Ashley Fiolek is an 18-year-old who just can’t stop sending text messages to her friends. She’s slender and pretty, with long blonde hair well past her shoulders, and she’s not really into makeup.
A typical teen? Yes. But Ashley Fiolek enters 2009 as the defending champion of the World Motocross Association, and she accomplished this without being able to hear.
“There’s no one in motocross quite like me,” Ashley Fiolek says. “I was born deaf, so when the engines are revving, I can’t hear them. I learned to ride by feeling the bike’s vibrations– they tell you loud and clear when to shift gears.”
Ashley Fiolek’s father is a motocross racer in the area of St. Augustine, Florida. He took her as a tyke on what she called “big girl” rides. When she was 3 years old, she received a PW50 bike. Soon the training wheels were off, and Ashley was on the go. She still writes and blogs about “Dad” over and over, describing him as her “coach, mentor and communicator.” He has her racing number, 67, dyed into his hair.
In 2004, Ashley Fiolek won the Loretta Lynn’s national championship for girls ages 13-and-under, and ever since then she has been viewed as a star in the making. Still, Ashley never envisioned that she would become last year’s WMA champion, defeating a field that included five-time winner Jessica Patterson. She says she simply wanted to be consistent, but that early in the season, she could tell that she had the speed to keep up with top riders.
What’s the difference in riding with no hearing? “I think as far as advantages, I don’t have as many distractions,” Ashley says. “The disadvantages are that I have to hold my line a little more than the other riders
Ashley Fiolek is popular with her peers, and a number of them have learned some sign language so that they can communicate. Still, this willowy young lady does not extend friendship to the racing surface.“My vibe is pink hair and the nickname ‘Rude Pea,’ because I never ride like a sweet pea,” Ashley Fiolek says. “Being deaf has never slowed me down for a second. I may not hear, but I make a lot of noise.”
SOURCES
http://rudepea-racing.com/files/about_me.html
http://oakley.com/women/uniquely/ashley
http://oakley.com/sports/mx/athletes/188
http://www.amasupercross.com/ViewPost.aspx?postId=75