Nichole Cheza (born June 11, 1987) is an American former professional dirt track motorcycle racer. [1] She competed in the GNC1 class of the AMA Grand National Championship. [1]
Cheza was born in Flint, Michigan and resides in Clio, Michigan. [1] She started riding at the age of 3 and began racing at 4. In 2003, Cheza won championships in both, dirt track racing and ice track racing. [2] Cheza was the American Motorcyclist Association's Female Rider for the Year for 2003. [3]
She is married to professional motorcycle racer, Jared Mees. [1] [4]
Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom.
The AMA Supercross Championship (commercially known as Monster Energy AMA Supercross) is an American motorcycle racing series. Founded by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1974, the AMA Supercross Championship races are held from January through early May. Supercross is a variant of motocross which involves off-road motorcycles on a constructed dirt track consisting of steep jumps and obstacles; the tracks are usually constructed inside a sports stadium. The easy accessibility and comfort of these stadium venues helped supercross surpass off-road motocross as a spectator attraction in the United States by the late 1970s.
The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) is an American nonprofit organization of more than 200,000 motorcyclists that organizes numerous motorcycling activities and campaigns for motorcyclists' legal rights. Its mission statement is "to promote the motorcycling lifestyle and protect the future of motorcycling." The organization was founded in 1924 and as of October 2016 had more than 1,100 chartered clubs.
AMA Superbike Championship is an American motorcycle racing series that has been run every year beginning in 1976. For most of its existence it has been considered the premier motorcycle road racing series in the United States. It is sanctioned by the AMA American Motorcyclist Association since its inception, and the promotion of the series has been licensed to several organizations over the years. Since 2015 the series has been run and promoted by MotoAmerica, who also manage several other AMA professional road racing championships, including the popular 600cc Supersport class.
Benjamin Bostrom is an American former professional motorcycle racer. From 1995 to 2011 he competed in the AMA Superbike Championship, the World Superbike Championship and the MotoGP world championship..
Kenneth Leroy Roberts is an American former professional motorcycle racer and racing team owner. In 1978, he became the first American to win a Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship. He was also a two-time winner of the A.M.A. Grand National Championship. Roberts is one of only four riders in American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) racing history to win the AMA Grand Slam, representing Grand National wins at a mile, half-mile, short-track, TT Steeplechase and road race events.
The Daytona 200 is an annual motorcycle road racing competition held in early spring at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The 200-mile (320 km) race was founded in 1937 when it was sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA). The original course used the beach itself before moving to a paved closed circuit in 1961. The Daytona 200 reached its zenith of worldwide popularity in the 1970s when the race attracted the largest crowds of any AMA race along with some of the top rated international motorcycle racers.
Pat Hennen is an American former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He is notable for being the first American to win a 500 cc World Championship race, the 1976 500cc Finnish Grand Prix. Competing as a non-factory rider, he finished third overall in the GP World Championship standings that season, only 2 points behind runner-up Tepi Länsivuori and fellow Suzuki factory rider Barry Sheene.
Mert Lawwill is an American professional motorcycle racer, race team owner and mountain bike designer. He competed in the AMA Grand National Championship from 1962 to 1977. Lawwill is notable for winning the 1969 AMA Grand National Championship as a member of the Harley-Davidson factory racing team. After his motorcycle racing career, Lawwill became one of the top motorcycle racing frame designers and builders. Lawwill then used his experience as a motorcycle frame builder to become an innovative mountain bike designer, developing one of the first bicycle suspensions. He also developed prosthetic limbs for amputees. Lawwill was inducted in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.
Jay Springsteen is an American former professional motorcycle dirt track racer.
Yvon Duhamel was a French Canadian professional motorcycle and snowmobile racer. A six-time winner of the White Trophy, the highest award in Canadian motorcycle racing, he was one of the most accomplished motorcycle racers in Canadian motorsports history. Duhamel was a versatile rider competing in numerous motorcycle racing disciplines including; trials, motocross, ice racing, drag racing, flat track racing and most prominently in road racing as a member of the Kawasaki factory racing team. His motorcycle racing career spanned the transition from the 60 horsepower four-stroke motorcycles of the 1960s, to the 100 horsepower two-stroke motorcycles of the 1970s. Even when Duhamel's motorcycle had a top speed advantage, he never slowed to conserve his machine, which led to spectacular crashes or mechanical failures as often as it led to race victories. Duhamel's reputation as a tenacious competitor with an aggressive riding style earned him the respect of other racers and made him popular with racing fans.
Gene Romero was an American professional motorcycle racer. He competed in the A.M.A. Grand National Championship from 1966 to 1981 sponsored first by the Triumph factory racing team and then by the Yamaha factory racing team. Proficient on oval dirt tracks as well as paved road racing circuits, Romero won the 1970 A.M.A. Grand National Championship and was the winner of the 1975 Daytona 200. After retiring from competition, he became a successful racing team manager with Honda and, helped the sport of dirt track racing by becoming a race promoter. Romero was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.
Elena Myers Court is an American professional motorcycle racer. She made history in 2010 as the first female to win an AMA Pro Racing sprint road race. She is also the first woman to win a professional motorsports race of any kind at Daytona International Speedway, on March 17, 2012.
Gavin Trippe was a motorcycle racing promoter, journalist, and publisher who was inducted to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2005. He died following an automobile accident in California.
American Flat Track is an American motorcycle racing series. The racing series, founded and sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1954, originally encompassed five distinct forms of competitions including mile dirt track races, half-mile, short-track, TT steeplechase and road races. The championship was the premier motorcycle racing series in the United States from the 1950s up until the late 1970s.
The AMA Supermoto Championship was an AMA Pro Racing-sanctioned Supermoto motorcycle racing series that ran from 2003 through 2009. AMA Pro Racing was a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Motorcyclist Association. An amateur national championship, known as AMA Supermoto and sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association as AMA Sports, was launched in 2013 with USA Supermoto as the new promoter.
Jared Mees is an American professional dirt track motorcycle racer. He competes in the AMA Grand National Championship winning the GNC1 title in 2012, 2014, and 2015, the Grand National Twins Championship in 2009, and the Grand National Singles Championship in 2012.
Brad Baker is an AMA Pro Flat Track Racer from United States who has competed in the Championship since 2009, winning the Grand National Singles Championship in his first full-time year. He also won the Grand National Championship in 2013.
Jason Pridmore is a retired American professional motorcycle racer who turned professional in 1990. He last raced professionally in the 2014 FIM World Endurance Championship on a BMW S1000RR for Team Penz 13. His professional career spanned 22 years, during which he won 21 American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) national races 17 of which are Superstock class wins which is second to Scott Russell. Pridmore was the AMA Formula Extreme Championship in 2002, the AMA 750 Supersport Championship in 1997 as well as the FIM Endurance World Championship title in 2003 & 2012 respectively. In addition to his professional racing career Pridmore instructs motorcyclists through his STAR Motorcycle school and JP43 Training programs. Pridmore also spends time as an expert analyst for Bein Sports coverage of the Moto America championships.
The SuperMotocross World Championship is the premier combined discipline world championship of off-road motorcycle racing. Conceived in 2023 after the AMA Supercross Championship lost its FIM World Championship status, the series will consist of the aforementioned Supercross series and the AMA Motocross Championship, followed by two playoff races and a final to determine the SuperMotocross world champion.