Piper Bell paid her dues on the way to becoming a WMX rookie in 2026.
In its third season, two of which have been run in conjunction with the men’s Pro Motocross Nationals, the ladder system to Women’s Professional Motocross is becoming clearer.
Traditionally lacking the avenue of the SMX Next program, most of the women entering the WMX are making their way through the amateur ranks, specifically the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.
“I’ve been racing amateur since I was nine,” Bell told NBC Sports as she prepared for the Saturday program of the WMX at Ironman Raceway. “I started riding when I was eight. This is my first pro season and I never train in the winter. I always am at home. I live right on the border of the Canada in the US and I always play basketball all winter. So I take about five months off where everybody else is riding all winter. So to be where I’m at, only riding half the year is pretty good.”
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Bell debuted in the Loretta’s in 2021 and facing the increased speed and competition of the Girls 11-16 class, she finished in the 20s on debut. Her results were much the same in her second season, but the drive there.
Bell’s breakout run came in 2023 when she finished sixth overall in a field that included the future three-time WMX champion, Lachlan Turner.
The move to the WMX Series would be smoother and strong results came quickly. Bell scored her first top-10 in her first start in the Hangtown Motocross Classic with an eighth-place finish in Moto 1. She backed that up with another eighth-place finish in the second moto and was scored eighth overall.
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What made this more impressive, was that she turned seventeen only days before the season opener and barely met the age requirements to race.
“Coming into the first three rounds, I was like, ‘oh, I’m ready, I’m ready’,” Bell said. “And then I got there and I saw the intensity and the speed of the other riders. And I think just seeing that really helped me with my training to know what I’m supposed to do, know what I should work on. And just seeing that the first three rounds really helped me for these last three. And my moto finishes have been way better than my first three.”
Bell finished sixth and seventh the following week and continued to sweep the top 10 in the first half of the WMX season.
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When the women returned to Unadilla to begin the second half of their season, Bell began to shine. She scored her first moto top-five at Unadilla in the first moto and backed it up with another fifth-place finish in Moto 1 at Budds Creek.
And Bell was scoring top-fives in what has become the most competitive WMX field in its history, including another pair of fast rookies, Mayla Herrick and Taylah McCutcheon.
“This year especially, it’s grown so much because they said they only had 18 to 20 riders last year and now they’re almost breaking 40, which is amazing,” Bell said. “And the people watching and stuff is awesome. So for me, it’s a great opportunity and putting myself in top five a few times, hopefully getting some team’s eyes on me.”
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Bell found her place on the track in 2026.
Lachlan Turner and Charli Cannon skewed the curve by dominating the top two positions. McCutcheon, Herrick, Mikayla Nielsen, and Jordan Jarvis earned podiums during the season. Visiting MXGP women’s stars Lotte van Drunen and Daniela Guillén also stood on the box.
Bell was firmly in the mix in that next level of competition. And her strong finish to the season has Bell looking forward to next year. Living in the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula kept Bell off the bike for long periods of time as snow covered the ground.
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This winter, Bell intends to train at Jessica Patterson’s NXT LVL 101 Training Facility in Gray Court, South Carolina, from January through March—preparing for the beginning of the outdoor season in May. Patterson is a former WMX champion from the days before the current reboot, and she continues to matriculate some of the top female amateurs. If the right opportunity presents itself, Bell would like to train there all the way until the 2027 WMX Season opener.
“Every time I come out here, I seem to get better and I seem to show my speed here and there, and that’s really good,” Bell said. “I’m fully privateering it. I’m looking for a ride. That would be a really amazing and it’d help me out a lot. I’m just out here to have fun and just enjoy the experience really.”
