Motorsport: Kiwi women hitting front in Oz

Madeline Stewart has enjoyed great success across the Tasman. Photo / Coopers Photography

Karting has always been the cornerstone of a future motor racing career and at the pre-teen stage there are a lot of girls flinging themselves around in junior karts.

However, by the time the mid-teenage years roll around many of the girls have found something else to do. It's a bit of a shame really, as the kart doesn't know who's driving it and technology has reached a stage that you don't have to be in the gym every day to drive one.

One of the more recent young female converts to car racing has been Chelsea Herbert. She moved from karting to racing utes and is now in the New Zealand Touring Car championship where she finished a creditable series fourth in the class two category.

What's even more exiting is there are a number of young Kiwi women coming up through the karting ranks at the moment, including sisters Ashleigh and Madeline Stewart and Rianna O'Meara-Hunt who are creating quite a stir in Australia.

In fact, Madeline Stewart and O'Meara-Hunt made history at the second round of the Rotax Pro Tour in Adelaide by winning the Rotax 125 Light and Junior Max respectively. They became the first females to win in the championship and Stewart's victory in particular was an eye-opener. She beat 30 other drivers and is now the South Australian state champion.

"I still can't really believe we managed to win," said Madeline Stewart, who is back in New Zealand.

"We've been going across to race in Australia for a few years now and all the hard work has paid off. It's an unbelievable feeling and we really have to thank Tom Williamson Motorsport who have been so helpful letting us fly in and go racing.

"It shouldn't really be just about being a female, but it is an honour to be the first female to win in the series and to win a major Australian karting event in such a long time [last won by a female 10 years ago]," she said.

"I hope there are a lot of other girls out there that even if people tell them they can't do it, they can look at what I did and say actually I can."

Stewart is adamant it's important to get to the stage where it's not about being the first female to win, rather than it's just another driver, and the more girls that race, the better.

Things were set up nicely at the first round of the championship when Stewart finished second and to go one better next time out just went to prove that she is a real challenger for the championship. She currently sits third in the series.

The 16-year-old began her karting career when her mum asked her if she wanted to have a go after big sister Ashleigh moved categories. Initially reluctant, Stewart consented to at least try it out.

"I'm a third-generation racer and it was Ashleigh who was the one who wanted to race karts. When she moved up a class my parents asked if I wanted to have a go and I said I sort of wouldn't mind.

"After a few races I told my mum I didn't like it and she said to give it six months and see how you go. Since then I haven't looked back."

The sisters are not racing in New Zealand much at all. The schedule in Australia is packed, with Stewart racing the Rotax Pro Tour and the Australian Kart Championship. Combining the two series means with testing thrown in they are in Australia 24 weekends a year.

"We are going to do a round in Hamilton in a couple of months that I'm really looking forward to. I'll be racing KZ2, which is a six-speed shifter kart and I'll be the only woman in the Southern Hemisphere that races one of those," she said.

Stewart may not want to be regarded as a female karter, but it's hard not to acknowledge she is blazing a bit of a trail for her gender.