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Winner of four out of the six races held so far, Maria Herrera has been one of the absolute stars of this first half of the season of the FIM Women 's Circuit Racing World Championship (WorldWCR), the newly formed Women's World Championship that sees her leading the standings with six points ahead of compatriot Ana Carrasco.
Herrera's competitiveness is hardly a surprise, as the bearer of the Klint Forward Factory Team, a team with which she is also tackling her sixth consecutive season in MotoE this year, is one of the strongest and most experienced riders in the championship and has been competing at the highest levels of motorcycling for more than a decade.
Approaching motorcycles at the age of six, encouraged by her brothers and her father, a passionate motorcyclist, the 28-year-old Spaniard has experienced a rapid rise in two-wheel racing, in which she began competing in 2002 on minimotos. Engaged in several Spanish minor championships since 2004, she entered the CEV in 2013, becoming the first woman to win a race in the championship. That very same year, Maria also got her first taste of a World Championship by participating as a wildcard in the Moto3 World Championship. In which she entered permanently in 2015, sharing the Husqvarna Factory Laglisse team box with compatriot Isaac Vinales.
After the complicated two-year period experienced between 2016 and 2017, Herrera left Moto3 to land in the World Supersport 300, where her best finish was a 4th place at Magny-Cours, before veering to MotoE in 2019 and starting her adventure in the electric series, which she continues to pursue in parallel with her commitment to the WorldWCR.
Talking aboutthe people from whom he has learned the most in his journey, there is one who stands out among them all.
"My father. He’s the person who understands life and the bad moments. He’s the person that if we have some problems, he thinks, ‘how can I solve it?’ For me it’s important to have him beside me and push me at the right moment," said Maria, who took her first rides by getting on the very Polini minimoto with which her father had also raced. Continuing to ride nonstop "until the gas ran out," she added, also telling the WorldWCR organizers a backstory related to her first competition: “When I raced my first race and finished third, I was 6 years old. I have a memory that they gave me 30 euros and I shared it with my two brothers.”
Having been born in Oropesa, a small town in the province of Toledo, the Spaniard soon became friends and training partners with two-time SBK World Champion, Alvaro Bautista, a native of the nearby town of Talavera de la Reina. Another figure she has known for many years now and describes him as her favorite rider, as well as a man she respects for his "resilience and discipline" and against whom she has measured herself several times: "I have always trained with my father or with Alvaro Bautista and I have always wanted to beat him in training, so for me it is normal to fight with him."
Why motorcycling? "It’s a sport that gives you a feeling of happiness. When you ride a motorcycle and you feel at one with it, it’s incredible. I think it is one of the most beautiful sports," explained Maria, who before finding her true passion in motorcycles also won several awards in skiing.
Like all things in life, however, motorcycling has not only brought good times to the Iberian, but also difficulties from which to learn.
"When I broke my back, I had a bad moment. I thought, I can’t continue. But step by step, training, day by day, I get some small goals. For example now, I’m winning races, but if I’d given up, I couldn’t have done it. So for me, the lesson is you cannot give up. It will always be difficult, you can have a bad moment, but in the end you can achieve it. If you train, if you keep working and just believe in yourself."
As one of the most experienced female riders around, it is also important for Herrera to be able to be of help to the next generation of female riders.
"It’s a pleasure for me to help other girls. I am in the RFME helping in the women's commission giving training courses to younger and older riders. I have a campus, training girls from 5 years old up to 45 or 50! It’s special to spend time with all the girls and share my experience from Moto3 and MotoE. They ask me questions and it is good to pass time with the younger generation of riders. I love it. Also, the values. We have to transmit the values of this sport and this is good. To respect your opponents. You have to push to the limit, but you have to respect your opponents," she emphasized, talking about her role as a coach and promoter of women's motorcycling, as well as her relationship with her rivals: "In the new championship many girls come to my box and they ask me how they can improve on some corners or some places on the track and I can give them some advice. For me that’s good, because in the future they will become the present. It is my moment, but I also want to see other women at the top level, so it’s important for me to be a reference for them. Now they have a championship where they can have a lot of fun and learn from high-level competition. I think it is a total success because now all the girls can see us."
Automatic Translation by DeepL
