Stefy Bau: The Woman Who Revolutionized Motocross

04/11/2023

Pubblicato in: Bikers, Interviews

Stefy Bau, born on February 17, 1977, is an outstanding rider in the world of motocross and supercross. Originally from Italy, Bau began her career as a professional rider, becoming one of the fastest motocross riders in the world.

In her career, she achieved an impressive collection of titles and acknowledgements. She won three World Championships, holds two WMX USA titles, and the Amateur Motocross National Championship at Loretta Lynn, in addition to seven Italian Championships.

Bau’s career as a rider was interrupted in 2005 due to a serious injury. Despite that setback, she continued to contribute to the world of motocross with a new role. She became the General Manager of the new FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) and a member of the FIM Women’s Commission. Today, Stefy Bau continues to influence the world of motocross through her role as the manager and founder of Init Esports, a company that organizes virtual championships with both motorcycles and cars to discover new talent.

Here’s our exclusive interview

Your surname is quite popular, especially in Veneto, but it seems to have lost its accent. What happened?

Actually, the original is Baù, with accent. My dad was born in the province of Treviso, in Paese. Americans can’t pronounce the accent, so it disappeared from my surname!

Your career has been impressive. Can you tell us how you started?

I started riding a motorcycle because I had two amazing parents who, at the age of 4, told me, “Why not? We’ll buy you a motorcycle!” And that’s how I started. My mom and dad have always been passionate about motocross, so every time there was a World Championship race in Italy, they would go watch it. Then I was born, the firstborn, and they kept going, taking me with them. At some point, my dad bought a motorcycle, a KTM 2-stroke 350 cc, to go enduro riding in the woods of Brianza (I was born in Saronno). Seeing him come home every Sunday afternoon covered in mud but with a big smile, I started saying, “I want to do these things too!” Fortunately, mom said yes, and they bought me a motorcycle. So, that is how I started!

And you immediately achieved your first results.

And purely by chance! In one of my dad’s adventures, he found a small track near our house where there were kids riding motorcycles with their parents supervising. He didn’t know that there were races and competitions for kids. He came home and told me to get changed because I absolutely had to go race with the other kids. We went, and within one hour, I was the fastest on track. So, I beat all the boys, and the parents advised him to enroll me in races. With no experience at all, we went to the first race in Arosio on a dirt track. I came in third in the first race. Then, that year I won all the races I participated in. It brought me so much joy to come home every weekend with a small trophy, so I kept going.

What was the transition to the wider Italian scene like for you?

In Italy, three fairly important championships. When I was 11 years old I participated in the Italian Minicross Championship and won it. I was the only girl. Out of twenty races I participated in, I won eighteen. At the time, I was sponsored by Cagiva. It was 1986, and the Castiglioni brothers gave me a replica of the World Champion Dave Strijbos’s bike because they saw my talent. At that moment, I started to think that there could be a future in this sport. At 14 years old, in 1991, the Italian Motorcycling Federation (FMI) created the women’s championship, and I won it. From there, I won a total of seven titles. At 17, I turned professional. I won the UISP Italian Championship; it was the first time a woman had won it. Then I raced in Europe, and then I got the call to go to the USA, where I won more titles. In 2005, I became the first woman invited to race in a world motocross event, in Castiglione del Lago. I believe I opened the doors for many women around the world who want to pursue a discipline like motocross.

In your opinion, for a woman, is it better to compete against men or in a women’s championship?

As per my personal experience, I think it’s extremely important to participate in both. When I was a rider, racing in the women’s championship was an opportunity to win because it becomes much more challenging with men, especially at professional level. Simply because we are physically different. But it’s also very important to race with men because it gives the opportunity to show that women can be part of this world. Showing spectators and sponsors that you can compete at a high level with men, and that it’s not just about winning but being there alongside the best in the world, not only raises the bar for yourself, but also brings visibility to all women.

An excellent example in recent years is Lotte van Drunen, who races against men in other competitions at a very young age. What are your thoughts about it?

