Carrasco setting a scorching
pace in Brno practice
Standing at just 5’ 1” (155cm) and weighing
eight stone-three (52kg) wringing wet,
Carrasco cuts a diminutive figure in the racing
paddock. Her slight frame would normally
give her an advantage under acceleration
but constantly-changing rules in the fledgling
WSS300 championship (which is only in its
second year) mean that even this advantage
has been removed: because she is so light,
Carrasco is forced to carry a weight penalty
on her Kawasaki Ninja 400 race bike. “I now
have to carry a 13kg weight penalty so I think
it’s actually worse to be small” she says. “I
have to move more kilos than the other
riders through the corners and yet the overall
weight of rider and bike is the same (because
of the combined bike-and-rider minimum
weight rule) so I don’t have any advantage on
acceleration.
“The rules change every race so sometimes
we have a good bike and sometimes no.
It’s difficult for us to work like this because
every Thursday of a race weekend they say
‘Okay, now you have to change this’ or ‘Now
you have to change that.’ It’s difficult for the
team and it’s also difficult for me to ride fast
like this because every race I have a different
26 KIWI RIDER
bike. I hope for next year the rules will be
more stable because I like to win, always,
and with all these changes it’s not always
possible to win. At the moment, Kawasaki is
not always on the top because the rules are
helping the Yamahas to be at the same level.
But we just have to work within the rules
Dorna gives us and finish the championship
the best we can.”
Carrasco at least has a competitive bike
and team for the 2018 season, which is
something of a novelty after battling for
years with uncompetitive and poorly-funded
rides in various Spanish championships and
even, for a few years, in the Moto3 World
Championship that runs alongside MotoGP –
the Formula 1 of motorcycle racing. “Yes, for
me it’s really good because in the past years I
was struggling a lot because I wanted to be at
the top but it was impossible with the bikes
that I had. Now it is really good and I’m really
happy with my team and with my bike and
Kawasaki is helping me a lot so now I don’t
want to change my team because I feel so
comfortable. I want to win, so I will stay in the
place where I can fight for the victory.”