Mariana makes history
By TMX Archives on 16th Sep 09
MARIANA Balbi, sister of AMA Pro, Antonio, became the first lady ever to race an MX GP on Sunday.
Racing the men was no new experience for the 23-year-old as she regularly contests the Brazilian Championship rounds. Indeed she recently won an MX3 race, while in WMX it is only last week that she finished second in the final round of the AMA Ladies series. Girls taking on the top men at the highest level is not completely new. Tarah Gieger of Puerto Rico has twice contested the Nations, but never a GP, while Steffi Bau contested a GP at Castiglione de Lago several years ago. But the Youthstream WMX series manager failed to survive qualification and was not admitted to the main races.
Speaking at the Saturday press conference, Mariana said that she hoped to be able to contest the WMX GP series in the near future.