Cycle News Staff | June 14, 2021
Following in the footsteps of the Royal Enfield Build Train Race Flat Track program, the historic brand announced a Road Racing version to run at three MotoAmerica events this year. Seven female riders were selected to build their own race bikes utilizing the Continental GT 650 as the base bike.
Seven female riders were selected to compete in the Royal Enfield Build Train Race road racing program. Melissa Paris (center) is serving as their mentor.
The riders are being mentored by Melissa Paris, a professional road racer that has competed in MotoAmerica events along with World Endurance and Spanish CEV Championship races. They have varying degrees of racing experience and they recently completed a road racing school at Michigan’s Grattan Raceway. The seven riders in alphabetical order are:
* Alyssa Bridges, a content creator for Sena, the motorcycle communication systems company. The California resident has a lot of street and off-road riding experience but has never competed on a track.
Alyssa Bridges.
Alyssa Bridges bike.
* Becky Goebel, a Canadian that recently relocated to Southern California to be able to enjoy motorcycling year-round. She is a freelance motorcycle journalist and makes riding apparel but has not raced before.
Becky Goebel.
Becky Goebel bike.
Becky Goebel in action.
* CJ Lukacs, a high school health and athletics teacher from California has a lot of off-road racing experience. She has been a life-long athlete and is also pursuing a PhD.
CJ Lukacs.
CJ Lukacs bike.
CJ Lukacs in action.
* Kayla Theisler currently lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but grew up on a farm in Ohio. She has raced flat track and won the 2020 AHRMA SC1 Vintage Sidecar National Championship as the “Monkey.”
Kayla Theisler.
Kayla Theisler bike.
Kayla Theisler in action.
* Michaela Trumbull is a cosmetologist in Sheridan, Wyoming. She enjoys working on bikes and wants to expand on that knowledge via the Build Train Race program.
Michaela Trumbull.
Michaela Trumbull bike.
* Scarlett Grosselanghorst was born in America, raised in Germany and currently lives in Brooklyn. She has learned to work on her own bikes, including her BMW 1200 GS but does not have any racing experience.
Scarlett Grosselanghorst.
Alyssa Bridges bike.
* Trisha Dahl, a Minnesota resident and electrician took up motorcycling just seven years ago. She has progressed to racing AMA District 23 flat track races and is looking forward to learning road racing.
Trisha Dahl.
Trisha Dahl bike.
Trisha Dahl in action.
The riders introduced their race bikes to the public at the Road America round of the MotoAmerica series on June 12th. They are all unique in their selection of aftermarket products and livery representative of each rider. They will continue to get some training in before the first of three races at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota (July 30-August 1). They will also race at Pittsburgh International Race Complex in Wampum, Pennsylvania (August 13-15), and Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama (September 17-19).
You can learn more about the program, riders and their bikes at https://buildtrainrace.com/road-racing/.
