By Abby Moran
The starting race gate rattles beneath Piper Bell’s front tire as motocross engines throttle around her. Beneath her helmet, the 17-year-old rider claps her gloves together, settling her adrenaline before the gate drops. While the atmosphere around her is electric with pre-race energy, Piper’s focus locks in on the start of the race, visualizing the packed first turn on the hot dirt racetrack.
“I try to keep myself calm and lock in mentally. I really focus and visualize,” Piper said about her racing strategy. “The first is the start of the race, so I’ll focus on that. If you have a bad start, it will probably be a bad race.”
This mental fortitude was a practice Piper built over nearly a decade of motocross racing.
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan-based Piper has dedicated her teenage years to conquering motocross racing and becoming a rider who is not just respected in the Midwest but is now competing across the nation on the professional women’s motocross (WMX) racing circuit.
Piper started riding dirtbikes at 8 years old and competed in her first race in Ontario, Canada, at 9. Although it started as a family hobby, as Piper continued racing, she got better, faster, and stronger. The turning point in her racing journey came when she competed in the Monster Energy AMA National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s ranch in Tennessee (known to racers as Loretta Lynn’s), considered the world’s largest amateur motocross race.
“I thought, let’s just give it a shot. If I can qualify, I’ll compete,” Piper said.
Qualifying for Loretta Lynn’s was a feat of endurance for then 11-year-old Piper. First, she had to finish high in an area qualifier, followed by a placement in a regional qualifier. The top 42 racers in each division are eligible to compete at Loretta Lynn’s.
“We had never experienced anything like that race environment before,” Piper said. “I thought it was so cool. Once we knew I could compete on the national level, we started taking racing more seriously.”
Since then, Piper has qualified to compete in the renowned motocross championship for the past five years, placing sixth in her division over the past three years. Just after Loretta Lynn’s in 2025, Piper took on the Thor Mini O’s race in November, which featured some of the best motocross racers in the world. She claimed a sixth-place finish, ensuring her place as a rising star in motocross racing.
“I just kept thinking, there’s a future here,” Piper said about the start of her racing career. “When I’m racing, and the other riders are faster, I just think about how much I want to get better. I love it so much.”
Most riders competing at Piper’s skill level live year-round at boarding-school-style elite racing centers, completing both their high school education and training at high intensity, often living away from their family members for most of the year.
Piper has a more traditional high school experience, completing schoolwork online through Sault Area High School while balancing sports as a point guard on the varsity girls’ basketball team. While most other riders are training year-round, Piper’s training picks up after her basketball season ends. Around March, the Bell family, who are Cloverland Electric Cooperative members, packs their RV and travels down to motocross tracks for training in Florida and Georgia.
The training is grueling. Combining endurance training with 100-degree heat on a dirt race track creates extreme conditions that demand every bit of stamina. The riders start with a warm-up stretch in the morning, followed by hours of motocross riding and an afternoon strength-training workout. While many riders train year-round at elite racing facilities, Piper has only a brief stretch each spring to prepare before the racing season begins.
This spring, Piper also trained at NXT LVL 101 in South Carolina, her first opportunity to receive official professional training before the WMX season began. The experience paid off quickly. Despite competing against women with significantly more racing experience and year-round training, Piper has already earned multiple top 10 finishes during her rookie professional season.
For the Bell family, Piper’s racing career is a family commitment. Her dad, Amos, is Piper’s trainer and handles all maintenance on the bike, ensuring everything runs smoothly for both training and race days. Her mom, Kerry, is the backbone of support. Piper’s brother, Cole, also an aspiring racer, is there riding alongside his sister.
The Bell family spends a lot of time watching other motocross racers, learning from great riders and reviewing race footage to pick up the small tweaks that can lead to big improvements in racing.
This summer, Piper will line up against the fastest women motocross riders in the country, chasing a starting gate she once only dreamed of reaching. After being recruited to join the WMX circuit, Piper will compete against some of the sport’s top riders, marking a major milestone in a journey that began as a family hobby nearly a decade ago. As she balances her rookie season on the professional circuit with her senior year of high school, Piper is already setting her sights higher, determined to continue climbing the ranks of women’s motocross.
“I want to be a top three pro-rider in the WMX,” Piper states.
With her goal to expand motocross training after her high school graduation, Piper has the dedication, athleticism, and grit to make that goal a reality.
