The team concept was formed towards the end of 2004 by Deb Cartwright, Red Cartwright (not sisters!), Cath McDonald and Tazzie (all but the latter already racers) who had comtemplated encouraging more girls into the sport and decided on the name Feisty Racing.
When Susie started featuring female racers on bikegirl.co.uk she found out about Deb and Red who were just completing their second year of racing. Initial discussions with Deb saw she and Susie had the same sort of ideas and decided that they would work together with Susie taking on the role of promoter. Susie was not initially intending to race due to recovering from 3 major back operations, however Deb's persuasive powers are very strong!
The team had a lot to organise and started promotion with an Open Day ay Silverstone in September - this was very popular with around 40 attendees, so even more effort went in to team promotion. The next prospective Feisty meeting was a Ladies Track Day at Silverstone in October, then the team held a launch meeting at the NEC in November and by the start of 2005 the team was 10 strong.
Feisty Racing had a fantastic 2005 season in the Bemsee and MRO paddocks.
The first Feisty rookies were Susie, Tazzie, Leila Williams, Zoe Docherty, Kath Sanderson, Sarah Quin and Lottie Pleasants. In addtion, seasoned racer Deb was helping the novices in their first forays on the tracks of the UK, with some help from Red and Cath. The team held a couple of Ladies Track Days and a recruitment day during the year, and with Deb as a senior instructor for Focused Events, she was in a perfect position to spot potential recruits.
2006 saw the team adding 2 new rookies, Kat Prosser and Radka Angelevova Janavova, as well as continuing
to support some of 2005's new racers. Original members Tazzie, Red and Cath moved on to other interests at the start of the year. Harley/Buell held a hill climb promotional event in summer and invited Feisty Racing as star riders, plus the press coverage including some TV appearances continued to improve public knowledge of the effort. The first Feisty Fiesta, a Ladies Track Day with many extras (such is stands, raffles, party and bands) was held at Anglesey in late summer.
In 2007, Susie and Deb competed in the European Women's Championship as well as them and the rest of the team competing a full British Club Championship and also adding yet another 2 new rookies into the fray - Amanda Wake and Gabrielle Burne. Growth of the Bikegirl site was a reflection of the increased interest and promotional capabilites of the team as well as the success of the events. Feisty Fiesta 2007 was held in July and Mallory and saw 40 girls booked onto the track day and all enjoying the stunts, stalls and party atmosphere. So much was the enthusiasm that another event was at for Donington in October.
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