Catching Up With...Camille Baker

Sponsored by: 

Catching up with...Camille Baker

Interview by Leanne Jantzi

Photos by James Lissimore

With the rumors surfacing that the CMRC made an understandable business decision to put the women’s national series on hold for 2012, I think it is safe to say many of the female participants were not exactly thrilled. Although with gate entries low as well as competition levels it was a business decision that everyone could respect. Certain ladies like Camille Baker and Denaye Giroux have been working hand in hand with Mark Stallybrass and the CMRC to help make a Saturday National series happen for the women. We caught up with Camille Baker to see how that progress was coming along and get some insight on her upcoming season.

DMX: Hey Camille. First off you have been around the Canadian motocross scene for a long time, but for anyone who doesn’t know you why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Camille: I have been racing motocross since I was eight years old, and following the women’s series since it came out, I think it was 2006 the first time it came around. I also used to race in the States when I was a bit younger until they had the women’s series in Canada.

Before the women’s National Series was created where did you do most of your riding?  Did you mostly ride out of British Columbia?

I did a few local races in BC, I did the Raymond Amateur National a couple of times and I used to go down to Washougal for the women’s nationals and I went down to Hangtown once too.

How was your 2011 season?

It was good. It was super fun! I was hoping to get on to the podium but that didn’t work out for me. Calgary was a bit crazy cause of all the mud and getting stuck, which was pretty embarrassing but I’m used to the mud, coming from BC, so it wasn’t anything I hadn’t experienced before.

Camille is one of the pionners of Womans Motocross in Canada, racing the national series since it first started.

That was the one Western race that I made it to this last year, and I definitely agree with you that it was a crazy day! So there has been recent news released that there will officially be no Women’s National series promoted by the CMRC at this point. What is your opinion on that?

I heard about that in December, I guess it was. I called Mark in January just to ask him what was going on with it and he said that there was not going to be a series, so I asked him, if we could find enough interest, if we could still have our national series but have it run on the amateur day. He said that if we could get enough interest that we could still do the series on amateur day, so I started a Facebook thing and it looks like most of the girls are still interested in it so as of right now I think that that’s what it’s going to be. He hasn’t announced anything officially yet but it sounds like it is going to be three rounds, east and west.

So, as it sounds you and most of the women who compete in this series are pretty upset about this news?

Yes definitely, they are replacing us with the 50’s and super minis so, I know our attendance and everything was down last year so I’m not all really that surprised with the news, they also said that it was due to some of the competition levels being down. I don’t know, the track has huge ruts on the pro day and I don’t think the 50’s are going to be able to even get around it personally.

Going off what you just said do you personally think that the competition levels have changed since the series first started?

Yes, definately. The numbers have gone down quite a bit and I guess it comes down to the fewer riders the less competition there will be. I think it is the same thing with the guys though, the guys have had smaller turn outs and everything too so it’s just the way the economy is right now. Sponsors are taking a hit with it too so there is less support for everyone.

Do you think that women are more likely to go out and do local races in their area then the nationals?

I think so but there is still a ton of interest, I know lots of girls on the island who were hoping to do the nationals this year. You’re not going to get the same level of competition at a local race as you would at a national.

So as you said before you, and a few other women including Denaye Giroux, are working together with Mark Stallybrass to get this new series started so that the pro women can race on Saturdays at the national weekends. What are you and the other women hoping to get out of this?

We are trying to get all the girls together to see what they want to do; we are trying to make all of this a positive thing. We are still hoping to have podiums after each race, and have set start times for motos so that we are kind of the spotlight of the day and I don’t think that this is going to be a bad thing, I think that it will actually get more girls out there because the track is not going to be as rough and it will be cheaper for us because we are not going to need transponders and we will only be riding the one day instead of two.

Mark Stallybrass and Denaye Giroux after she claimed her Western Women's National title in Calgary this past summer.

How is the progress going on that so far?

Good. We have been talking to Mark back and forth the last few weeks and just figuring out the final details for it so we are just kind of waiting for him to announce it.

Sounds like you guys are well on your way to making this happen! 

Yes, we are hoping it all works out!

Would you like to see the series go coast to coast again or do you personally prefer the separate west and east format?

I think the separate west and east format is definitely the better way to go right now just because if they decide to make it coast to coast, you are only going to get maybe four or five riders that do the whole series. It costs a lot of money to go coast to coast and if they are having trouble getting enough women for the races when you only have to drive across one or two provinces it will be near impossible to get riders to do the whole thing.

What do you think the series could do to get more women to line up at the races?

The women need to get more exposure, on the internet and through other media and trying to find more sponsors to support the series; this will bring more interest to it.

What do you think it will take to get the ladies back on the line the same day as the pro men?

Mark said there is no reason that we can’t eventually go back to racing on the Sunday. I think this will be a good way to build up the series, get the numbers up which will bring up the competition and then hopefully we will get put back on Sunday in the next few years.

So basically the goal this year is to prove that the women can get their numbers up and you can go back to racing on the Sunday?

Yes, exactly. We get lots of men and women walking through the pits on Sunday, asking when the girls are up and they are almost more interested in watching us ride than anyone else. We need exposure to get our numbers up. That’s how I first got into racing - when I was on a 50, I think, I went to watch my brother do arenacross and I didn’t think it was anything that girls could do and then a saw a little girl out on a 50 and I was like "aww, I could beat her" and that's what made me want to race.

Seeing women out there who are racing is something that other women can relate to is definitely a good way to get women out racing and help grow the series! Now back to you, what are your goals for 2012?

I would definitely like to get top three for the series and hopefully get on the box a few times. I’m also turning the big 30 this year (laugh) and the same weekend of my birthday is the Washougal Old Timers national so ya I’m going to do that race for that weekend.

Are you doing any training this winter for the up coming summer? Are you going down south?

No, actually me and my boyfriend are just buying a house right now so we move in, in March if everything goes through so that will kind of count me out for going to California this year, but my new house is five minutes away from the track so I’ll hopefully do lots of riding here.

Camille looks to get a top 3 number in 2012.

Thanks Camille for your hard work, working with the CMRC organization to make another series happen for the ladies! Is there anything else you wanted to add and anyone you would like to thank?

I just hope to see all the girls out there this year and supporting the series so that we can bring it back to where it was before or even better one day! My sponsors are up in the air right now, I don’t know what’s going on for next year but I would like to thank Spunky’s motorcycle shop and Kawasaki for supporting me the last several years as well as my boyfriend Alex for supporting me and coming to all the races and being my mechanic!

Thanks Camille!

Thank you!