Highside/Lowside podcast: Kayla Yaakov on being a teenage racing star

Yaakov joins Zack and Spurgeon for the latest episode of the Highside/Lowside motorcycle podcast to discuss her current ride in the MotoAmerica Motovation Supersport class and how she got there. We say she's in a good spot because she has several advantages — in addition to her own determination and talent — going for her. In her second year with the Rahal Ducati Moto with Xpel team, which benefits from the expertise and backing of the famous Rahal racing family, she has former World Superbike champion Ben Spies as team principal to guide her and a teammate with world championship experience, P.J. Jacobsen, to learn from. But she also faces maybe the deepest field the Supersport class has ever seen, not to mention the skeptics who think a female can't succeed at a high level of motorcycle roadracing.

Editor's note: Common Tread readers can now get 20% off a subscription to MotoAmericaLive+, the streaming service that covers every MotoAmerica practice session and every race, as well as other features. Just use the code "commontread2025" to get the discount.

Listen in as this precocious teen (she turns 18 this month) talks about how she got started in racing, why more women don't get into the sport, and how she felt about being featured in MotoAmerica's Pressure to Rise series last year, among other topics, in this edition of Highside/Lowside.

Listen to Highside/Lowside

As always, for those who prefer visuals of all of the bikes we’re discussing, we’ve got the YouTube link above. But if you're listening to this inside your helmet on your commute and just want the words, the podcast version is available via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and LibSyn to name a few of your favorite podcasting apps.