Sekhmet Racing Interview Special

Motopod, proudly supported by Road Skin, a UK label specializing in protective outerwear for motorcyclists. Modern biker clothing that you can wear all day long, and engineered to save your skin. For the road, for life, visit roadskin.co.uk. Welcome to Motopog, the internet radio show all about motorcycle road racing. This is episode number 779.

I'm your host Richard Jowett, and this is the first of the rather delayed Donington World Superbike round specials, which I actually recorded all the way back on the 11th of July. Now I'm actually recording this on September the 20th, and this one is going to be followed by further rider interviews, and then that one will be followed by my interviews that I managed to get at the MotoGP round in Silverstone in August. So sorry this is a bit delayed, but in this first episode we're going to be talking to the Sekmet Racing duo of Mallory Dobbs and Lissy Whitmore. We're going to be talking about both Mallory and Lissy race in the FIM Women's Circuit Racing World Championship, WCR, which is a bit of an easier mouthful. So I was able to record this on Thursday the 11th, as I say, which was the media day, so prior to actual track action taking place.

As usual we have a little bit of a dive into the backgrounds of the riders, and I also get to talk to team boss Maddie Patterson, who's been on a few times before as people will recall. In terms of the actual results for the weekend, well it was a bit of a mixed bag to be honest with you after all the enthusiasm that you'll hear from Mallory and Lissy. In terms of Mallory, well she was running in a fairly strong 10th place in race one on the Saturday, but unfortunately got taken out on the final turn on the last lap, so she was classified 17th. And then on the Sunday race she had to retire from the race, I'm assuming that was a mechanical of some description. And then in terms of Lissy Whitmore, well again she had to retire from race one on the Saturday, and then in race two on the Sunday, unfortunately she had quite a big crash going down Crane of Curves, which resulted in a broken wrist.

Anyway, she's back out as is Mallory this weekend as the championship heads to Cremona in Italy, so it'll be good to see how the team and the rest of the competitors get on there. The only other thing to mention really is just a slight apology, the interviews were done in the actual media centre itself, and we were sat quite close to the front door, which had an annoying squeak, so every time you hear a squeak that's somebody coming in or out of the media centre, and there's a bit of background clatter, because again there was a coffee station close by which was getting replenished from time to time. So apologies for the bit of background noise, but hopefully this is an interesting chat that you'll enjoy with Lissy, Mallory and with Maddie, and lets us know a little bit more about the WCR Championship and the characters involved. So without further ado, here we are, we'll start off with Mallory Dobbs. Okay, so it's Friday and I'm delighted to be sat with Seknet Racing team rider Mallory Dobbs.

Mallory, welcome to Motopod, first of all, first time in the UK I believe, so how are you finding it so far? It's really good, yeah, I mean there's a lot of elevation here, I mean, take a step back from the racetrack, driving on the left hand side of the road, and the right hand side of the car, and the roads here are narrow and crazy. But yeah, it's been a good trip so far, and you know, it's always hard to learn a new racetrack, we've kind of been through that, you know, and we don't get a lot of ride time, so just taking a step back, really just trying to take it as we go, and just take it slow, and try to chip away at the lap times, you know? Sure. Now for the benefit of the Motopod listeners, we've got a lot of listeners in the USA, so you won't be unfamiliar to many of the listeners, but just tell us a bit about your backstory and how you've landed here in the, I'm going to call it the WCR, because the world WCR is a bit of a mouthful, so WCR, so you know, where have you come from?

I know you've been very busy in Motor America, I see your picture up on the website, so just tell us a little bit about what you've done, and yeah, how you ended up here. Yeah, I actually didn't buy my first motorcycle until I was 22 years old, and I was riding on the street, my boyfriend had a bike, and I just bought my own, because I hated riding on the back, and so I got my own bike, and just kind of rode on the street, met some people that did track days, I live 30 minutes from the Ridge Motorsports Park, so great track to learn, great track to have a home track at, so just ended up meeting some friends that wanted to take me to a track, and so I went out and fell in love with it, and just kind of did club racing for a while, and did my Moto America debut in 2022, and I did two rounds, I did the Ridge and Laguna Super Sport, so I raced the ZX6, and did that for two rounds, and then last year I did a full season of Super Sport and Super Hooligans, so it was a lot, as a rookie they call me, you know, for a first full season to do two bikes was a little chaotic at times, but it was a lot of fun, and I learned eight racetracks last year as well, and I did all that, so it's not new to me to learn new racetracks, but yeah, so that's, I mean I have a pretty short resume when it comes to racing, and some of these girls have been racing since they were little poopsqueaks, you know, so yeah, I'm 30 now, so I've been on grad motorcycles for about eight years, and racing for about seven of those years, so. I mean, obviously, so you've come to it quite late compared to most, as you just said, so what was the position of the family and boyfriend and stuff when you sort of started to say I want to go club racing? Oh, you know, it's weird, I showed horses since age 10, so I showed competitively all over the country, Pinot and paint horses, just performance stuff, so riding around in circles and looking pretty, and did that for a long time, and yeah, it was just, my boyfriend then got on the bike, we actually broke up shortly after that, and I just ended up doing my own thing, kind of sticking with it, you know, so my dad and I dragged race cars a little bit growing up, he has like a 6.7 Nova that we had as a race car, and he kind of restores a couple classic Chevelles and things like that, so I grew up kind of like wrenching on cars and stuff with my dad and learning about them. Trying to live in the blood then.

