8-year-old Boerne girl captures four titles in first year of racing

BY JEFF B. FLINN Managing Editor

While most girls her age are preoccupied with Facetiming, Tik Tok, and Roblox, or enrolling in cheer and dance classes and riding bikes with friends, 8-year-old Eleanor Pugh suits up, straps on a helmet, and kicks up dirt on her way to the finish line.

A third grader at Hill Country Montessori School in Boerne, Eleanor is already a motorcycle racing champion. She cleaned house in the 2023 Xtreem Flat Track Series based in Texas, winning almost every race she entered in two classifications, the 50cc chain and 65cc classes.

She finished fourth in her two debut races in April at the Gillespie County Half-mile Racetrack in Fredericksburg during The Texas Fandango celebration.

“It was my first race and it was a big and fast track,” Eleanor said. “It made me nervous, and I didn’t ride as hard because it was the first time I raced flat track or any kind of racing.”

For her mother, Rebecca Burritt, being excited and “being a mom” went hand in hand when Eleanor climbed on her cycle for those first races.

“I was nervous about it but when I saw Eleanor on a motorcycle, I saw how skilled and awesome she is at riding,” Burritt said. “You can see her confidence when she climbs on her motorcycle and on how that translates into her everyday activities.

“But, as her mom,” she admits, “I am, and will always be, nervous and worried for her safety.”

After the fourth-place finishes, Eleanor listened to advice from flat-track professionals and racers, practiced hard, and focused on her ultimate goal -- to win.

And that’s all she did, was win.

Eleanor was victorious in her next nine races in both the 50 and 65 cc categories. By season’s end, she won the Xtreem Flat Track overall championships for both the 50cc and the 65cc classes and brought home the 2023 Kansas County Fair Flat Track Series championships in August, in both classifications.

Eleanor recounted the thrill of nabbing her first win but said the trip to Kansas was the highlight of the season for her.

“It felt great to finally get that first win (at Gathering Moss Ranch in Brownwood),” she said.

“But the most fun I had was when Dad and I went to Kansas to race in The Kansas. We spent eight days racing in six flat-track races at three different tracks. It was so much fun and I learned a lot about how to race the bigger tracks because all the ex-pros wanted to help me get better and faster.”

“Dad” is Howell Pugh, a motorcycle racer himself. He is Eleanor’s riding inspiration and her biggest fan – and vice versa.

“Dad is my inspiration,” she said. “He works so hard to keep my bikes in top shape, does all the driving, and sets everything up once we get to the track. Plus, this is our special thing we do together, just me and him.”

Pugh said his daughter knows precisely what she’s doing when she climbs on a bike.

“Eleanor knows how to race,” Pugh said. “She knows her body English (position on bike), she knows the steps to go through the turns fast, and she is not afraid to push the motorcycle as fast as it will go on the straightaways.

“She is good because she works at it, listens to those who are the experts, and has fun while riding or practicing,” he added.

“She was always a natural on two wheels,” Burritt said of her daughter. “We could see her confidence no matter if it was a balance bike, an electric bike, or a motorcycle. When she’s having fun is when she’s at her best.”

Stepmother Sarah Cathcart said Eleanor’s success on the track is a direct result of being a tenacious and versatile child. “Ellie is a resilient child, whether in the classroom learning techniques to master her dyslexia, or on the track refining her skills for a good race,” Cathcart said. “Her racing endeavors help her create productive habits that aid in overcoming obstacles, in the field, at home and in the classroom.”

In her classes at Hill Country Montessori, Eleanor stands as a leader and role model for the first and second graders who share the classroom. These traits, Pugh said, have helped build her confidence, which translates into success on the track.

“My focus on beating my dyslexia actually helps me focus when I race,” Eleanor added.

Next up for Eleanor is the Xtreem Flat Track’s 2023-2024 Texas Winter Championship, and defending the four championship titles she claimed this year.

The young champion has her sights set on furthering her racing skills in order to enter her first AMA Flat Track Grand Championship June 30-July 6 in Illinois, against the fastest 8- to 12-year-old flat track racers in the nation.