Carl Cox Motorsports rider Avalon Lewis claimed a strong fifth-place finish in Race 2 of the World Women’s Circuit Racing (WorldWCR) Championship at Italy’s Cremona Circuit, while teammate Billee Fuller continued her development with another valuable race finish.
Starting from fifth on the grid, Kiwi rider Lewis wasted no time making moves, climbing to fourth position within the opening three corners of the 12-lap contest.
The race’s early stages saw fierce competition at the front, with Maria Herrera charging through the pack to seize the race lead—moving up two places and quickly asserting control as the top five riders broke away from the rest of the field.
A crash at Turn 10 for #22 Madelena Simoes was an early incident that failed to deter the leading group. Now solidly in the front-running pack, Lewis found herself in a tight battle with Sara Sanchez and Roberta Ponziani.
The breakaway quintet began to gap the rest of the field, opening a 3.461-second cushion to the chasing riders. Behind them, Astrid Madigral pushed hard to stay in touch, but even she was 3.2 seconds ahead of the remainder of the top ten with eight laps remaining.
As the race unfolded, Sanchez made a decisive move on Lewis, bumping the Carl Cox Motorsports rider back to fifth. At the front, Herrera used clean air to stretch her lead and set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:40.463.
Meanwhile, Fuller, also from New Zealand, climbed to 21st in the opening laps as she gained valuable experience in her rookie campaign.
Fuller had shown promising pace during pre-season testing at Cremona but struggled to replicate that form in Sunday’s much warmer track conditions. She eventually fell back to 22nd, where she would finish.
As the laps counted down, Lewis began to lose ground to the leading quartet of Herrera, Beatriz Neila, Ponziani, and Sanchez. With just over 1.5 seconds separating her from the front group, Lewis fought to stay in touch.
However, by the final few laps, the gap widened to 3.5 seconds as the intensity of the battle up front escalated.
In a dramatic conclusion, Ponziani lit up the timing screens by setting a new lap record—1:40.005—with just one and a half laps to go. On the final lap, Herrera was forced to fend off a charge from Neila, the two making contact in a tense scrap for the lead.
Despite the challenge, Herrera held on to secure the win for Klint Forward Racing, followed closely by teammate Ponziani in second. Neila crossed the line in third after an error during the battle for the lead, with Sanchez in fourth.
Lewis brought her Carl Cox Motorsports machine home in fifth, 8.5 seconds behind the leading four after a gritty ride and early-race heroics. Fuller finished 22nd, 1:04.7 adrift of Herrera and 56.2 seconds behind her teammate Lewis.
With both riders gathering valuable data and experience, Carl Cox Motorsports continues to build momentum in the WorldWCR paddock.
Header Image: Avalon Biddle Racing Facebook
