| Avalon Biddle | |
| Nationality: | New Zealander |
| Birth Date: | 21 September 1992 |
| Birth Place: | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Current Team: | Sourz Foods – Benjan Racing |
| Bike Number: | 21 |
Avalon Biddle (born 21 September 1992, North Shore, Auckland) is a New Zealand motorcycle racer.[1]
Biddle's parents are Keith and Beverley Biddle. Her father was a speedway bike racer and her uncle Bruce Biddle a Commonwealth Games and Olympic cyclist who been placed third in the 1972 Munich Games road race. She attended Pinehurst School, Albany, Auckland where she did well academically and Massey University where she studied for a Sports Science degree. In February 2017, she was awarded the AIMES Judges special award of $15,000 in recognition of her achievements in motor-cycle racing. The awards purpose is to provide financial assistance to young high achievers to further their chosen careers.[2] [3]
Biddle began racing a Yamaha PW50 in mini-motocross when she was six with the North Harbour Mini Motocross Club. When she was 13 she started road racing buckets (Bucket racing is defined as Formula 4 and Formula 5 Miniature Road Racing and Sidecars) with the Auckland Motorcyle Club. She was awarded the 2006 The most promising newcomer during this phase of her career, having come 2nd in the Auckland Miniature road race series and 2nd Miniature road race New Zealand Grand prix. In 2006 she finished 4th on points in the Formula 5 class riding a RG XL100 and third on points in 2007 together with a seventeenth in B grade in 2006 followed the next year by a second riding either the RG-XL100 or a Honda CB125T. The 2007-2008 year was not so successful with her attaining 24th place in Formula 4 with points from only two races and an 11th place in Formula 5 with points from only two races. It is unclear from the records if she raced in any of the other races as she was focusing on 150 street stock class by that time.[2] [4] [1] [5]
She moved on from this after purchasing a second hand dirty Suzuki RG150 for NZ$800 to compete in the New Zealand national 150 street stock class coming 1st in the Taupo Road Race Spectacular. In 2007 she was 1st in the RD 1 NZ championships streetstock class, 1st Victoria Motorcycle Club winter series streetstock class, 1st Victoria motorcycle club winter series junior class, 2nd Taupo Road Race spectacular on a 125GP, 3rd Rd 2 NZ championships streetstock class, 5th Australian Road Race Development Association series. She also was awarded Most outstanding rider of the meeting award 2007 Rd 1 NZ championships, Best Newcomer South Island Sportz Fotoz Junior Cup, Auckland Motorcycle Club most promising newcomer, and Victoria motorcycle club rookie of the year.[1] [6] [7] [1] [8] [9] [10]
In 2009 she headed to Europe to participate in the selection process based at the Adria International Raceway in Italy for the 2010 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup competition.[11] 2010 saw her coming 1st in the Australasian Formula Extreme Championships 125gp stock class, and 2nd overall in the Castrol Power 1 NZ Superbike championships 125gp, New Zealand Tourist Trophy title 125gp and the round 5 of the Castrol Power 1 NZ Superbike Championships 125gp. She also came 1st in the New Zealand Formula 5 Grand Prix.[1] [12]
Having come 2nd overall in the 2011 Castrol Power 1 NZ superbike championships 125gp she was able to compete with a wild car entry in the 2011 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix 125 class. During qualifying her bike had engine issues which meant she did not start. She win the New Zealand Tourist Trophy Title 125gp and came 9th in the Asia Road Race cup at Sugo, Japan that year.[1] [13] [14]
She moved up to the NZ Formula 2 600cc competition in 2012.[15] Taht same year she came 2nd overall in the Italian Womens Championship on a Honda CBR600RR and spent the following two years racing in Italy, including racing in the 2012 and 2013 Honda Trophy races. Her placing in 2013 while racing for New Zealand-owned Wil Sport Management team included two third places, one in round 1 Mastercup 600 Stock at Mugello Italy and the other at round 4 Trofeo Amatori Pro K class 600cc Misano Italy. She had also been honoured in the 2012 New Zealand Motor Cycle Awards as the Outstanding Female Contribution to the sport. She came 9th in the 2013 New Zealand Supersport 600 championships.[1] [16] [17] [18]
In 2014 she was part of the Moto3 Development Project riding a development bike and NZ Motorcycle Awards Female rider of the year. She received the award again in 2016.[19] [20] Returning to New Zealand, she came 10th in the 2014 NZ 600 supersport championships.[1] [21]
In 2015, she won the New Zealand Superlite (450cc) championship, followed by the 2015 & 2016 the European Junior Cup European Women's Cup at World Superbike events riding for Sourzfoodz Benjan Motorsport. Also in 2015 she was asked to race for Moriwaki at the Suzuka Endurance event. She was partnered with Shelina Moreda (USA) and they came 19th overall in the four hour endurance race.[22] [23] [2] [24] [25] She was also one of the nominees for New Zealand sportwoman of the year at the 2015 Halberg Awards and again in 2019.[26] [27] [28] [29]
In a 2016 interview with the Sunday News, she described her racing career as being funded by her mums world famous chocolate chip cookies. She also related a tale of a German racer whom she had been trying to beat for second place in a race at Mansfield as blurting out "f... its a girl" when she took of her helmet at the end of the race. She also talked about how expensive it was to in Europe where you had to fund your on bike, travel, and accommodation. Her bike, in 2012, cost NZ$95,000 although she had sponsorship from Phil and Cheryl London of Wil Sport.[3]
In 2017, she competed in the Supersport 300 World Championship aboard a Kawasaki Ninja 300 for Benjam Kawasaki.[23] She came 5th in the New Zealand Supersport 600cc Championship and third in the Assen IDM Supersport 300. The following year she came third in the New Zealand Supersport 600cc Championship and was the first woman to win a 600cc National Championship race in New Zealand at Round 4 NZSBK in Taupo.[1] [30] [28]
Biddle was invited to race on a Suzuki RGB500 in the Mike Pero Southern Classic at Timaru.[31] Following this in 2019, she competed in the New Zealand Supersport 600 series, winning the championship on a MTF Finance sponsored Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R it and becoming the first female to do so.[32] Following this, she was invited to join the Gold Coast-based Cube Racing team and race in Australia.[33] [34] She competed again in the 2020 New Zealand Supersport 600 series finishing third overall.[35]
In 2021, she was invited to race a Subaru in the Otago Rally.[22]
| Season | Class | Motorcycle | Team | Number | Race | Win | Podium | Pole | FLap | Pts | Plcd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125cc | Honda | Avalon Biddle Racing | 49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | ||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
(key)
In 2016 when she wasn't away racing, she worked at Hyosung Motorcycles in Barry's Point Rd, Whangaparoa.[3] Biddle is co-presenter of the Sky Sport TV show Skyspeed and writes for Bike Rider Magazine. She is involved in marketing, pormotional work, and road safety.[1]
New Zealand motor cycle racing is governed by Motorcycling New Zealand. Some the classes Biddle raced in are solely based in New Zealand. These may be found on their website - https://mnz.co.nz/