When you compete against men, your mentality changes a bit. When you’re a high-level rider, you want to win, but you also want to constantly challenge yourself against those who are better than you. If you keep racing against women and always win, you won’t grow anymore. That’s what I did, and that’s what Lotte is doing now. She raced in the men’s championship for many years, and now, racing in the women’s, she has an advantage. I believe she will have incredible success. She will continue to race with men to continue growing as an athlete.

Going back to your career, one day something terrible happened out of nowhere.

At 28, I was a Honda rider in the USA, and I was preparing with the team for the 2006 season. During training, I made a mistake on a jump and came up short on a big double jump, and I literally shattered my ankles. After an hour and a half, I was already in the operating room with the doctor telling me they would have to amputate my legs, but I just nodded and kept asking when I would be back on a motorcycle. It was a shock on many levels, not only because of the accident but because it changed my life. Any athlete never thinks it could end, in their mind, they think they will race forever. Whether it’s due to injury or because you’re at the end of your career, you’re never prepared. I went through very tough moments, also because everything happened very quickly.

How long did this tough time last before you got back up?

They say “Fall ten times, get up eleven.” It’s the mentality of a rider. You always have to find the solution to pick yourself up again. It was tough because it changed the way I lived. From one day to the next, the life I knew was gone. There are moments of insecurity about who you are as a person. If you’ve been a rider for all these years and then you’re not anymore, who are you now? So, as happened to me and to other people, I found myself in a very dark tunnel. I was fortunate to have my family close, and slowly I managed to take this fact and turn it from negative to positive. I thought, “I had a beautiful career until 28. Now I have the opportunity to have an equally beautiful one since I have a lot of time ahead.” The toughest period was the first year because I couldn’t even walk, and the doctors told me I would never walk again. It took ten years to fix my left ankle and foot, but in the end, we did it, and now I can walk!

Then you had an extraordinary idea.

Many things happened that saw me transition from one side of the track to the other. I became the general manager of the women’s world championship. For me, this was a beautiful thing because I had the opportunity to become a bit of the “mom” to the girls who were previously my competitors. So, I could give them inspiration, advice, and tricks to become more appealing to sponsors. Then many other things happened, and in 2020, when the world changed, I had this idea to venture into the world of Esports. For those who are not familiar with this word, it’s championships of video games where people participate in events that are replicas of the real event. And logically, being in the world of motorcycles and cars, I jumped into this area. I named this venture INIT Esports, a company that organizes digital championships in both motorcycles and cars worldwide. We push hard for many women to participate as well.

The idea is to transition from the digital world to the real world, right?

Exactly! It’s easier with cars than with motorcycles, but we’ll get there. For cars, we organized this event called “Screen To Speed,” from the screen to speed, which immediately became a movement worldwide. We created an online event with Nascar cars, in collaboration with Nascar itself and other big brands like Ford, Shell, etc., where girls around the world had to qualify. The top twenty were brought to Las Vegas to compete in a sim racing event, on car simulators, and they raced while the Nascar drivers were racing outside. The winner of that event not only stood on the podium with the other Nascar drivers but we also had her test drive a Porsche 911 later. She had never driven a real car before then, and we paired her with a professional driver to mentor her. In 17 laps, she was only 2 seconds slower than the professional driver. Incredible!

This means your idea works!

Yes! We know very well, both in the world of motorcycles and cars, that it costs a lot to race. Consider the vehicle, the fuel, the licenses, the insurance, etc., it’s very expensive. If, on the other hand, we can get those who are passionate about it to start virtually, we can discover more talent. Not everyone will, of course, achieve great results, but if we expand the number of people, we’ll have a greater chance of finding them.

Do you think you would have been able to do the same thing in Italy?

Italy is a beautiful country, but it’s very difficult to make things happen there. The bureaucracy on so many levels can be discouraging. In the USA, everything is easier. If you have an idea and want to pursue it, it takes little to get it started. Then, of course, you need the funding to make it real, but if it’s a good idea, you’ll find it.

Let’s talk about Tanya Muzinda, an African rider we interviewed a few months ago, who is described as a great talent.

