In Pro Motocross, as with life in general, timing is everything. In many ways, WMX racer Jordan Jarvis was the victim of timing that was out of her control. She was too young to ride during the golden days of the Women’s Pro Motocross Championship (WMX) when the series first took on its current name in 2009.
Ashley Fiolek and Jessica Patterson where the top riders at the time while Jarvis was still a pre-teen making her way through the amateur ranks. Jarvis began to make a name for herself, winning the WMX Championship in 2018. That year, Jarvis won the Loretta Lynn’s Women’s (12+) championship. In 2020, she won a second Loretta Lynn’s title.
Then the series went on a four-year hiatus with Jarvis’ father, Rich Jarvis, lobbying in the background for the women to step into the spotlight once more.
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Had the series persisted, Jarvis would have the same name recognition, and most likely as many championships as Lachlan Turner, the teenage phenom who is currently dominating WMX.
“The first generation would’ve been the WMA,” Jarvis told NBC Sports soon after earning a podium in Moto 1 of the Unadilla National, finishing behind Turner and Charli Cannon. “So that was when Fiolek and all of them were riding. That was when they were riding on pro day. I was probably like eight or nine at that point. And then it went away a couple years later. It had come back 2016 or something. ... And I was too young for those years. I raced the last year they had it before they got rid of it again. And I think that was 2018 is the year that I ran it and won.”
The history of the sport is important because Jarvis has been such a big part of it.
Jarvis refused to give up. Denied an opportunity to race in the WMX, she raced against the men instead. In 2020, Jarvis became the first woman to qualify for a men’s 250 Pro Motocross race using the modern timed-qualifying system.
Jordan Jarvis has finished sixth or better in all but one moto since the beginning of the 2025 season. / Align Media
Jordan Jarvis has finished sixth or better in all but one moto since the beginning of the 2025 season. / Align Media
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The 2025 season was pivotal. That year, all six rounds of the WMX schedule were contested alongside the men’s Nationals and a quirk of fate changed the trajectory of women’s professional dirt bike racing.
In the past two seasons, Jarvis finished in the top five in all but three WMX motos; two of those were sixth-place results. But one of Jarvis’ 2025 highlights was a race that changed the sport.
Heavy rain canceled the Friday portion of the 2025 Thunder Valley National, Round 3 of WMX. Pro Motocross, Feld Entertainment, and NBC Sports put their heads together and decided to move one moto to the halftime break of the National.
Fate smiled on Jarvis. The only time Jarvis finished worse than sixth was the week previous, when she was landed on in the Hangtown Motocross Classic. Bruised and sore, Jarvis was riding just outside of a podium position when Kyleigh Stallings and Mikayla Nielsen made contact at Thunder Valley.
Jarvis scooted through to third in one of the most exciting WMX races fans had seen. In fact, it was so exciting that Peacock quickly made the decision to keep one moto on Saturday and highlight the women as part of its national coverage.
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“It ended up working out for me because that was the weekend after I got landed on last year,” Jarvis said. “So, I was still hurting for sure. I wasn’t too far off. I was still there kind of in the background. But Mikayla and Kyleigh had gotten together and they both fell. That opened up the third spot for me. And I ended up getting the podium the week after getting landed on.”
Jarvis ended the 2025 season with a two podium finishes and a fifth in the season finale at Budds Creek.
In 2026, Jarvis has picked up where she left off, sweeping the top five at Hangtown and Thunder Valley, and scoring moto results of fifth and sixth in High Point.
In her first race following the summer break, Jarvis stood on the podium at Unadilla MX. It was her fifth podium since the WMX raced entirely as part of the Pro Motocross Nationals.
Jarvis won the 2024 Baja Brawl with a sweep of the motos. She beat eventual champion Turner (2-3) and Stallings (5-2). Jarvis finished second that season in an eight-round championship that allowed riders to drop their lowest motos.
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The WMX continues to grow. In 2026 the series announced Synchrony, a leading consumer financing company, as a title sponsor. Manufacturers are increasingly interested in supporting the women, and the motos are becoming increasingly competitive with riders like Taylah McCutcheon and Mayla Herrick adding their name to the list of podium contenders.
“I am apparently old,” Jarvis said with a chuckle. “No, I’m a veteran, I guess you would say. I’ve been doing this for a long time and a lot of people like to count me out and think that I’m not really in the picture anymore because I have been doing this for so long.
“But I’m not done. I’m going to keep getting better. I’ve got some plans for next year to up the training and get myself stronger and everything that I need to do. So yeah, keep an eye out for women’s motocross and hopefully keep an eye out for me climbing the top step.”
Jarvis lost the overall podium via the tiebreaking procedure (best finish in the final moto). She and Herrick both finished third and fourth during the weekend.
With two rounds (four motos) remaining, Jarvis now has her sights set on third in the WMX Championship with a nine-point advantage over McCutcheon in fourth and Nielsen in fifth.
