Orewa's Avalon Biddle turned plenty of heads at the Sugo race circuit in Japan at the weekend as she took on some of the best young road-race men in the world.
The 18-year-old Massey University student, and the New Zealand No2 last season on a Honda in the highly-competitive 125GPclass, was thrilled to be invited to compete in the FIM Asia Cup of Road Racing at Sugo and threw herself completely at the task.
The Asian Cup at Sugo - round two of four in a series - included leading riders from around the Asian region; from Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Singapore.
The 150cc four-stroke Yamaha YZF R15 bikes used in the cup were all supplied by the race organisers. Each one was identical to the next and they were allocated through a ballot system.
It was a rough start to the weekend for the plucky Kiwi girl as she crashed during qualifying, although she recovered to snatch a credible eighth spot on the grid.
Race one, on Saturday, was dominated by the Team Indonesian pair of Sucipt Topan and Wawan Hermawan, who finished first and second respectively while Biddle had to settle for 11th overall.
Biddle suffered bad luck the following morning during the warm-up session before the second race, crashing the bike when her side-stand dug into the track surface.
The accident was soon forgotten, however, and she dusted herself off to reach the start line and then found herself in ninth position after the first lap.
At the end of the second lap, she had dropped to 11th but she fought back up to tenth and then inherited ninth spot when a rider ahead of her fell off. Biddle remained in ninth place until the chequered flag.
"The racing was pretty hectic. It was just a matter of using my race craft, getting my elbows out and making myself as wide as possible," she said.
The next round of the series is set for Circuit Taipei in Taiwan on October 23, with the fourth and final round in Thailand in November. At this stage, Biddle has no plans to be involved in those races. "This trip to Sugo is just for the experience really. It is my off-season at the moment," she said.