Yeah, and you know, my dad still like to this day hates the fact that I'm racing motorcycles and rather have me be racing cars, but here we are, so. I see your picture up on the board SuperSport, sorry, not board, on the SuperSport for Moto Are you going to be doing some races this year as well? I don't think it's really in the cards this year, we're trying to prioritize doing this because it would be a shame to get hurt doing something else, you know, so we did Super Hooligans at my home round last week, and so we did Ducati Richmond up in Canada, actually Doreen, she sponsors the Hypermotard race for Super Hooligans, so we did that for a home race and got to kind of see all the Moto America family and what not, but I just don't think it's in the cards this year, we'll definitely come back, but it's a little bit hard to get it all into the schedule and to pay for it all. Yeah, and presumably you're out track day in a fair bit as well, just in terms of training, because I mean it's not a huge calendar for WCR this year, so how are you going about keeping the fitness levels up and bike sharpness in place? Yeah, I'm really trying to get to some of these racetracks overseas as much as I can, and back at home I do have a training bike, I've got a, it's basically a stock R7, but I work for Too Fast Track Days, which is a local track day company, I've coached with them for a couple years, and so I try to go to as many of those days as possible and just really try to get in as much ride time as I can, you know, as everybody does.

The ride with Sekmet, I guess, is the biggest opportunity of your life from a professional standpoint. Yeah, tell us what it means to have the chance to sort of compete on the world stage. I mean it's incredible, right? It's something I never thought I would say when I tell people I'm racing a World Superbike, you know, it's so easy for me to sometimes get caught up in the negative things that happen throughout the race day and what not, and my boyfriend and I just had a conversation about this, but it is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I never would have thought I'd be here, and so I'd be thankful for that and kind of take a moment to always enjoy that, and you know, there's a lot of people that would wish to be in these same positions, so it is something I never thought I would say. Can you tell us a little bit about how it came about?

I mean, was it pick up the telephone and there was Manny Patterson on the other end of the line? It was a little random, yeah, so I actually applied for the WCR on my own as a privateer essentially, and I had gotten accepted, and then when they were like, hey, you got accepted into the program, you had seven days to come up with a deposit, which was like $11,000 American, and so I actually posted on my Instagram about crowdfunding, and I said, hey guys, listen, this is the opportunity of a lifetime, I need to figure out some way to get money and stuff put together, and a friend of a friend of ours shared my post that Manny saw because we have a mutual friend, Ranny Skaysbrook, and he actually races like TT and stuff, and so yeah, so then she saw that and she sent me a message and just like, was like, hey, give me a call, I have an opportunity for you. She was looking for an American for her team and I kind of fit that bill, and so we kind of joined forces on that, so it definitely helped out on my logistics and everything and putting it together. Yeah, I mean that's Segway's Fightin' Eatelyns, my next question, which was, tell us a little bit about the profile of female motorsport in the US and the challenges that come in terms of raising profile, raising funds, you've just been alluding to, I mean, what's the ecosystem look like in the States? It's alright, I mean the ecosystem as a whole, right, is very much like a lot of people are trying to pay for racing, it's not like a lot of people get paid to race over there, and even the top, I mean there's a couple top guys in Superbike that get paid, but really it's not a lot of people, and so it's hard to find that, and so I've really tried to grow my brand and really just try to grow the sponsorship levels and what I can provide for others and really work to my social media presence, like I'm really just trying to push all of those avenues, you know, and I mean the female presence in America is getting better and we have a couple girls that are very talented in America, and so it's really cool because I have a lot of people to look up to and then also work with, you know, and kind of share those trials and tribulations with that I really respect, and so it's been really cool to see that, and as Maddie says, our catchphrase, you know, when you put the visor down, no one cares who you are, you know, so I mean we definitely had a tough go at it in Moto America last year, I got hit, you know, three or four times by people last year of just people making bonehead passes, you know, we joked, it was always because they saw the braids and they got all mad about it, you know, because I'd never been hit so many times in my race career before, but otherwise, I mean, everybody in Moto America is so supportive and has been so welcoming to me, and you know, it was weird because I had just started in Moto America, so it's not like I really knew a lot of people, but by the end of the season, I knew so many people, like going back for my home round was really cool to see everybody and have all their support.

