Cherie Christian is competing in the Bemsee Minitwin Series. She is a mother of two who has been riding motorcycles for over 28 years, but never competitively. However, in 2002 Cherie decided it was time to finally follow her childhood dream and become a road racer. In 2004, Cherie said "I'm in my 3rd year of racing now, and like Debs I do the Bemsee SS400 rounds - as well as a few others like the Jurby endurances on the Isle of Man. After a huge off in France in 2002, I'm finally getting my confidence back, and the racing is coming together again. By the end of the year I know it will all slot into place and the results will start to come in. Life is good, and apart from a truckload of racing talent there's not a lot more I could ask from it!"

How long have you been biking?
25 years

What inspired you to start racing?
I always wanted to and never had enough money - once the kids left home there was no stopping me!

Do you have a regular team or occasional helpers?
My other half Paul has spannered for me since I started racing.

Who are your sponsors?
Tony Law at ATCC, John Sanders of EDI Asia, Paul Whitby of Whitby Consulting.

What are your plans after this season?
Next season I intend to concentrate on the MRO series in the SS400 class.

What are your ambitions?
To win and to be able to continue to race 'till I'm too old to physically get on a bike!

Who are your mentors and who do you look up to in racing?
Current mentors are Mark Hill (MHP Exhausts), Matt Cantillon and Mike Eglington. I look up to all racers - it takes a lot to get out there and do it.

What do you do in your spare time?
You're kidding right? When I'm not racing, I'm working, prepping the race bikes, trying to raise sponsorship and sleeping!

Who's your favourite racing hunk?
Frankie Chili

Cherie's big off in 2003:
The Biggie went something like this - It was a start line pile up at Croix en Ternois in France, and 20 out of the 26 of us behind the second row went down. A guy on the 2nd row had a mechnical problem and didn't go anywhere when the lights went green - you can imagine the carnage :-( I was determined to make a good start from a rotten grid position and guess I must have taken off like a scalded cat. Unfortunately I can't remember anything from the lights going green for the next 3 days. I have bits and pieces of memory of the next 9 days in a very good French neurological unit but it's all a bit hazy. I'm told I hit a downed bike and, whilst I was still still aboard my bike, went up in the air a long way and I then went over the front end of my bike head first unto the tarmac, did a bit of breakdancing and was unconscious for quite some time. I also managed to get a massive pressure cut on my right leg just above the knee and a load of nerve damage to the front of both thighs, where I bashed into top of the screen as I went over the top of the bike. Apparently it was all a bit dramatic and they bought me back from the brink a few times before chucking me in a helicopter to Arras General (they initially thought I'd broken a bunch of vertebrae from the neck down) and then into another helicopter to the Neurological unit at Lille once they'd done x-rays and brain scans as I had some severe bleeding going on in my brain.
After the accident I had 3 months with no racing <booo hissss> or work <g> and made my comeback at the Lord of Lydden meeting - it wsa great to be back, even if I was a full 2 seconds slower than I had been.
I still have odd days where the brain slows down and won't work, usually triggered by "overdoing it" and not enough sleep but generally all is well now, I just have to remember not to get carried away and wear my brain to a frazzle.