RIDEFAST DECEMBER 2021

junior riders in the team and we are even friends on
Facebook, not only on his racing page but also on his
personal page and I can chat to him whenever.
With Ana and I racing in the same class, I was under
team orders. Kawasaki and WSBK really needed a
lady champion and I was told to assist her as much
as I could by running interference for her and making
sure I finished behind her, which wasn’t always easy
because some races my set and feel just worked
better than hers and I would up in the top five and
she would be running around the bottom of the field,
it would have been career suicide for me to drop
back so far. When it was within reason I would always
let her finish ahead of me. Towards the end of the
season when she was a definite title contender those
orders were reiterated in the sternest manner possible.
But it was great to be in the team with both Ana
and Johnny celebrating championship wins that year.
Do you think it is maybe time for Rea to take a step
back, maybe leave while he is still at the top of his
game, not like Rossi who has possibly left it a bit
too late, especially in light of the of the really strong
challenge from Toprack this year?
This is the first year that I have actually seen someone
actually get under Rea’s skin, Toprack has really
unsettled him this year and I think it is because
Toprack is still very young and has everything to gain.
You know Rea has achieved much more than anyone
else in WSBK and is trying to keep at that level.
But Kawasaki needs Rea to keep doing what he
is doing, but you don’t want to end when you are
running at the back of the field and fighting for last
position, you don’t want that to be your legacy. I think
like Rossi should have thrown in the towel long ago,
two or three years ago he should have called it and I
am a big Valentino fan, MotoGP is really not going to
be the same without him.
Do you think Rossi will come across to WSBK for a
year or two before going into final retirement?
Never!... Rossi?... Not a chance! The problem is
Superbikes is a much higher level racing than what
people think, but it doesn’t have the glam, the glamorous
side that MotoGP has. Everybody for the most
part is approachable and are always willing to help
where they can, almost like one big family, MotoGP is
very, very different with much more politics and much
more money.
In Superbikes… there’s like no rules when it comes to
rubbing fairings, rubbing is racing, the only rule they
are really sticky about is exceeding track limits… Yes,
there are rules but for the most part they just let the
racers get on with racing. When the guys get stupidly
dangerous then it is definitely time for them to step in.
Lets talk about your career for bit, right in the beginning.
You’re this little laaitie from Kempton Park, how
old were you when you got onto the bike first time?
It was 2010, so I was ten turning eleven. I grew up
in Kempton Park, literally the same street and house
almost my whole life so far, I moved once when I was
three years old to the house where we live now. When
I was younger my dad used to race BOTS and a club
races for fun, he was quite fast. I was always at the
track from three years old and I have always wanted
to race since then. We went to World Superbikes at
Kyalami in 2009 and they had those little Honda NSF
Dorren with team mate Ana Carasco, first women champion WSSP
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