Now, again, that leads on to a question which I want to try and phrase this correctly, because I'm not kind of trying to come at this from a negative standpoint, but I mean, what's your feeling about WCR in terms of obviously it's a female only category, so are you in favour of that in terms of the fact that it creates a sort of a degree of a level playing field, particularly obviously with all the bikes being the same? I mean, is it a launch pad back into mixed competition as far as you're concerned, or do you think that they should promote other classes going forward as a female only deal? I mean, why do you stand on that? Because it's obviously a topic of interest. Totally.

Yeah, I mean, a lot of people have this conversation, you know, when someone asked me and said, do you think there needs to be a female championship, my gut would say no. My biggest point about this is that it's a way in the world superbike that I would never get otherwise. This is an opportunity and I really appreciate the opportunity and I still think it really motivates other women to get involved because this sport is very intimidating. It's really hard to get involved if you don't know people or don't know how to get there. And so it definitely gives people opportunity to kind of see that.

I really like the same bike championship, the same equipment, the same limiting factors. So everybody's on the same thing. I love that. I think that there should be more of that. My goal is to do more when world superbike like I would love to do, you know, world super sport or something, right?

Get back on a 600. Stuff like that is what I'm really hoping for. And I don't think any of us girls really care whether it's a male and female sport or class. It's just a matter of like, this is an opportunity at the world superbike. So I think if they opened it up to be multiple genders and say whatever, you know, and it's still this class, I think it would still be interested.

So and I mean, our sevens a cool platform for that because it's a little less intimidating. You know, a lot of these girls come from smaller bike backgrounds, so a little less intimidating for me. It's I'm going the opposite, which is helpful and hurtful because the bike riding style is a little different. But yeah, I mean, it's great for the sport. It's a really good entrance.

I think there's a lot of things they can refine with the program. This is the first year. Yeah, but I think it's really a good opportunity for us. Like I said, I would never get otherwise. I mean, for the benefit of the listeners, because I, you know, we haven't talked about WC a great deal so far because it's brand new, but it appears to be the case that Yamaha themselves looking after all of the bikes.

It's not as if teams go away and tinker with the bikes. It appears to be everything under one tent, literally almost. Yeah. How does it work in that sense in terms of keeping it level? Yeah.

So there is one person that's kind of getting a little bit of special treatment and moving your bike around a little bit. But most of us are all in the tent and the bikes stay under the tent and they don't really leave and then they work on them. And there's our team, our crew, whoever we bring works on the bikes as much as possible. But yeah, they don't leave and go anywhere. They transport them all together.

They bring them all out. They work on them when they crash, stuff like that. Yeah. OK, and let's talk about Donnington Park because it's one of the world famous tracks, I would like to say. So what was it like pinning it down Craner Curves for the first time this morning?

It was cool until it wasn't. But yeah, I know it's I joined the Craners Club today, which is unfortunate. But yeah, it's a fun place. And there's definitely I can see why it catches people out because it's so easy to just barely push on the front just a little bit and get that front to tuck in. It was just a front end tuck this morning, was it?

Yeah, it was down to the bottom of the hill. And I think it was a little wide. And then I tried to get the bike to come back in and I was already full throttle and it just tucked through. What's your process when it comes to learning new tracks? Because you have this pretty much all year long.

So I mean, there's some pretty decent video games out there that I suppose give you a general impression of left or right coming up. But what's the process for you? Yeah, I mean, there's a little bit of video game playing. There's a little bit of on board footage watching, you know, trying to find some good videos to watch on YouTube. You know, luckily, there's lots of those and trying to get a feel for which corner goes where and the directions and things like that.

I mean, obviously, the elevation is really hard to pick up in video games or, you know, on YouTube videos. But it gives you a sense of direction. So that's kind of what we hope for. And then from there, it's just try to get in as many laps as possible and just try to chip away at the lot times. Favorite section?

I mean, I'm probably not crying to them, but I think I still like Craners, honestly, the whole like down the hill and the whole back section where you're just full, especially on these bikes, full throttle all the way out of there at a coppice, like all that stuff. I mean, it's definitely got its like little tricky spots. You know, I don't really like the last two like really slow hander. You know, there's like a last one lap of two halves, isn't it? Yeah.

And at the end, yeah, the hair pins at the end are not great. And then like the last one like has a little seam in it and like the front end and the R7s are not great. So it is what it is. I guess I suppose with you having said that you've done so many laps around the ridge, I don't suppose Crane Curves is quite that scary, actually, because the ridge is pretty. The ridge is a lot of elevation.

Yeah. So that's kind of the nice thing is coming from a racetrack that has a lot of elevation. It's not really super intimidating. Yeah, because I mean, some people just ride on flat racetracks all the time. But I actually prefer the ones with elevation than the flat ones.

