and I think eventually it will get to the point where we will make money, the women in this championship, but it will take time.”“ This opportunity for us to be Women’ s World Champion, I think it will definitely grow the sport. And the riders can still choose to race in other championships or compete with the men if that’ s what they want to do. I mean Ana( Carrasco) has 100 % proved that, with the 300s, but I think it’ s yet to be proved in the bigger category like 600s and Superbikes.”“ I think unfortunately on our side of the world, riders start quite late. Tara Morrison is doing really well in the 300s and I think she’ s aiming to come and do this championship in the next couple of years. There are quite a few girls in Australia and New Zealand that are very fast, but they’ re either already studying at university or have careers and just do racing as a hobby. I definitely wouldn’ t undermine their talent or anything but they’ re not at the stage to come here, whereas if they had started when they were seven or eight years old, you know, these girls would be phenomenal.”
FUELLED BY CHALLENGE“ Carl [ Cox ] spends a lot of time in New Zealand and loves motorcycles. He has a great relationship with Ken Dobson, who manages
Billee [ Fuller ] and I. He loves supporting things that wouldn’ t happen otherwise. So, I think for him the big difference is that even if it was just a thousand dollars that would make the difference between somebody racing a season in New Zealand or not being on the grid, he would way rather support that than sponsor a WorldSBK Team. He has a real community spirit, which I think probably comes from his career being a DJ, seeing people enjoying themselves. So yeah, I couldn’ t ask for anything more than to be sponsored by him, really.”“ Why do I do it? I think I love the challenge. You just feed off that challenge, which is to try and win races. And the closer you get to it, the hungrier you get and the more you want to keep doing it. I have a real love for the sport too. I love that it’ s difficult, and that it pulls so many factors together. Runners, for example, need to be physically and mentally strong of course. But here you also have the technical component of the bike, setting up suspension, the gearing, working with the team around you. It’ s always a challenge, there’ s always ups and downs, but I think that’ s probably what hooks you into the sport- and it’ s fun of course!” Avalon is currently ninth in the standings, with a fourth-place finish as her best result so far. Follow Avalon’ s journey on Instagram: @ avgas
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