Kiwi Avalon Biddle, No.21, is riding in Italy. Photo / Oliver Fotoagenzia
Kiwi Avalon Biddle, No.21, is riding in Italy. Photo / Oliver Fotoagenzia
Kiwi excited about signing and riding for team in blue riband motorcycling event.
It was a pretty good year for New Zealanders racing in motorsport last year, which was acknowledged at the Halberg Awards on Thursday night.
IndyCar driver Scott Dixon was sportsman of the year for winning his third IRL title, and motorcycle racer Jake Lewis was nominated for the emerging talent award after winning the 2013 European Junior Cup.
Another motorcyclist who could easily have been on the emerging talent roster is Avalon Biddle, who is packing her bags and heading off to Europe to contest the Italian and European Moto3 championship.
The Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix (MotoGP) is the blue riband class with Moto2 for 600cc bikes just in behind and Moto3 (250cc single cylinder bikes) a tier down and restricted to riders under the age of 28.
Biddle, 21, has been in Europe for two seasons so far in her racing career and is excited about the prospects of joining Sport Racing Engineering for the 2014 season.
The team is based in Bergamo, Italy and design and build their own 250cc single cylinder four stroke Moto3 machine known as a Rumi. The Kiwi connection started with Simon Crafar and American Fred Merkel (who now lives in New Zealand), who both rode for the team. Merkel won the 1988 world Superbike championship on a Rumi and Crafar raced alongside fellow Kiwi Aaron Slight on a semi-works Rumi Honda RC45 in the mid-1990s.
Avalon Biddle.
"The relationship with the team came about in 2012, my first year overseas, when I lived with Sarah and Oscar Rumi," said Biddle. "At the end of last year I was pretty sure I wouldn't be going back because it's so expensive but being able to put the deal together with the Rumi team is great.
"The family have seen me race over in Italy on a 600cc but always reckoned because of my size I'd go better on a smaller bike. I'd have liked to have had another crack with the 600s, but on the other hand it's pretty cool that someone wants you to race his bike.
"The team is hoping to make it to the world championships in a couple of years' time and are developing the bike now. The racing is really tight with a lot of elbow rubbing."
Biddle will live between Spain and Italy during the 2014 season, working closely with Sport Racing Engineering developing the bike. She has been racing bikes for eight years and spent four years racing GP125 bikes winning the New Zealand Grand Prix and TT titles, as well as winning races in Australia and grabbing a wildcard entry into the World Championship MotoGP event at Phillip Island in 2011.
Biddle raced a CBR600cc in the Italian women's championship in 2012 finishing second in the series and also was on the podium in the open gender 2013 CBR600 Cup. "It was a bit of an up and down season in the CBR600 Cup. I had a couple of really good results and overall my lap times were really fast and as good as anyone else's.
"Racing with such experienced guys you have to take what you can get. This year though, after racing the much heavier 600 bikes I'm looking forward to getting on a smaller and lighter Moto3 bike where the racing is long and fierce.
"It's going to be great being part of the development of the new bike and you never know, it might open a door for me to race in the world championship one day," said Biddle.
The Italian Moto3 championship is run over five race weekends starting in April and finishing in September while the European title will be fought for over a single weekend, October 4-6, in Spain.
Although Biddle has the deal sorted and is pleased her sponsors WIL Sport Management and Rumi have come to the party, a lot of the funding is still coming from her family and she'd be keen if a few other supporters would come on board.
