Avalon Lewis (Carl Cox Motorsports) made her FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship debut in the class’s inaugural season as a single-round wildcard rider. She announced her name loud and clear on the world stage as she nailed a P5 finish in Race 1 and followed that up with a P8 in the subsequent Race 2. She earned a spot on the permanent grid in 2025, narrowly missing the podium on several occasions, but will be back for more in 2026.

A FAMILY OF MANY HATS: “Being flexible is key, but it’s a massive juggling act.”

Lewis, her husband, and their two-year-old son moved to Brisbane, Australia, from Christchurch, New Zealand, to pursue career opportunities for both of them, but Lewis combines this with her riding career. For her, flexibility has been the key to combining caring for her son, earning money for her family alongside her husband, and pursuing her dream of being a professional rider.

On her family’s move and how they manage all of the moving parts, Lewis said: “We only moved in June last year, a big move motivated by my husband’s work. We’re from Christchurch, New Zealand, so we’re about a four-hour flight away. We had a six-month-old baby in tow too, but it’s a great opportunity for him in terms of work, and he now runs the Australian arm of a motorsport electronics company. I work part-time for the company, too, and they’ve really supported us during our move to Australia. Our son is not yet 2, and so life’s just chaos, like absolute chaos. I think it’s important just to be flexible, that’s something you definitely learn as a parent! If you try and stick to a routine, it gets blown out anyway. We have different plans pretty much for every round, so while my husband and son came to the first Assen round, they stayed home for Cremona. At home, every day you’re just trying to fit in training, really. Trying to wake up and train with a baby is nearly impossible, so sometimes I do 20-minute sessions just to get something done. Living in Australia is great because the weather’s good to go to the park, and he can chase a ball around while I exercise. Being flexible is key, but it’s a massive juggling act.”

MAKING THE JUMP: “I basically went from riding a 125 GP to a 600 four-stroke, with only a couple of months of training time”

The #21 leapt from Oceania to Europe to compete in the European Championship at just 19 years of age. A big jump not only for her age, but for the calibre of competition she would come to find. Coming from a background in 125cc bikes, she quickly found herself atop much larger machines up to 600cc. She would go on to ride in the highly competitive Italian Championship, and later, the European Junior Cup, as well as in the first-ever WorldSSP300 Championship season.

On her experience jumping into European competition, Lewis said: “After one year of university in New Zealand, I realised I really wanted to race overseas, and so I was trying to find sponsorship. I basically went from riding a 125 GP to a 600 four-stroke, with only a couple of months of training time before heading to one of the most competitive countries in the world – I don’t recommend that pathway to anyone! I did three years of the Italian Championship and two in the European Junior Cup. I started the first-ever WorldSSP300 season, but it didn’t really work out, so I went back home after that. I’d been working closely with the marketing team of a sponsor in New Zealand, and I really liked what they did, so I went back home and got a job in marketing. I then finished off my university degree as well, which was a business degree, majoring in marketing, and I’ve worked in marketing ever since. I’ve always competed in the New Zealand championship, which runs from December through to April. My husband and I both race, so it’s always busy. At times it’s really hard, especially to afford it, and you just have to keep the ball rolling to try and get sponsorship in and things like that. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to ride a lot over the years.”

THE WILL TO WIN: “I’m here to fight for the opportunity to be World Champion, a chance I’ve never had before. That’s my driving force”

While Oceania has produced some of the sport’s most legendary names such as Casey Stoner and Mick Doohan, Lewis wants to announce Australia and New Zealand’s female rider talent to the world as well, and to do that, she wants to etch her name into the history books as a World Champion to inspire a new generation of riders from ‘Down Under’.

On her aspirations and her hopes for New Zealand motorsport, Lewis said: “I’m here to fight for the opportunity to be World Champion, a chance I’ve never had before. That’s my driving force. A couple of people asked me what I’d do if I won the Championship. Because it’s not like we’re here making money out of it; in fact, it’s costing my family money. But you wouldn’t ask Alvaro Bautista, so you’ve won WorldSBK, what are you going to do now? You go for another world title, don’t you? That’s sport, that’s what you do. I think having this opportunity now is so important for women, and I think eventually it will get to the point where we will make money, the women in this Championship, but it will take time. I think this opportunity for us to become Women’s World Champions will definitely grow the sport. And the riders can still choose to race in other Championships or compete with the men if that’s what they want to do. I mean Ana [Carrasco] has 100% proved that, with WorldSSP300, but I think it’s yet to be proved in the bigger category, like World Supersport and World Superbike. I think unfortunately on our side of the world, riders start quite late. Tara Morrison is doing really well with Supersport 300 machinery, and I think she’s aiming to come and do this Championship in the next couple of years. There are quite a few girls in Australia and New Zealand who are very fast, but they’re either already studying at university or have careers and just do racing as a hobby. I definitely wouldn’t undermine their talent or anything but they’re not at the stage to come here, whereas if they had started when they were seven or eight years old, you know, these girls would be phenomenal.”

Don’t miss Lewis compete in the 2026 WorldWCR campaign by subscribing to the WorldWCR YouTube channel and follow the Championship on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.

Source: WorldSBK.com

Source: WorldSBK.com

Italian rider Roberta Ponziani (Klint Forward Racing Team) has charted her own course into the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship’s fight at the front. Among the pioneering riders in the Championship’s inaugural season, she’s placed fifth and now fourth in 2025; however, her trailblazing nature goes back even further than that as she has made a habit of breaking down walls long thought to be ironclad.

LOVE AT FIRST RIDE: “One day, spur of the moment, I tried it, and I liked it!”

