Supercross's Jamie Little lands starring role on FHM magazine.

The weather last weekend in Phoenix was fantastic. Everybody needed a break from the cold, wet days at Anaheim. The mood was friendly and relaxed. Round One jitters were gone. "I love being back for another season of Supercross," Jamie Little told me in the KTM pits. "We are away from each other for 8 months, so we really enjoy getting back together. This is like one big family, and I am so proud to be a part of this sport, and represent it."

Dirt Rider: Congratulations, Jamie, on your accomplishments with Supercross, ESPN, ABC broadcasts, and now an FHM magazine cover. We thought it was high time to sit down with you for an update.

Jamie Little: Thanks Russ. It really is a privilege to represent the sport, I don't take anything for granted. I have loved this sport for a long time, and now I get to help promote it. I started going to races when I was 13, and my love for the sport has just grown since then. Every year I feel that I have helped take it to the next level. I mean that for the sport, and for women in this career.

DR: Take us back to the beginning. How did you get started?

JL: I moved to LA when I was eighteen to be a model. I realized quickly that it was not for me. I wanted to be with people, talk to people, and I had too much to say. So I thought I might try to use my contacts in motorsports to see what I could make happen. I went up to a guy with an ESPN mic and I just said, "This is what I want to do, how do I get involved?" So for a year I was the girl with the hand in the shot holding the mic for Seals Communication. Then after that I went to Clear Channel and I said, "I want to be the live announcer at Supercross." They said OK, so I went to an audition and won, and that was the beginning of my involvement in Supercross. That live announcing led to more TV.

DR: What was your first assignment?

JL: My first assignment was for no pay at a Rock Crawling event. Some assignments can be kind of weird at first, like "World's Strongest Woman" in Africa, but I find ways to love it because TV is so exciting. Every job I have outside this sport makes me realize how much I love motocross. When I started doing Supercross, I was going to school Monday through Thursday, and then doing Supercross Friday and Saturday.

DR: You have passed the torch of "On Floor Supercross Announcer" to Erin Bates. Did you have any pointers or words of wisdom for her?

JL: She is a great girl. We auditioned a lot of people, and she was the best. She has experience with Freestyle, and she is going to be great. This is a hard job to just walk into. As far as helping her out, one nice thing is that I'm down on the podium at the races. I can give her a heads up, and let her know what's coming up next. In a position like that, everybody is watching and waiting for you to fail because you are a girl. We want to say things intelligently, and for people to take us seriously, so there is some pressure there. The fans really want us to represent them well and we understand that.

DR: Now, from broadcasting we jump to magazines. You finally realized your teenage dream of being on a magazine cover. What was that experience like?

JL: I race downhill mountain bicycles, and I'm sponsored by Oakley. They made this trip for seven of their female athletes from around the world to go down to Cabo San Lucas. It was there that we met a freelance writer, and she pitched this story to FHM. They loved the idea, and loved doing this one shoot with Gretchen so much that they wanted to get more girls and do a cover shoot. Well, this has been my dream to be on the cover of a magazine since I was 13 years old. My mom was a model, and a dancer, and this was her dream too. I just thought, OK, I'll do this, I'm on to the next level now. I got where I am by hard work and brains, and I know my stuff. I have always been pretty conservative, so I decided just to have a little fun. So we went and did this shoot, and really didn't know how it was going to turn out, or who was going to be on the cover. There was Gretchen Bleiler, Tara Dakides and myself. They ended up making this triple cover out of the photos that were shot separately. The shots are of us in painted-on bikinis. I actually had a full painted-on bikini top and bottom and they, well, seriously altered the image. They took a lot of license with that.

DR: Did they treat you fairly in the written part of this article?

JL: Oh, they made up things that I said. They wanted me to appear arrogant. I don't really like that part. For instance, I said that because I have a microphone, people will talk to me, and yes in this sport, they are all good looking guys. They turned it all around, it's just the way the magazine is. I think they treated me well with the cover, and the generous 10 pages inside for all of us. This is really a great plug for action sports. I was really stoked about having my name on the cover too.

DR: Congratulations, Jamie. We'll be watching for you on ESPN this year.

JL: Thanks. I'm looking forward to a great season of racing.