Canterbury teenager Scout Fletcher experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in her first motorcycling expedition to the North Island this month, but still she emerged with a smile on her face and a trophy to show for her troubles.

The 17-year-old Honda star from Christchurch secured the No.2 spot on debut in the closely-fought 125GP class, the five-round series wrapping up in Taupo on Sunday, but it wasn’t without a few scary moments along the way.

Racing against the men and boys of the sport, including Australian Honda hot-shot Troy Guenther, is no easy task, especially considering she had no prior knowledge of the North Island circuits.

But Fletcher rose to the occasion when she dominated the racing in this class during her first visit to Hampton Downs, near Huntly, for the penultimate round of the series just over a week ago. She won two of the three 125GP races that day, including winning the all-important New Zealand TT title.

She headed to Taupo for the weekend’s fifth and final round in second position overall and with an eye on beating championship favourite Guenther.

But a succession of crashes at Taupo ruined her title bid and even threatened to cost her the championship’s No.2 spot as well.

In the end, she fought back to finish a brave third in the final race of the weekend, enough for her to hold onto the No.2 ranking as she finished the series still 10 points ahead of fellow Honda rider Aaron Hassan, of Auckland.

Fletcher, a first-year university student at Canterbury, studying bio chemistry, knew she was jumping into the deep end with her national motorcycling campaign this year but she reckons the final result was worth all the time, effort and grief.

“I’ve been racing about three years now, mostly in the streetstock 150 class, but decided to step up the horsepower stakes this year and give the GP bikes a go,” said Fletcher.

“I didn’t enter the nationals with high expectations and thought a top-five finish would be a good aim. To finish runner-up is pretty good though.

“Troy (Guenther) has been racing a lot longer than me and this was his second full season in New Zealand, so I knew it would be tough against him. I was still learning the tracks.”

While Fletcher now looks ahead to next season and another crack at a New Zealand crown, another young woman, perhaps an inspiration to Fletcher, is considering her racing career options overseas.

Orewa’s Avalon Biddle raced her way to top-10 finishes in the ultra-competitive 600cc supersport class this season and this week she will pack her bags and head to Italy to take up the offer of a ride on the New Zealand-owned Wil Sport Management team.

The 20-year-old Biddle will be racing in the Honda CBR600 Cup competition, a support class within the Italian Superbike Championships.

“I will be based in Tuscany, near Florence. I leave this week and will be over there for about six months. My first race is at Mugello in two weeks’ time.

“I’m getting massive support from my family too … without their help this would not have been possible. I raced in this series last year too and my best finish was 17th, racing against all the top professional men, so anything better than 17th this time would be an achievement.”

© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com