Girl Racer |
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June 2000 - Suzi Perry - TV presenter, ex model and proud owner of a Ducati 750
If ever there was a sport tailor made for the ugly man, it's motorbike racing. Hideous heads - scarred through years of thundering along at 200mph before shooting over the handlebars - are stuffed into shiny helmets. With a darkened visor to conceal those maddened eyes. And yet, like mother Theresa and her lepers, the beautiful Suzi Perry has chosen to live and work amongst these living embodiments of death defiance. "I was the first female television bike reporter in the world", says the feisty Wolverhampton lass triumphantly. "They didn't come after me, I went after them" And what was it about the world of wheelie-popping speed freaks she found so compelling? "I know I'm biased, but it's the most exciting sport in the world" she smiles. "You've got high speed, and overtaking, bikes don't have pit stops, so if you break down you're out - they push it to the max."
After spending four years studying for a business degree - and a brief stint modeling in Japan - Perry's love of motorbikes was sealed in 1997, when a boyfriend dragged her along to a couple of "meets". A motorbike license and a Ducati 750 followed, plus a job covering speedway for Sky television. Watching men go round and round in circles has its limits however, and she now spends her life on the superbike circuit, braving the heat of the world's pit lanes to interview riders who at times seem to spend as much time bashing each others heads as they do racing. "You've got to bear in mind that you're fairly unprotected on a bike, so if someone makes a mistake and knocks you off, you're not going to say "Oh, never mind, I'll just walk away." Indeed not, which begs the question, how many fools have dared to cut her up at the lights? "I never suffer from road rage", replies Suzi sweetly. Finally, though we have never recovered from Amanda Holden's candid confession that she once bombed through town naked on the back of her boyfriend's bike, can the lovely Suzi top this feat? "Why would I want to?" she says, with a sparkle in her eye, why indeed?