Bay women in driving seat for speedshow

Caitlin Hayward brings more than a touch of glamour to stock car racing as one of four Bay of Plenty women showcased in a major motorsport event this weekend. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

Four Bay of Plenty women will dominate in a motorsport display at the national CRC Speedshow in Auckland this weekend.

Drift driver Jodie Verhulst of Omanawa, speedway enthusiast Kristin Vermeulen of Pyes Pa, stockcar driver Caitlin Hayward of Omokoroa, and circuit racer Christina Orr-West of Edgecumbe will all feature in the event, with their respective competition vehicles on display.

Ms Verhulst has been drifting for four years but said "we need more girls in motorsport".

Ms Verhulst and her partner Drew Donovan are credited with helping start Drift Motorsport in New Zealand in 2007. Her competition car, a 1993 Toyota Supra, will be on display at the show.

Professional drifting competitions are held worldwide and are judged according to the speed, angle, showmanship and line taken through a corner or set of corners.

Ms Verhulst was the first female to compete in the Pro Am championship, and the first female to place in the D1NZ series.

Certified life coach Kristin Vermeulen from Pyes Pa has been driving in motorsport events since she was 11-years-old. She started in mini-stockcars, and graduated to super saloons five years later.

Ms Vermeulen, 23, races a four-door saloon car which has been upgraded and used to achieve Baypark Speedway's highest overall points in a super saloon, and has previously qualified in the top 20 finalists of the New Zealand Super Saloon Championships.

Twenty-year-old Omokoroa stockcar racer Caitlin Hayward started in ministocks in 2007 when she was 12-years-old.

"I grew up to the smell of race fuel and dirt; I guess it got in my blood from a young age. So of course I took the opportunity to race when it came up. Those who say girls don't belong in the sport have always motivated me to keep doing better," she said.

Ms Hayward has competed in all the major Speedway NZ Championships over the past two seasons. She was an NZ Grand Prix qualifier last season and came third in the Bay of Plenty Championship.

Christina Orr-West, from Edgecumbe, will display her vehicle, a lowered Ssangyong Actyon Ute, at the show.

The 27-year-old's favourite saying "drive it like you stole it" has helped her finish first in class at the Australian Bathurst 12 Hour, an international endurance race for GT and production cars.

Ms Orr-West took to the wheel at age five in go-karts at the local track. In 1999, she became the youngest female in the world to race an open wheeler, and at 12-years-old was honoured with a standing ovation at Manfield Racetrack in a Formula First race.

The CRC Speedshow will be held at Auckland's ASB Showgrounds this weekend.