Biddle Battles With The Boys

Biddle Battles With The Boys

AUGUST 29, 2011: 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 Auckland Massey University student, the New Zealand No.2 last season on a Honda in the highly-competitive 125GP class, 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, actually round two of four in a series, included leading riders from all around the Asian region - Thailand, Philippines, Japan, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Singapore.

All the bikes were supplied by the race organisers - 150cc four-stroke Yamaha YZF R15 model bikes - each one identical to the next and the riders had their motorcycles allocated to them through a ballot system.

It was a rough start to the weekend for the plucky Kiwi girl as she crashed during qualifying, although Biddle recovered to snatch a creditable eighth spot on the grid.

Race one on Saturday was dominated by the Team Indonesian pair of Sucipt Topan and Wawan Hermawan, who finished 1-2 respectively, while Biddle had to settle for 11th position overall.

Biddle suffered a little 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.

However, that was soon forgotten, 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 ninth 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, although, 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 explained.

Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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