After I concluded my career, I started a motocross school, always with the idea of bringing more girls into this discipline. One day, I received an email from Zimbabwe from a journalist who wrote to me about a 9-year-old girl with a lot of talent. He invited me to come and meet her to see if she had opportunities. I deleted the email thinking it was a joke. He then wrote to me again, and on the third time, I replied. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve done in my life. Not only did I have the opportunity to go there, but I met Tanya and her family. Tanya is a girl who indeed has a lot of talent. When I arrived, she was riding a Kawasaki 65 in slippers and a dress. I couldn’t believe my eyes, so I contacted my connections to get her protective gear. Airoh sent me helmets, Axo sent down the clothing, and then Alpinestars got involved, KTM sent a bike. Tanya was incredible. She had a professional riding position. The conditions in her country wouldn’t have given her many opportunities. She wasn’t going to school, and my presence there ensured that we found the money to pay her school fees. She started racing in South Africa, and in the end, we brought her to the USA. Now she lives here, goes to college, and her family is with her. All thanks to an email and wanting to give a chance to a person. I tell everyone: if you have the opportunity to do good, do it. It will come back to you in a million different ways that will make you feel really good.

How do you think women’s motocross has changed over the years?

I believe I experienced the best times of women’s motocross. Italy in 1991 was the first European country to create an official women’s championship. The movement was wonderful. Sometimes there were even 40 participants at the gate. Then, in my opinion, the push from the Federation was lacking, and over time, a beautiful thing dwindled. Then I went to the USA. There, for many years, there has been a women’s championship. At first, it was a championship that took place only in California. Then over time, it grew and became national. In the States, there’s also this championship called Loretta Lynn, an amateur championship with all categories, including the women’s. To give you some numbers: there are about 30,000 people in the USA who have to qualify for this championship. In the race, there are 1600 participants, of which a portion are women. From there, talents are taken by the official teams. The professional level of motocross here fluctuates, but the same thing happened in Europe. After I became the first woman to race in the men’s world championship, it was decided to create the women’s world championship. They asked me, as I mentioned earlier, to become the general manager and make it grow. It reached incredible numbers. Then I was told that the girls were getting too much attention compared to the boys, so the women’s championship had to be downgraded a bit. So, there was a decline, but fortunately, now the world championship is coming back into prominence.

Who are your favorite current female motocross riders?

I know them all, and I discovered many of them when they were just starting out. For example, Courtney Duncan wanted to come to the USA, but the championship at that time wasn’t at its best, so I advised her to go to Europe. She did, and she won several titles. Courtney has been on the scene for a long time. The future winner will definitely be Lotte Van Drunen. She races with men, which is a significant difference from the others. Additionally, she comes from the Netherlands, and there are many sandy tracks there. We know very well that, to go fast in motocross, if you’re good on sand, you have a slight advantage on hard tracks too. With that kind of background, she will have a fantastic career. I would like to see her also participate in some races in the men’s world championship.

And what about Italian riders?

Let’s say that after Kiara Fontanesi, the girls need to start working harder. I know that Chicco Chiodi (Alessio Chiodi) is mentoring some girls. He was a great rider, so he can bring his experience and help them grow. Racing at a professional level on a motorcycle is not easy. It’s not just a matter of physical fitness but also a lot about mindset. I hope we discover more Italian talents because it would be really nice.

EICMA 2023 is coming up soon. Tell us what you have organized!

As I mentioned, my company INIT Esports is focused on bringing more people from the virtual world into real motorsports. We talked to EICMA, explaining how important it would be to have a dedicated space for this world. One-third of the world’s population identifies as “gamers,” and half of them are women. I hope to bring some of these women into motorsports.

In recent weeks, an online championship has started, and we had 13,000 people qualify. There are 40 available spots per race. The races can be viewed on INIT Esports’ Twitch channel and on EICMA’s channel. The top 10 from the championship are invited to EICMA to compete in the final live race. The top 3 will participate in the ultimate final with the VIPs on Sunday. Dani Pedrosa, Antonio Cairoli, and others will definitely be there. I invite everyone to come and see this event live!