I mean, despite the the tip off this morning, you were P8 this morning and then you've just finished P12 in Super Pole. So that's a pretty good position to be in as we go into the races. So you don't want to put pressure on. I'm sure you put enough pressure on yourself. But what are you kind of hoping to get out of the weekend?

Yeah, I mean, it's it's hard. I want to do, you know, top five would be great. But realistically, I think a top ten could be in our in our grasp, you know, before we crashed in Craners today, we were second. We were just cruising. So I felt really good this morning before that happened.

And there's definitely some work to improve on. You know, we did a shakedown of the bike and qualifying after rebuilding it. So that's never always the ideal situation. And with only one qualifying session, it's hard to get enough time to really be able to build something off of that. So we had a little bit of a toe in the beginning of the session, and then we kind of were on our own and we didn't really go much faster.

So I typically get good starts. So grab a couple of spots in the start and then just try to latch on to somebody and just get a toe, you know. So that's what I hope. But I think the top ten is definitely doing well this weekend. Fingers crossed.

And then just to finish up, then you're going to be going to lots of new places this year, I guess. Have you traveled widely? I mean, let's talk about round one, Italy. Yeah. Obviously, you had a test at Cremona, I think, didn't you, a couple of weeks before Mizano.

So just talk us through, you know, the joys and the difficulties because traveling around is tiring. You know, it takes a lot out of the system. Plus, you've got challenges with going to places you don't know, driving on a different side of the road, different languages. Talk us through how this is feeling, because it must be pretty daunting and overwhelming in a way. Yeah, it definitely is.

I mean, I never left the country really before this. So I went to Mexico for like a trip, like, you know, vacation with the family to Cancun and, you know, that was like to the resort. You know, and everybody speaks English and you're there at the resort. And it's fine, you know. So, yeah, the first trip to Europe, I stayed in Milan for a couple of days on my own.

I actually got a cold the day I left the country. And so I was sick pretty much in the hotel room, just working remotely, you know, as much as I could. And it was super intimidating. So I went to like I was in the outskirts of Milan and it was this cute little place. And but it was very much not touristy.

And so I went to a cafe, right, which is a bar, which I didn't know at the time either. Yep. And I tried to order like something to drink or something to eat in the morning. And they were like, we don't speak English. You know, sorry, we can't help you.

And I'd been doing Duolingo for however many days, you know, and I knew a couple of words, but that was about it. And so it was definitely a little bit intimidating of like, oh, I don't actually know what to do. And now that I've been a couple of times, like I've been to Italy twice now. And then here, you know, it's easier because it's English. But I definitely feel a little bit more like I walk into places and I'm like, oh, I'm English.

And then they'll be like, yeah, or nay. And then we try to just point at things, you know, it's very intimidating for me. I don't like to be awkward, you know, that kind of thing. And it's like almost helpless, you know, like especially when I travel on my own, because it's like I haven't really done any of that in my life. And so it's definitely like trying to not get lost or, you know, whatever.

It'll just embarrass yourself. You know, I know what it's like. I've traveled a lot. And when you're on your own, it's pretty daunting. I mean, because, you know, I'm assuming a lot of people will think because this is a world championship, you've got an entourage with you and everything's being arranged and stuff.

But no, it's not like that, is it? You kind of solo for a lot of the time. So I definitely I traveled over early to kind of get acclimated. And I'm still working full time remote as a civil engineer. So it's definitely like I have to kind of like plan my travel around that.

So I'm not working, you know, or flying when I'm supposed to be working. And so I flew in the weekend before Milan and I was there before the team got there. You know, and then my crew chief is also as a day job. So trying to minimize his days that he loses, you know, so logistically, it's just figuring all that out and, yeah, just kind of traveling around. And my boyfriend also races in Modo America.

And so he can always come with me as much as I want him to. And so we're figuring it out. But, you know, and there's only one particular you're most looking forward to get into in terms of track or country. I don't know. Areth is going to be really fun.

And my whole family is coming like my mom or sisters, my grandma, like a bunch of my family, my friends are coming to Areth. And so it'll be really cool to kind of end the season there and just celebrate with everybody. So I'm really looking forward to that. Otherwise, I mean, it's just everywhere is a cool new place for me to go. Yeah.

Why can people follow you on the social media channels? Let's get some support out there for you. Yeah. So Instagram, maldab126, M-A-L-D-O-B-B-S-1-2-6, Facebook, Mallory Dabbs Racing. And yeah.

And then my Instagram has like a link tree and everything for a bunch of other links and stuff. So cool. OK, well, I mean, a couple of the motor pod listeners have supported riders in the BSP paddock with a few funds, which is always, you know, helpful. It helps, doesn't it? So, well, Mallory, look, we wish you the best of luck this weekend.

Nice to have you in the country despite the weather that we've given you. It's just like home. It's a bit better today. Yeah. I mean, you live in Washington.

I do live in Washington. Yeah. It's raining all the time. One of the wettest places on Earth. It's not that rainy.

