Isle of Man TT regular Costello ready for upcoming meetings after Moto3 debut
Isle of Man TT racer Maria Costello is looking forward to upcoming road racing meetings after a successful debut at Walderstown.
The Northamptonshire based rider took 7th in the 125 race and 10th in the SuperTwin class at the meeting, and became the fastest woman to lap the Walderstown track.
Competing at the ‘Race of the South’ was a last minute decision and also gave her the chance to ride a Bob Wylie Honda NSF Moto3 bike for the first time.
Costello said:
“Racing the Bob Wylie Moto3 bike was a real privilege. It was planned that I would replace its usual rider at the Ulster Grand Prix, but Barry Davidson very kindly gave up his seat this weekend to give me additional time on the bike, I can’t thank Barry and Bob Wylie enough.”
“It’s divine to ride. I’ve never raced a 125 so can’t compare them, but it’s the smallest, sweetest handling bike I’ve ever competed on and it’s got some punch too.”
“I got to stretch its legs down the really long Walderstown’s straight and it’s light weight made the twisty sections a delight. I loved every second of the race, I would have loved more laps.”
“I’m made up that I get to compete on it again around the incomparable Dundrod course.”
With back-to-back races Costello had to jump straight from the tiny Moto3 bike to her Hol-Taj-backed Kawasaki ER6 for the SuperTwin race. With help from the Ronan Pentony team, the ‘pizza race bike’ was in position and with just enough time to clean her visor she was set for her second race start of the weekend.
She said:
“I consider my SuperTwin as a small bike, but after the Moto3 I’ve had to recalibrate that observation as it feels positively huge in comparison.”
“The warm up lap gave me the chance to reacclimatise myself with it, but my start wasn’t great. I was slipping the clutch too much – Moto3 stylee. It gave me a lot of work to do, but the ER6 was working well so it made chasing and passing real fun.”
“I had boards and pushed all the way to the chequered flag. Coming 10th was a real bonus.”
“Racing it at the Ulster will be special and I’ve a late entry for Armoy before that too.”
Costello thanked the Reynolds family for their hospitality, Fordy, Kev Corbally, Ronan Pentony, Big D for all the mentions and all the members of the FORE Motorcycle Club for such a warm welcome.
She will contest the upcoming Armoy ‘Race of Legends’ on her Hol-Taj-backed Kawasaki ER6 Supertwin.