Over a two-week period at the end of July and beginning of August on the Isle of Wight, the Inaugural Women’s Speedway Championship was staged over a three round series and there was success for Sittingbourne Crusader Taya Thirtle.

Taya took a victory in the opening round of the series and overall finished second to Redcar’s Katie Gordon.

 On the overall experience Taya described the competition as “a lot of fun, all the girls raced really well especially Charlotte (Brooks) who had never raced before.” Throughout the series Taya was locked in a constant battle with Katie Gordon and in the end, it came down to a winner takes all final with Taya having led on points all the way through the championship, the points accrual being used to determined the quartet of racers in the all important final at the end of Round 3.

Taya and Katie Gordon automatically qualified as the leading point scorers of the series, and they were joined by the Islands own Steph Whitlock and Charlotte Brooks who hails from Plymouth. Gordon made the start in the final and didn’t put a foot wrong around the large Smallbrook circuit, with Taya coming home in second with Whitlock third, but despite being pipped to the title at the end the Norwich based Thirtle was far from downhearted.

Taya, was the winner of the first the round so can lay claim to a small slice of history, as the first ever winner of an all-female Championship and looked back at her success as “cool.”

For the rest of the season, Taya has been improving with every Crusaders meeting and scored an impressive 5+3 against Wolverhampton on Sunday but will soon put Speedway on the back burner for a little while when she heads off to Bolton University to study Motorsport Engineering. On the degree Taya said “stick to what I know, I’ve been riding motorbikes since I was 9!”

Taya also wanted to take the opportunity to thank Alan Critcher and Danny D’s in Norwich.