It's not that rainy. Everybody says it is. It's not that bad. But yeah, it's typically like this. Yeah.

Have a good weekend and we'll look forward to talking to you again, hopefully a little bit later in the season. Thank you. Cheers. All right. Next up on the segment racing roster is Lizzie Whitmore.

Lizzie, welcome to MotoPod. Tell us a bit about your backstory to start off with. It's obviously very un-British to ask a lady her age. I won't do that, but you must be one of the younger, if not the youngest rider. That's one of the things that we're not too sure of whether I actually am the youngest, but I am one of the younger ones for definite.

Tell us a bit about your history, then, because I know you've done bits and pieces in British Superbike. Yeah, yes. Over the years. So how did it all start? So I was 12 years old.

It was around sort of Easter time, 2017. A bit before that, I think we went to me and my dad went and watched British Mini Bikes and I said to him, instead of him having to go, can I have a go at doing it? And my dad thinking that I was just going to be like normal of me and get bored of it like I did with everything else. Yeah, you can have it because then I can have your bike after you finish with it. Yeah, cool.

And then it honestly just escalated and seven years later, I'm here. Did British Mini Bikes for one full season, but there was a half season before that and a half season after that. It was like bits and pieces and then moved up to big bikes in 2019. I did my ACU at the start of 2019, raced at some clubs on the KTM, got a Yamaha at the end of 2019, Yamaha R3 and then a KTM RC390. Yeah, switched Yamaha at the end of 2023.

Sorry, what? Too tired. End of 2019. Yeah. And then we just did as many track days as we could in R3.

We got half a season. We got like a little weird season in 2020 and then 2021. I did. I had a plan to go full bore at clubs and try and get a good position in the Junior Super Sport class at North Gloucester Road Racing and dip into Thunder Sport and do all sorts of stuff. Because we've missed out on a year of riding and needed to get back on the saddle.

Yeah. Had a really bad accident around three of the North Gloucester Championship. And in recovery, we made the decision with a sponsor funded to go to BSB. We shouldn't go amazingly. We had some technical problems that just kept going.

Finally got the bike fixed and competed at BSB properly after doing two failed rounds at BSB. And then I got approached by Alan from RMG, which led on to a year with them in 2022, which is fantastic. We parted ways in 2022, 2023. I got ill at the start of the year and missed first and I think the first round of BSB last year didn't have a great start. So I decided that I wanted to retire from national level and take a step back to club racing and pursue Oliver's Mount because I'm a road racer at heart.

Well, I love my road racing and decided to pursue that. And this time last year, Maddie sat me down somewhere over there and said, this is what I want to do. And I've got you in mind. How do you feel about it? And I was like, yeah, I'll have a bit of that.

All of the thoughts of I need to set back and I need this for my family and stuff was like, no evaporated. Go see you later, guys. Yeah. And obviously I kept riding through 2023, did Oliver's Mount again, as much as I could track days and stuff. Funds limited that year because it was a hard year for everybody financially.

Yeah. Processes. One after another. Yeah, one after another. Did I see you on the BMW 900 a couple of times last year?

No, I've never ridden one. No, I don't think confusing you. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to have a go, but maybe in the future somewhere along the line. I'll get a new one.

But what you've just described is a fairly sort of meteoric change. So, I mean, yeah, to get to world championship level from where you were kind of mentally in terms of what you decided you want to focus on instead. It was a shock to the system for sure. Yeah, I got no shame in saying that it was like, OK, I'm going to step back and I'm going to go back to clubs. But I've had this this offer to me.

I just can't you can't say no, you wouldn't. No matter who you were, you would just not say no. Even if it doesn't matter how what your circumstances, if they're going to give you something like that, you're going to say yes. Yeah, opportunity of a lifetime. Silly not to say yes at that point.

And Maddie and the team have had full faith in me from that day onwards. And yeah, that's pretty much my story. OK, you had a test at Cremona just before the season kicked off properly at Mizano. So just talk us a little bit about how Mizano went, because obviously it's all brand new for everybody. Yeah, obviously, particularly for you.

So I went into Cremona thinking that this isn't going to go well. This is not. I felt really not tense. I felt under pressure a bit. A bit overwhelmed, perhaps?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Overwhelmed. When I went out and actually did it, it was like, OK, this isn't actually too bad. It's like I'm not not struggling as much as I thought I would be, because I thought I'd be like five seconds off the back of the field. But I'm not.

And that was like a massive relief to me. And it set me up for Mizano, because then I knew I knew who my people were that were going to I was going to sit on the bed a lot. And that was that was that. Mizano, I learned so much. And that is the biggest takeaway from that was how much I learned.

And I really enjoyed it. I did not enjoy the illness on the Sunday, but I really enjoyed that first experience. Obviously, it was so unfortunate to have the events happen. It did seem me as crashes. Yes.

