Rider Spotlight: Maddy Hidalgo
Name: Maddy Hidalgo
Age: 16 years old
Fun fact about myself (non racing related) :
-I love to cook and bake things
How long have I been riding/racing:
-This is currently my 5th year of racing! The first couple years of my racing career I raced cross country (trails/woods) and the rest has been strictly motocross and very little cross country!
Series:
-I have won a championship in Torn Racing, I’ve had 2 championship wins in scramblecross, a couple top 3 finishes in the Texas Full Moon Series, I’m also a 2x champ in the District41 series! I have raced some small local series as well but never followed through with all the races leading me out of a podium finish! I have also tried to qualify for Loretta Lynn’s twice in the girls 12-16 class but haven’t made it quite yet, but I’ll get there!
How did riding become a part of my life:
-I have always grown up around four-wheelers and I was constantly on one! You could hardly get me off of one. One day I told my dad that I wanted a dirtbike, so he went out and bought a kx 110! I road that for a couple months and then once I got that down I moved up to the KLX 110 L (with a clutch) and that was the first bike I started racing on! I just fell in love with the sport and the atmosphere I decided to keep going with it! Here I am now with 5 championship wins in all different series! And many more to come!
What are some of the biggest challenges I’ve come across in the racing industry:
-I have come across some hard challenges with myself mentally. It had gotten to the point to were I was getting worse instead of improving my skills out on the track. I remember it would be the second practice session and I would go out there and just completely suck it up, and I’d just come back to the truck and start crying. I was mentally just bringing myself down all the time. I would fill my head with doubt and fear and it would set me back to the point to were I almost wanted to give up on the sport...but I kept going, and I found ways to focus and clear all the negativity in my head! And now I’m getting better and faster!
How do you think things could be improved for women in the racing world?:
-I personally think so much could be improved for women and young girls in the racing world. I honestly feel like with the local series around here and stuff I find the classes to be fine for the girls (most of the time) but for women and younger girls trying to qualify for Lorettas I think it’s completely unfair for us! I personally think that for Lorettas they need to give us more classes with different ages. All the men and boys in this sport get a number of classes that they can race and the girls just have 2, and once you age out of the girls 12-16 class then you have 1 class to race with for the rest of your career. Not to mention that they won’t allow you to race a supermini in the women’s 12+ class...so for girls that are like me and can’t move up yet to bigger bikes we just get screwed, and ik I’m not the only girl out there who struggles with it. Even the little girls don’t get it fair, they have to race with all these little boys. You don’t see too many of them because they just get blown away by all these fast little boys. I just find it unfair.
What advice do you have for young girls starting out in racing?:
-My advice would be to just have fun! I’m always getting reminded by people to just have fun out on the track! Who cares if you aren’t the fastest one out there! As long as you are enjoying it and having fun then that’s all that matters!
Where do you see yourself going with racing?:
-To be completely honest I definitely don’t see myself going crazy big into the sport. I definitely see myself doing other things in life, but racing will always be apart of me, I just won’t be competing seriously as I get older! I think I’ll just ride and have a good time with family and friends!
