A bone-crushing accident hasn't deterred the Kawasaki racer from competition, finds Andy McGechan.
Taranaki's Nicki Smith is a living example of the old axiom "winners don't quit and quitters don't win".
The 32-year-old Kawasaki racer has had plenty of reasons to hang up her helmet, but still she perseveres and now she's poised to earn a podium spot in the Victoria Motorcycle Club's popular Actrix Winter Series.
At the fourth round of six at Manfeild recently, Smith managed 4-2-3 results in her three Pro Twins class races, enough to keep her fourth in the series standings, despite the fact she missed the competition's opening round.
However, those results also enabled her to close in on the man ranked third in the series, Rotorua's Corey Mudge (Suzuki). She has clawed her way from 21 points behind Mudge to now being just six points adrift with two rounds remaining in the series.