Yeah, that did overshadow things. Yeah. It was heartbreaking. Obviously, no one would have wanted that to happen. And nobody foresaw that happening at all.

But the most important thing is, is that everybody can recover and be back ready for it again. Yeah. And what in terms of getting to know the bike, can you sort of feel the progress from having had that test and the round one under your belt? Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

In terms of the set up and getting to grips. I mean, I know you know Donington Park a bit. Although you wouldn't have done like hundreds of laps around here, I don't suppose. Not hundreds and hundreds, but I've been here a fair few times. Yeah.

Yeah. Do you know which way you're going? Yeah, I know where I'm going. Yeah. I mean, as a person, I used to struggle to just jump from one bike to another.

And that's just that's what's also shocked me a lot. As I've got on it, it's like my bike, sort of, to an extent. It's obviously not mine, but I feel sort of I'm getting there now. I'm starting to understand a bit more about the bike because it's something different. It's really different, but it's a good different.

It's going to bring on other parts of riding other bikes as well as just riding that bike. And to prepare for it, I'm actually able to use a bike that I already own because it's very similar in sort of the technique you use. You have to carry lots of speed. Obviously, I come from Junior Super Sport where you carry speed with these R7s. So it's been X amount of years of riding those in the UK and sort of knowing that you just have to keep it going rather than a 600 where it's stopping and starting.

Yeah. And I mean, you've had a good day today. P18 in FP1 and I think P20 in SuperPol. Yeah. I mean, I'm a little bit disappointed, but I know what I've got to do.

The race is always different. Yeah, I am happy, but I know that I can do more than that. I'm happy knowing that. Yeah. And that leads me on to how are you sort of managing the emotional side of this weekend, because it is a home round.

Hmm. Hopefully not putting too much, you know, expectation on yourself. But how do you go about kind of just managing this aspect of it, you know, when you're not on the bike? I just make sure that I don't really know how to just sort of speak. Everyone wants to speak to me.

I'll speak to them as long as I've not got to get somewhere. So not really phased. I just I sort of get on with it. I'll never, never change. I'll always speak to anyone who wants to speak to me, because at the end of the day, this is my home.

And you got to respect the people that respect you sort of thing. Yeah. It's been a shock to see how many people actually come over and say hello. And it's been like, oh, God, a good shock. I'm sure.

Big shock. Yeah. But it's nice because I'm home and everyone speaks the same language as me. So I'm not trying to like really hard to communicate. And then is that kind of contact with the fans out there and stuff?

Is that just something that helps you work your way through the weekend? Then it's, you know, it's not because I'm sure for a lot of riders, the constant interruptions might disrupt their process or whatever. But yeah, I think that's not an issue for you. To be fair, I make it pretty obvious when I'm sort of not in the position to talk. Yeah.

So if I'm sat at the back of the garage, I've got my earplugs and my helmet on. So don't talk to me sort of thing. And I think that's a standard across all of riding. And when you got your helmet on, just don't bother, because we're not going to listen either way. Yeah.

But yeah, when I've not got my helmet off, I'm sort of about the paddock and not got anything like crucial on. I will talk to anyone. I don't mind. It's lovely to have familiar faces and people around me. Cool.

What does a typical week look like for you? Because as I was just saying to Mallory a minute ago, people tend to sort of assume or believe that because it's a world championship event that you're full time into this. But what does a week look like for you between events? Let's say in terms of preparation work, I don't know. So no, I did had a little job.

I used to work in Argos and if you know Argos, you know Argos. Yeah, in store Argos. But I did come away from that until Christmas. I'm going back on Christmas just to make sure I'm maximising all of my time for training, because sometimes it used to fall a bit funny. And I want to go at times of the day where the gym is actually usable, because my gym gets really, really busy.

So, yeah, I go to the gym. I eat as well as I can. And yeah, it's just training and making sure you're eating and resting properly. As far as like race week concerned, for you to be if it's like flying away, you're gone on Tuesday. So you've got nothing to worry about.

But I'll tone down the training the week before and not do so much like high impact, like calorie burning and I'll put myself back out of deficit of calorie and etc. And yeah, it's pretty full on, but not at the same time. You're not doing a lot, but you're doing a lot. Having had the first few goes out on the bike now, I mean, has that revealed aches and pains in places that you weren't expecting it to happen? Or I mean, as you say, you've come from sort of a fast machinery before.

So it's not like you're unfamiliar with these. So, no, if anything, it's there's nothing to do with my strength. I'm quite I've got myself to a point where I know I'm all right that on that half, but I train cardio as well. So it's the endurance that's needed has to go up because I'm doing more laps now. Yeah.

So and that's fine. That's manageable. I'm sorting that out pretty, pretty quickly. I'm a rock. I do running.

I like cycling. I like cycling, but I only get to do it in the gym at the minute because I haven't got the right sort of bike for it. And then in the off season, I do do mountain biking. So I've got my mountain bike and sometimes I grab my zips out on that. But yeah.

