Eva Wintle a 'Pocket Rocket' on the Gixxer Suzuki

Don’t let the small stature fool you, Wairarapa’s Eva Wintle is not one to be trifled with.

The 23-year-old real estate agent from Masterton has only been racing motorcycles for 12 months now, but already she’s winning races at national championship level.

The talented rider has set the track alight this season, winning one of her three races in the GIXXER Cup class – on a damp and treacherous track no less – at round one of the combined Suzuki International Series/New Zealand Superbike Championships at Taupo just over a week ago.

And she repeated the dose at the second round at Manfeild, just outside Feilding, at the weekend, again winning a race in the wet, this time when the rain was bucketing down.

Combined with her other top-8 results, Wintle therefore finished the GIXXER Cup segment of the Suzuki International series competition third overall, not bad considering the talent she’s up against, most of them testosterone-fuelled men and boys.

“My first year of racing was in the Suzuki International Series at this time last year,” she explained.

“I finished second overall in this class last year, first-time out, so I was pretty happy with that.

“The competition is a lot harder this year … the boys at the front go really fast. My riding has developed and changed drastically, and I’ve learned a lot in a short time.

“I had a bit of an ‘off’ at Taupo last weekend, which set me back quite a bit. I hurt my shoulder and my hand, but nothing too serious. But it affected my mind-set and I struggled to regain confidence.

“I seem to enjoy the wet and have achieved my personal best times when it’s raining, so that’s interesting.

“My dad, Jarrod Wintle, has raced for many years, so I guess it’s in the genes. At a very young age he got me my first motorbike and it just carried on from there. My stepdad is Spike Taylor and he’s racing his Suzuki GSX-R1000 Formula One Sidecar in this series, and he’s been helpful too.”

Inaugurated in late 2017, the GIXXER Cup – with the tagline "Growing Future Champions" – encourages riders to hit the racetracks on identical Suzuki GSX150F bikes, an absolutely level playing field for those just starting out or on a limited budget.

A class intended primarily for "entry level" racing, it has also attracted several extremely experienced racers over the past few years, including former national superbike champions, and this has offered a great learning opportunity for riders who want to educate and immerse themselves in the sport and perhaps to later go on to race bigger and faster machinery too.

In fact, the young man who wrapped up the GIXXER Cup title at Manfeild on Sunday, Hamilton’s Joseph Stroud, in the son of Suzuki’s nine-time former national superbike champion Andrew Stroud, also an internationally-recognised road-racing star.

The Suzuki International Series is again this season being run in conjunction with the New Zealand Superbike Championships (NZSBK) series, with the first two rounds recognised as rounds one and two of both parallel-but-separate competitions.

The Suzuki International Series phase of the 2023-24 season wraps up, as always, on Whanganui’s famous Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day.

The Boxing Day ‘street fight’ is not part of the NZSBK series and that six-round NZSBK competition resumes in the New Year, with rounds three, four and five in the South Island – at Christchurch, Timaru and Invercargill respectively – with the series then travelling north again to wrap up with round six at Hampton Downs, near Huntly, in March.

Class leaders in both 2023-24 series after round two at Manfeild are:

Whakatane’s Tony Rees (F1/Superbike class); Invercargill’s Cormac Buchanan (F2/Supersport 600 class); Taupo’s Karl Hooper (F3/Pro Twins); Feilding’s John Oliver (Formula Sport, Senior); Whanganui’s Jeff Croot (Formula Sport, Junior); Hamilton’s Jesse Stroud (Supersport 300); Hamilton’s Joseph Stroud (GIXXER 150); Upper Hutt’s Keiran Mair (Supersport 150); Taupo’s Karl Hooper (Post Classics, Pre-89, Senior); Auckland’s Scott Findlay (Post Classics, Pre-89, Junior); Invercargill’s Jon Rawcliffe (Post Classics, Pre-95, Senior); Christchurch’s Jordan Leslie (Post Classics, Pre-95, Junior); Whanganui’s Richie Dibben (Supermoto); Panmure’s Adam Unsworth and Whanganui’s Bryce Rose (F1 Sidecars); Whanganui’s Peter and Lucy Dowman (F2 Sidecars).

DATES FOR 2023-24 NZ MOTORCYCLE ROAD-RACE SEASON:

Suzuki International Series (and first two rounds of the nationals):

• Whanganui's Cemetery Circuit, Dec 26th (third and final round of Suzuki International Series, but not part of the nationals).

South Island:

• Round 3, Ruapuna, Christchurch (includes GP title races), Jan 6th and 7th;

• Round 4, Levels, Timaru, Jan 13th and 14th;

• Round 5, Burt Munro, Teretonga, Feb 9th, 10th and 11th.

North Island:

• Round 6, Hampton Downs, part of MotoFest (includes TT title races), Mar 2nd and 3rd.

Words and photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com