Ipswich Cycle Speedway Club Chairman Ivan Pike has tipped Rosie Woollard to be a future national women's champion following another fantastic season for the ten-year-old.

By Stuart Watson

Ipswich Cycle Speedway Club Chairman Ivan Pike has tipped Rosie Woollard to be a future national women's champion following another fantastic season for the ten-year-old.

In only her second season of competitive racing, Woollard not only won the Suffolk and South East girls' individual titles, but also retained her British Under-10s Girls Championship title in at Newport, Wales.

Previous to that, Woollard had been the only female member of Ipswich Cycle Speedway Club's under-10 team who narrowly lost in a run-off to local rivals Kesgrave.

This year has also seen Woollard step up to senior racing, the ten-year-old being by far the youngest competitor at the British Women's Team Championships in Exeter.

Despite riding against women in their late 20s, Woollard ran out Ipswich's second highest performer.

Pike said: “Rosie put in a brilliant performance against girls a lot bigger and stronger than her.

“The Poole team for example had British Women's Individual champion Jessica Lamb in their side, while all her four team mates were the same sort of athletic build as her.

“I said to all of my team that the opposition may look a lot bigger but that we had enough talent to beat them. Rosie looked up and said, 'but they are twice the size of me!'

“She may have been a bit nervous before, but when she got out there she really took the bull by the horns and put in a masterful display, mixing it with the best of them

“She is really dedicated and enthusiastic and I can just see her getting bigger and stronger. She is in a really elite group and I can see her going right to the top of the women's side of things.”

As there is currently no existing under-13 girls category, Woollard will have to make the step up to U16 racing next season.