Cool. Typically. A question I just asked to Mallory and I'd say it comes across potentially as a bit contentious. It's not intended in that way. It's just kind of to get different people's opinions, really.

So I was asked to marry what she felt about WCR in terms of, you know, obviously, it's a female only class. Are you generally in favor of that? I mean, obviously, you've mixed it with the boys out on track in all other series that you've raced in. So do you just see as a launch and put on to other things where you'll be back into mixed competition or you generally in favor of this kind of a degree goes further? I think this will go further.

I think it's definitely a it's like a stepping stone. It's not an end goal for definitely. Definitely not. I don't think you'll ever eliminate just not racing mixed grids. It's never not going to happen.

Where else are you meant to race? Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I think it's really a stepping stone. It's not the end. It's not the end of the road for women.

You can go further than this. It's platform to elevate your presence in this paddock and to get people to know your name. Yeah, which is basically what Mallory was saying. Yeah, it gives an opportunity to people that might not got it. Otherwise, they can show that precisely that it's a stage.

Yeah, it's a stage. Cool. OK. Social media channels. I'm assuming you're reasonably active on Instagram and places like that.

Yeah, I can find you. I do try to be sort of race weekends. Get a bit quiet for me because I'm here and everywhere. But busy with your job. Yeah.

Yeah. I've got Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok. I have a YouTube channel, I think still around. I haven't been able to get on that much because I haven't got the equipment, but I'm working on that. Yeah, Instagram is lissy underscore Whitmore underscore 34.

My Facebook is lissy Whitmore racing 34. My X is lissy racing 34. My TikTok is lissy underscore Whitmore and my YouTube is lissy Whitmore Rides. I think I got them all right. Good.

I mean, presumably, you know, you're open to anybody that might want to come along and do a bit of personal sponsorship. If that's oh, yeah, 100 percent. Yeah, I'm always on my helmet. If you're interested, whether a business or not, please get in touch with me via any of them. I do also have a personal email address.

It is on my on one of my social media. It should just link. If you click, contact me or link straight to me. Yeah. Or just drop me a message on any of my social profiles.

Or listeners can do it through the Moto Pod channels as well. If they wish to do that. Yeah. Always looking to help everybody out if we can. So, well, this is it's been nice to get to know you a little bit and have a first introduction and find out a bit of your back story and kind of where you are and things this year.

So we wish you luck this weekend. Hope you get maybe a point on offer. Do you think things go well? Yeah, I definitely think that's possible. It'll be elbows out in the first corner.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, we wish you the best of luck. Have a enjoyable weekend. Hopefully it will stay dry.

Yeah. And yeah, well, we'll keep tabs and hopefully get the chance to speak to you a little bit later in the year. Yeah, definitely. Thank you very much. Cheers for now.

OK, Sekmet Racing boss, Maddie Patterson is with me. Very exciting. Maddie, obviously, you spoke with Martin Darlington in Qatar at the test at the beginning of the year. So I don't want to go over too much ground that we've covered before. But just as a little refresher, for those that didn't get to hear that, tell people what the name of the team means, because it has a meaning.

So Sekmet Racing is the name of our team. And to make a very horrific, long story, a short and funny one, I was on fire once, genuinely. It burnt 60 percent of my body. And over time, you grow to love who you are and all of those things that you must go through as a human being. And there was this drive to start a race team.

And a friend of mine said, Oh, you remind me of this Egyptian god named Sekmet. And I kind of rolled my eyes and went, yeah, OK, here we go. She goes, no, no, no, no. She's like the defender of friends, the protector of people. She just wants things to be better.

And she gets enraged that they're not. That reminds me of you. Like you get really annoyed that you can't fix everything. I went, sure, I see that. We googled this god Sekmet.

Turns out she was born from fire. And I was like, ha, the irony. If I if I ever have a race team, and that's what I'll call it. So that's the meaning behind the name. And a fun little antidote is the only way to calm this god down when she's in a fit of rage is to give a B.

So I'm like, well, if the shoe fits. Yeah. And tell us a little bit about actually getting this team up and running, because, I mean, obviously, that is an enormous undertaking. And I know you can't tell us all about it, but kind of what were the crucial steps and stages that brought us to round one at Misano a few weeks back? I honestly think it's been a little bit of rubbing sticks together and looking under rocks and climbing into old cupboards and seeing what's in them.

You know, it's been a lot. I think I'm disappointed that people don't see how hard I work. And it feels like sometimes people think this just happened. This didn't just happen. This was 12 months in the making.

It was actually around this time or May last year, I think, May or June when they announced that this championship would be happening. And from that moment, almost I started working this project. In practical terms, what does that involve? I mean, picking up the phone to Yamaha to potential sponsors. I've contacted Yamaha.

