By Michael Marino

It’s one thing to be a top performer at a single task. It’s quite another to come out on top in two demanding and unrelated pursuits the way Jacqueline “Jackie” Riess has.

The Eden Prairie, Minn., resident has traveled to another country, lived out of a van and learned to race in two disciplines, all while earning a bachelor’s degree.

Hand-me-down to first holeshot

Riess said she started riding motorcycles when her father bought a Yamaha PW50 that his best friend’s child had outgrown. She began riding it in the yard, but got bored pretty quickly.

When she was 5, her father, Owen Riess, entered her in her first motocross race. The younger Riess said she got the holeshot and wasn’t really sure where to go or what to do out front by herself. So, she stopped and looked at her dad to figure out what she was supposed to do next. She remembered getting going again, but couldn’t remember where she finished in the running order.

“I honestly don’t remember too much about the race,” she said. “However, the purple trophy I got was more notable than the racing itself.”

Riess said her racing schedule kept her very busy on weekends during her youth.

“My friends thought it was really cool that I was racing,” she said. “I just couldn’t hang out with them on the weekends much. They’d ask me if I wanted to do something on a weekend, but it’d usually be ‘Jackie’s gone racing again.’”

Riess has competed at the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s three times in the Girls and Women’s classes.

From Dirt to Snow

While Riess has competed in several hare scramble events, her riding was focused on motocross until January 2017.

That’s when she traveled with her friend Shayna Lier to an AMA Championship Snow Bike Series event. Her friend brought her practice bike on the trip, and midway through the trip, she informed Riess that she (Riess) would be racing the practice bike.

Riess scored a third-place finish in that race and competed in two other AMA Championship Snow Bike rounds that year. The next year, she gained some sponsor support for snow bike and competed in six AMA snow bike rounds, finishing runner-up in the Pro Women’s Class behind Lier.

Riess’ next goal is to qualify for the 2019 Winter X-Games snow bike competition.

College and Canada

After graduating from high school, Riess went on to attend college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, focusing on biomedical sciences.

Even with the intense course load required for a natural science/medical major, Riess didn’t cut back on her racing habit.

“It was difficult,” she said. “I found ways to make the most of my weekdays. It took a lot of dedication.”

Fortunately for Riess, many of her professors were willing to accommodate her racing schedule, which allowed her to leave campus on Fridays. She graduated with honors in 2019.

Riess competed in the Canadian WMX East series for the summer.

She modified her Dodge ProMaster van to accommodate a living area alongside her motorcycle and raced in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.

Riess traveled solo, served as her own mechanic at each round, and made friends with other racers who were doing the same thing.

She finished seventh overall in the 2019 Canadian WMX East series, and is hoping to compete again in 2020.

The Future

A three-time champion at her local motocross track and a top-10 finisher in her most recent snow bike season, Riess appreciates the stronger competition she raced against in Canadian WMX.

While her start was in motocross, her future goals are focused primarily on snow bike racing.

She’s started social media accounts for female snow bike competitors that have attracted numerous followers.

She’s also hoping to create more opportunities for women to get into snow bike competition.