left her hopping between brands—from Honda back to Sherco and eventually onto Rieju—but the musical-chairs routine didn’t seem to slow her down, as Gutish still brought home victories in National Enduro and Sprint Enduro. She currently leads the National Enduro Women’s Elite Championship and will soon be heading to Italy for her 10th ISDE seeking a third-consecutive WWT championship.
Rachael Archer
Three-time WXC GNCC champion, National Enduro champion, Sprint Enduro champion and ISDE gold medalist. Need we say more? After winning several national championships in motocross, cross-country and enduro in her home country of New Zealand, Rachael Archer set her sights on competing in the U.S. After finishing high school, she made the move to America and proceeded to climb to the top of the WXC Championship in GNCC and stay there. She even clinched the 2024 title with two rounds to spare. Archer has the target squarely on her back in the WXC ranks and is looking to bring home her fourth consecutive title in 2025.
Consistency is key for the Kiwi, and even at her young age has proven she has the skilled patience of a veteran. “Winning a championship is all about consistency, and I’d consider myself one of the most consistent riders in GNCC,” says Archer. “There aren’t many racers like me who can show up at every single track and battle for the win, so I pride myself on my ability to be good everywhere. My never-give-up mindset has got me a lot of places.”
Charli Cannon
She’s a seven-time Australian Motocross champion, and now Charli Cannon is in the U.S. ready to take some names in the AMA WMX series. Riding for the Quad Lock Honda team, Cannon is turning heads in the 2025 series and might not even be at full steam just yet. Three days before boarding her flight for the U.S. earlier this season, Cannon suffered a crash and destroyed her pointer finger. Broken in multiple places and dislocated, it required multiple surgeries, but it didn’t prevent the Aussie champ from sticking to her plans and lining up for round one of the AMA WMX Championship. Finishing fourth, third and second in the first three rounds indicates she is still healing and improving and, by all indications, has the capability to win. Back in March, Cannon dominated the FIM Oceania Women’s Motocross Cup, winning all three motos racing against top American women riders Lachlan Turner, Mikayla Nielsen and Jordan Jarvis. Known by her competitors for her relentless intensity, Cannon can never be counted out and still has three rounds remaining in the WMX Championship to be the best in the U.S.
Megan Griffiths
You probably know her better as “Megs Braap.” She’s been on Instagram and YouTube since 2014 with a steadily growing social media followership that has turned into a career. While she only dabbles in racing (and usually ends up on the podium), we had to include her on our list due to her sensational hard enduro talent and the influence she’s had on the sport.
“Racing full-time was not an option for me,” Megs explains on her website. “Mainly for financial reasons. I was working full-time as an industrial electrician and had to look outside of the box to find a way to make a career in the world of dirt biking.”
Megs now teaches riding clinics full-time and continues to produce online content, including how-tos and product reviews. Standing at just 5-foot-3, her ability is jaw-dropping. Her technique, which she breaks down step by step, shows riders of all sizes what’s possible. When her clinic schedule allows, Megs races National Hare and Hound and West Hare Scrambles where she holds her own in the Women Pro ranks. But, it’s the hard enduros where her skills truly shine. At the 2023 Grinding Stone Hard Enduro, Griffiths stole the show, battling to the win in the Women’s Pro division.
Ava Silvestri
Another star of West Coast off-road racing, three-time AMA West Hare Scrambles champion Ava Silvestri only started to spread her wings in pro racing. The bold and charismatic GasGas rider is a force in the WHS Championship, as well as the National Grand Prix Championship series. She is starting to branch out into other series, such as National Hare & Hound, where after six rounds she is locked in a dead heat with Rachel Stout for the Pro Women’s title. It seems Silvestri is racing everything in sight in 2025, also dabbling in a few GNCC rounds. Her top-five finishes show promise on the East Coast, where we might soon see her racing full-time.
Silvestri is also a rising star on the international stage, having competed in multiple ISDEs. Last year the youngster was bumped up from the Club ranks to the Women’s World Trophy team at the last minute, and faced with the sudden challenge of not only competing at the top level but defending a world championship. She pulled her weight and gritted through a tough week to help the American women bring home another ISDE WWT Championship.
