Moville teen races to top of amateur ATV circuit
By Nick Hytrek Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, August 30, 2007
MOVILLE, Iowa -- Brianne Hanson laughs when she talks about how she got started racing.
How, as a 14-year-old seventh-grader, she begged her parents to let her enter a four-wheeler race at the 2003 Woodbury County Fair.
How she wore only a helmet for protection during the race, which, by the way, she won.
"I just wanted to try it. I'd been riding four-wheelers for a while. That's all I'd talk about is racing. After the first race, I was hooked."
She still is.
Now an 18-year-old senior at Woodbury Central High School in Moville, Brianne has overcome male racers who didn't like losing to a girl, a broken back and her age to become a top female amateur racer.
She currently sits in second place in the Women's BC class of the PowerSports ATV Tour -- the top national racing circuit -- with one racing weekend left on Sept. 15-16.
"It's kind of an addicting sport. You never can get out of it," she said.
As Brianne peeled off her sweaty gloves, goggles, racing helmet and body armor after a recent humid morning practice run on the custom-built motocross track at her family's rural Moville home, her mother said the young woman was destined to race since she had a Barbie Jeep powered by a 12-volt battery. Brianne began riding all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs, when she was 4.
"Every picture she drew in school was Brianne riding an ATV," Pat Hanson said.
Once Brianne tasted victory at the county fair, there was no stopping her. She talked her parents into buying her a racing model Yamaha ATV and entering her in local races. Soon the family was traveling to Homer, Neb., Yankton, S.D., and Le Mars, Iowa, as Brianne competed in the Midwest Series.
"I didn't really know what I was doing. I just kind of went with the flow," she said.
A 15-year-old girl competing against -- and beating -- men in their 20s didn't go over too well with some of the boys.
"The guys got together and blocked her the next race. They didn't like getting beat by girls," her mother said.
Brianne never let it bother her.
"She's very determined. That's the kind of person she is," Pat said.
The next year, Brianne planned to hit the national circuit. But during a race in Yankton on Memorial Day 2005, she overshot a jump and crashed. After track officials pulled her ATV off her, two other racers ran over her. She spent the next three months in a body cast with a broken vertebra in her back.
"The doctor said it was really close to touching the spinal cord," she said. "It scared me a lot."
But not enough to keep her from racing.
"I knew I had to keep going. I was itching just watching people riding. I think my mom and dad wanted me to give it up."
Yes, they did. Especially after watching her race tentatively in Winterset, Iowa, in her first race after her injury.
"Her dad and I talked all the way back (home) about getting her out of racing," Pat said.
But after they got back to Moville, they heard about a bunch of high school kids who got into trouble for drinking. Maybe racing wasn't such a bad idea after all.
"It keeps her on the straight and narrow," Pat said.
Brianne has been following the twists and turns on tracks across the country since then. She joined the national circuit shortly after her return so she could compete against women. In her first season last summer, she finished sixth in the point standings despite missing four races.
This summer, mother and daughter have loaded up the trailer and motor home and traveled as far away as Georgia and New Jersey. Brianne's father, Randy, co-owner of Verschoor Meats in Sioux City, usually flies in to the race site on Fridays. The travel can get old, and there are few weekends for other family activities, Pat said, but it's been worth it.
"There's things we would have rather done, but now we're hooked. It's exciting. I know how much she loves it."
Next year Brianne will move up to the professional class, where she'll again race against older women. She's considering graduating from high school at midterm so she can go to riding school somewhere in the South, where it's warm enough to ride year-round.
Because top women racers don't receive the sponsorships and free gear that top male riders do, Brianne said she isn't sure how long she'll continue racing.
"I'll stick with it a couple years," she said.
Even after her full-time racing career is over, she hopes to find some type of racing-related career. The adrenaline rush she said she receives from just being at the track is too addictive.
"I'd probably just keep a bike just for fun. I won't get out of racing."
Nick Hytrek can be reached at 712-293-4226 or nickhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com.
How, as a 14-year-old seventh-grader, she begged her parents to let her enter a four-wheeler race at the 2003 Woodbury County Fair.
How she wore only a helmet for protection during the race, which, by the way, she won.
"I just wanted to try it. I'd been riding four-wheelers for a while. That's all I'd talk about is racing. After the first race, I was hooked."
She still is.
Now an 18-year-old senior at Woodbury Central High School in Moville, Brianne has overcome male racers who didn't like losing to a girl, a broken back and her age to become a top female amateur racer.
She currently sits in second place in the Women's BC class of the PowerSports ATV Tour -- the top national racing circuit -- with one racing weekend left on Sept. 15-16.
"It's kind of an addicting sport. You never can get out of it," she said.
As Brianne peeled off her sweaty gloves, goggles, racing helmet and body armor after a recent humid morning practice run on the custom-built motocross track at her family's rural Moville home, her mother said the young woman was destined to race since she had a Barbie Jeep powered by a 12-volt battery. Brianne began riding all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs, when she was 4.
"Every picture she drew in school was Brianne riding an ATV," Pat Hanson said.
Once Brianne tasted victory at the county fair, there was no stopping her. She talked her parents into buying her a racing model Yamaha ATV and entering her in local races. Soon the family was traveling to Homer, Neb., Yankton, S.D., and Le Mars, Iowa, as Brianne competed in the Midwest Series.
"I didn't really know what I was doing. I just kind of went with the flow," she said.
A 15-year-old girl competing against -- and beating -- men in their 20s didn't go over too well with some of the boys.
"The guys got together and blocked her the next race. They didn't like getting beat by girls," her mother said.
Brianne never let it bother her.
"She's very determined. That's the kind of person she is," Pat said.
The next year, Brianne planned to hit the national circuit. But during a race in Yankton on Memorial Day 2005, she overshot a jump and crashed. After track officials pulled her ATV off her, two other racers ran over her. She spent the next three months in a body cast with a broken vertebra in her back.
"The doctor said it was really close to touching the spinal cord," she said. "It scared me a lot."
But not enough to keep her from racing.
"I knew I had to keep going. I was itching just watching people riding. I think my mom and dad wanted me to give it up."
Yes, they did. Especially after watching her race tentatively in Winterset, Iowa, in her first race after her injury.
"Her dad and I talked all the way back (home) about getting her out of racing," Pat said.
But after they got back to Moville, they heard about a bunch of high school kids who got into trouble for drinking. Maybe racing wasn't such a bad idea after all.
"It keeps her on the straight and narrow," Pat said.
Brianne has been following the twists and turns on tracks across the country since then. She joined the national circuit shortly after her return so she could compete against women. In her first season last summer, she finished sixth in the point standings despite missing four races.
This summer, mother and daughter have loaded up the trailer and motor home and traveled as far away as Georgia and New Jersey. Brianne's father, Randy, co-owner of Verschoor Meats in Sioux City, usually flies in to the race site on Fridays. The travel can get old, and there are few weekends for other family activities, Pat said, but it's been worth it.
"There's things we would have rather done, but now we're hooked. It's exciting. I know how much she loves it."
Next year Brianne will move up to the professional class, where she'll again race against older women. She's considering graduating from high school at midterm so she can go to riding school somewhere in the South, where it's warm enough to ride year-round.
Because top women racers don't receive the sponsorships and free gear that top male riders do, Brianne said she isn't sure how long she'll continue racing.
"I'll stick with it a couple years," she said.
Even after her full-time racing career is over, she hopes to find some type of racing-related career. The adrenaline rush she said she receives from just being at the track is too addictive.
"I'd probably just keep a bike just for fun. I won't get out of racing."
Nick Hytrek can be reached at 712-293-4226 or nickhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com.
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