RECORD IN SIGHT FOR COSTELLO
15 August 2006 - Maria Costello

Maria Costello already holds a Guinness World Record as the fastest lady to lap the Isle of Man TT course

Last year she finished third and made history by becoming the first woman to stand on the podium. This year she will be aiming to break records and become the first woman to win a solo race around the infamous TT course.

Costello will be competing in two races at this years event. Her first race will be the Junior where she will be looking to improve on her record lap of 114.73mph onboard her RLR Motorsports tuned Bering Honda CBR600RR. In the Ultra Lightweight race she will ride yet another 400 from the RLR Motorsports stable, last year Maria finished third on an RLR Honda RVF400, this year she is riding the injected RLR Honda CBR400i kindly loaned to her by owner/racer Mark Hornsey. Costello has already competed on this bike in her debut at the Southern 100 where she had a solid finish, as the 7th 400 to cross the line and 15th overall in the combined 125cc/400cc race.

“This event means so much to me, I love racing the TT course and I’ve been looking forward to doing just that since the start of the season. I had a set back at the start of 2006, breaking my collarbone while practicing in France at Le Man, which resulted in an operation, but my recovery was amazing thanks to great surgery and rehab. So now, with my goals in sight, I will go and race my favourite track with the aim of achieving them.

Costello is no stranger to the Manx GP having first competed in the event back in 1996 when she finished 10th in the Manx Senior Newcomers Race. In 2002 Maria officially took the record of the fastest woman at the Manx GP recording a fastest lap of 110.25mph. Next time round, in 2003, Maria beat her existing lap record and clocked up 113.52mph. In 2004 Costello became the TT’s fastest ever woman and headed up the top ten at the Manx GP, finishing the senior event in 8th place and last year she made history by finishing third in the Ultra Lightweight race.

Maria and her mechanic, Andy Grimshaw, head off to the Isle of Man on the 17th August to set up in time for practice which starts on Saturday the 19th and runs until August 26th. Her first race is the Junior Manx Grand Prix on Wednesday 30th of August on her Bering Honda CBR600RR. Costello then finishes off race week with the Ultra Lightweight race on Friday 1st September. Practice and race times can be found on www.iommgp.com or by listening to Manx Radio online at www.manxradio.com.

Maria would like to say thank you to all of her sponsors and to new sponsor MUSASHI and special thanks to Andy Grimshaw for his hard work in the run up to this event and to Andy peck for the amazing paintwork.

www.costelloracing.com

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