Born in Teramo, Italy, Ponziani was born into a family uninterested in racing; in fact, her first time riding happened somewhat by chance, as a nearby mini-bike track had piqued the young #96’s attention. She tried it out one day, and a fire started in her heart; by the time she was 9, her family purchased her a minibike of her own, and from there, quite literally, for Roberta, it was off to the races.

Discussing her roots and her family’s business, Ponziani said: “My family has a bakery and pastry shop. It’s a family business, and so I essentially grew up there and now work alongside my parents. In the mornings I’m there, and in the afternoons I train. No one in the family rode bikes, but when I was little, there was a mini-bike track near my house. One day, spur of the moment, I tried it, and I liked it! My dad bought me a bike when I was 9, and it all went from there, but he knew nothing of this world… I got into racing at a track near my home, but my father would take me, put some fuel in the bike, and that was it – I would just ride like that. People there would look at us and say, ‘Yes, but you need to change the tyres or something!’ I thought I was good. My father at first didn’t think I was good, but then I started racing and won the Italian minibike championship against the boys. I was the only girl, and for many years, I was the only one competing in these categories against the boys. Once I got older, some younger girls started to come up and now race in the Italian CIV. But at the beginning, for seven or eight years, it was just me.”

A NEW CHAMPIONSHIP: “Now that we have a World Championship, I’m happy because I see a goal: I want to win”

In 2019, the flicker of a potential new championship cast shards of light around the world of two-wheel racing. The Motoxracing Team devised a new competition that year, comprising a handful of fast female riders and created what was perhaps the first female motorcycle racing title in the sport’s history. Women were allowed to compete with men in categories such as WorldSBK, WorldSSP, and WorldSSP300; however, without a system of Championships to help develop female interest and talent, the sport remained heavily male-dominated. After just two years of Motoxracing’s nascent championship, however, it had proven the interest in an all-female Championship, culminating in the creation of the Women’s European Championship.

On her career development, the Italian said: “In the last years [of the European Championship] we were up to twenty girls, and now we have a World Championship!”, began Ponziani. “Before the launch of the women-only series, I was racing but always with the men, finishing maybe tenth. I was having fun in the national classes, but I didn’t have a world goal, you know, up against the men. Now that we have a World Championship, I’m happy because I see a goal: I want to win. I wanted to win, of course, but with the men it’s hard. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d be this strong. I came up racing minibikes and then Supersport 300 bikes, and never did Moto3 or Supersport machinery or anything, so I didn’t have any expectations when I started last year in WorldWCR because I didn’t have so much experience. I didn’t know all the tracks or this bike and didn’t have the level of experience that Maria or others who had already competed in World Championships have. In the strongest group, I’m one of the least experienced.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR #96: “It’s crazy because I came close to quitting. I was 23, there was no World Championship, you’re spending money, you don’t find sponsors, what are you going to do?”

Ponziani looks back fondly on her time in the Women’s European Championship. Among her positive takeaways from there, she values the relationships she has formed with several of her fellow WorldWCR riders. She and the friends she’s made in the WorldWCR paddock have come a long way, but most pleasing to Ponziani is that they now have a prestigious title of their own to fight for.

Talking about the friendships she’s made and her future, Ponziani said: “I get along with everyone, but the riders I know best are Beatriz, Sara and Maria. Last year, when Sara won her first race, I was happy because I thought, ‘Wow, we’ve followed the same path and have come this far – I finally understand the level that I too can reach.’ And it’s crazy because I came close to quitting. I was 23, there was no World Championship, you’re spending money, you don’t find sponsors, what are you going to do? And now look where we are. As for the future, I’d like to stay in this world. If not riding, then doing riding courses and maybe continuing with the family business. Perhaps we can run a team, and the bakery can be the sponsor!”

Don’t miss a moment of the upcoming 2026 WorldWCR campaign by subscribing to the  WorldWCR YouTube channel and follow the Championship on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.

Source: WorldSBK.com

The 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign will go down in history after a stunning title between Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). Now, with the season in the record books, Brembo, the brake supplier to most of the permanent WorldSBK teams in 2025, have provided some data from the year – from the turn with the longest braking distance to the total duration a race winner was on the brakes for.

975 – To win Race 2 at Cremona, Bulega applied a total force of 975kg on the brake lever of his Ducati from start to chequered flag.

600 –Bulega won Race 2 at Estoril using the brakes for a total of 600 seconds — in other words, 10 minutes out of 33 minutes and 40 seconds from start to checkered flag.

500 – A set of Brembo Z04 pads used in WorldSBK lasts for a maximum of 500km, although it is sometimes replaced after 400km.

370-560 – The steel discs used in WorldSBK perform at their best when the temperature is between 370°C and 560°C. Beyond this range, the pads wear out more quickly.

338.5 – Since carbon is banned by the regulations, WorldSBK riders sometimes used steel discs with a diameter of 338.5 mm, and at other times those measuring 336 mm.

335 – The dry boiling point of the brake fluid provided by Brembo is 335 degrees Celsius.

282 – At Estoril, to slow down from 305 km/h to 78 km/h, WorldSBK riders needed a braking distance of 282 meters — the highest value of the season.

30 – Thanks to the fins on the outer body, the surface of the pistons exposed to air in the Brembo callipers used this season is over 30% greater than that of standard callipers.

15 – During braking at La Quercia, Turn 8 at Misano, the brake fluid pressure on Toprak Razgatlioglu’s BMW reached 15 bar — a season record.

5.6 – To slow down from 277 km/h to 59 km/h at Turn 1 of the Balaton Park Circuit — a track that made its debut in the Superbike World Championship — riders used the brakes for 5.6 seconds, a 2025 record.

Re-watch a stunning WorldSBK campaign using the comprehensive WorldSBK VideoPass!

Source: WorldSBK.com