Rachel Stout
Anyone in the American desert racing scene needs no introduction to Rachel Stout. The three-time National Hare & Hound Women’s Pro champion is now with the RPM KTM factory-backed team and working to defend her number-one plate for a fourth title. She is also branching out into the West Hare Scrambles Championship, where she has already clinched the 2025 title.
A whirlwind opportunity took Stout overseas last year when a last-minute spot opened up on the U.S. Women’s Club team (due to Silvestri moving up to the Women’s Trophy team). With only two weeks’ notice, Stout rented a bike and hopped on a plane, and with virtually no preparation, Stout (and teammates Olivia Pugh and Jocelyn Barnes) rode to a stunning team victory, topping the class by over two hours.
“I ended up riding 744 miles and putting 30 hours on a fully stock bike,” said Stout. “Most of the race was either super-deep mud ruts or super-slick grass tracks. I definitely left ISDE a way better mud rider than I started.”
The experience left Stout with an important reality check. “I can do hard things. I am capable of more than I think I am,” she said.
Shelby Turner
Another stunning talent from the Great White North, Canadian Shelby Turner is a seven-time AMA EnduroCross champion and AMA Hard Enduro champion. Known as the “Canadian Off-Road Queen,” Turner has a number of Canadian national titles in both off-road and motocross, along with six ISDE gold medals.
Turner is without a doubt the dominant force in AMA EnduroCross Pro Women’s ranks and was unbeatable in her sweep of the 2024 season. Shelby has had a presence in the GNCC WXC ranks for many years and has recently made a full-time assault on the series. Fueled by a win at the General GNCC in 2024 and consistent top-five finishes, the Enduro Engineering GasGas team rider is taking on the GNCC and National Enduro championships full-time where she is a regular podium finisher. She is currently third in both series and certainly has the potential to advance even more. The nastier the conditions, the more you can expect to see her #50 out front.
Jordan Jarvis
Veteran WMX racer Jordan Jarvis is a nine-time AMA National champion and a powerhouse in women’s motocross. She has also been one of the few women to ever race in the pro ranks alongside the men. Jarvis lined up at the AMA Pro Motocross at High Point in 2025. She also qualified in the 250 class at Thunder Valley in 2023.
Jarvis is one of the few WMX pros to attempt the transition into GNCC. She raced last year with the AmPro Yamaha team, but found the format didn’t suit her strengths.
Jarvis is now back to racing motocross full-time and has had a rough go in the first half of the 2025 WMX Championship. She was landed on in the first moto at Hangtown in a gruesome first-lap wreck. Despite a broken finger and a gash to her chin, she got up and finished out the day in ninth overall. She rebounded at round three a week later to finish third at Thunder Valley, and even though she’s on the back foot at the halfway point, she considers herself still in the hunt for another championship.
Her goals include heading to Europe to compete in the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship, but Jarvis thinks the recently resurrected WMX series has a bright future in the U.S.
“I don’t think there’s ever been this depth of talent in women’s motocross,” said Jarvis. “There’s definitely some promising girls coming up now. I think [the WMX series is] doing really well.”
Korie Steede
Along with her impressive stats in the U.S., Korie Steede is another ISDE world champion. The Rockstar Husqvarna factory team racer was a member of the dominant 2023 Women’s World Trophy team, and while she was unfortunately sidelined in 2024 only weeks before the Six Days, she is preparing to head to Italy for the 2025 event alongside teammates Rachel Gutish and Brandy Richards.
Steede recently clinched the U.S. Sprint Enduro Pro Women Championship and is one of the only racers who has proven capable of wrestling GNCC WXC wins away from Rachael Archer. Her roots are in motocross, which makes her a strong sprinter, but found she excelled in the longer races and became a full-time off-road racer in 2018. She still occasionally races motocross, including Loretta Lynn’s, where she’s still a top-five contender in WMX.
When Steede isn’t grinding away in pro racing, you might be able to find her hanging out with Travis Pastrana and crew doing ridiculous things on two wheels. “Keep sending it and have fun on your dirt bikes. That’s all that matters,” Steede says with a smile.