Motorcycle rookie leads the charge

By Chelsea Boyle

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The day before Chance Stevenson-Oliver was due to make her road racing debut last year – two days after her 19th birthday – she was about 160km away from the track, caring for her father in Wellington Hospital.

Bruce Oliver had just been involved in a serious motorbike accident – the impact had snapped his bike in half and had broken his back.

“I was going to stay, but he wouldn’t let me,” Miss Stevenson-Oliver said.

“He made me go home to race. He knew I had been looking forward to it for such a long time.”

Mr Oliver recovered from the accident and has continued to share a passion for motorbikes with his daughter.

He introduced her to motorbikes at the age of three, when he took her for a ride on his Harley-Davidson.

He thought I was scared but “I was yelling go faster”, she said.

Following her father’s wishes she rode back from Wellington to partake in her first racing competition – the Bridgestone Winter Series.

She competed on her ninja Kawasaki ZXR 250cc bike.

“My bike is almost 30 years old,” she said.

“When I compete I am racing against brand new race bikes.

“My bike does not have updated tech.”

Early in the competition her bike was plagued with mechanical issues.

“I was having a rough time with bike,” Miss Stevenson-Oliver said.

During the first round of the competition there were problems with the clutch and in the second round there were problems with the brakes, she said.

It was not until round four that things started to pick up for the rookie.

“I went out and pushed it, and that put me closer on the grid,” Miss Stevenson-Oliver said.

She was awarded the Junior of the Year for the series.

Now she is competing in the Garth Spooner Memorial series and is currently leading the field by one point after the second round.

“The people I’m battling now, in the beginning I couldn’t see them.”

She has cut her race time around Manfeild track down from 1m48s to 1m28s.

The third round will take place in January next year and will give Miss Stevenson-Oliver the opportunity to test out the new sv 650v twin which was bought for her by Fagan Motors.

However, she said she will still use her distinctive purple bike to complete the series.

“I painted it purple so people would know they are being passed by a girl,” she joked.