I contacted everyone, you know, that there's limited support in this series, which I think is already on the wrong foot, so to speak. However, this is a big industry and I think it's growing in a lot of ways. And I was quite fortunate. I just picked up the phone to the right person who said, I want to do this with you. And that was how I found my business partner.

He himself is ex McLaren, ex F1, ex Suzuki, ex Yamaha. He's a very switched on individual. And then from there, again, just calling and calling and calling. And we're still calling. You know, we're into round two without a title sponsor for our team, which is really heartbreaking.

And I think when you look at our team's social media, when you look at the impact we've been able to make with a staff of maybe only seven people. And that's including riders, crew chiefs, myself and quite frankly, my husband. I'm like, can you push this, Gurney? You know, and my press officer, it's it's a lot. And it's been a lot of work and every weekend is heavy.

But I know that we're doing it for the right reasons. And I'm quite proud of what our ambitions are and who we intend to be. You know, next year, the year after and five years from now, we have very big goals. But when it comes to starting a team like this, you know, even for myself, little old Matty Patty, where would I ever find the opportunity? A lot of this was just the chances there.

Let's take it. Yeah. You got to grab them when they come along, and have the vision to go and grab them, I suppose. In terms of the riders, because riders are such a big part of this, in terms of that, a bit that people get to see and I suppose in some respects follow perhaps more than they might follow the team. What was the process for selection?

I mean, did you obviously you had some criteria that you wanted to tick in terms of marketability, I suppose, and key markets? Because you're a marketeer. I know there's a big part of what any business has to do. And certainly in motorsport, that's never been more the case than it is now. So what was the approach there?

I think we'll start with Mallory. Mallory came into the business having been accepted into the championship, but having no way to race, essentially. She didn't have an option, which wasn't just the case for Mallory. It was a case for many. And she came to me highly recommended from people that I know.

And to a degree, our goals aligned. And I think that was that was how that occurred. I knew I wanted two riders. That was always my plan. I wanted to run a team in every sense of the word.

And yeah, Mallory came up on my radar. She was good on her socials. And that's kind of how we met. And that just materialized naturally when it comes to Lissy. Actually, a large portion of this business and our outcomes and what we're trying to achieve have been built out with Lissy in mind.

You know, there's about a 10 year gap between Lissy and Mallory and age. And they have the same goal, but very different ambitions within those goals, we should say. And that means dividing attention and time and sort of figuring out what their paths are for both of them looks different. And for Lissy, it's she's got a very she's such an intelligent individual, actually. Her long term goal is to go and race TT.

And I think to do something like that takes an extreme amount of dedication, time. And it's not something you learn overnight. That takes a long time. She's nowhere near where that level is. Yeah.

But in saying that, what a better place to start. And like you just said a minute ago, I mean, you have to have the vision, don't you? Correct. And then plot the path to get to the end goal. Yeah.

And I think Lissy, you know what? It makes me laugh. The people that are most critical of young people are adults. And I mean, older adults and people have a lot to say, but I don't see them doing it themselves. Lissy is improving every single week.

And I think when you've been knocked down by people in this industry and you're already a minority, you start to believe the bull crap that's fed to you. You really do. And we're changing that outlook for her. And that's actually coming back and how she works in the box, her results. She is the definition of a team player.

She cares immensely about segment. She cares immensely about her teammate. She goes above and beyond and does things that she doesn't need to do because she can. And I'm really impressed with the young woman who is developing in front of me. I really am.

Yeah, I've just been, as you know, just been speaking with her and she's coming across as somebody that's very fired up and, as you say, pretty comfortable where she is and knowing that things are going to get better. Because having read her little bio on her website, which is a bit out of date, as you pointed out earlier on, clearly she's been through her own trials in the last few seasons and she alluded to it when we spoke just then. So it's really refreshing to see somebody with, what's the word, gumption is the word we use in British. And I think that probably is a good word to describe her. I would agree completely.

And I think my relationship with Lizzie, it's all trust. She trusts me and I trust that she will learn and she is. And I'm not asking for more than that from her. You know, when we talk about sponsorship and marketing, yes, you're number one. You can demand the money, but that's the thing that gets missed in this industry.

If you've got all the bits, she's got all the bits, but they're not lined up. That's my job. And I want people and brands and especially in a women's world championship where we are a minority in racing as a whole, certainly not equal by any terms. Is that not something we should be pursuing? Should businesses not be looking to support growth and change and sell to 50% of the world's population?

Yeah, well, that segues rather neatly into a discussion we started out on the paddock earlier on. I mean, obviously, you've been on the show before. We know your forthright and your views and you have a lot of experience when it comes to the sort of commercial aspects of things. My feeling of WCR so far is that, as is so often the case with these things, great idea execution, maybe not quite as much as it should be. I mean, where are you in terms of the promotion, the reach, you know, the sort of the financial aspects of all of this?

Because it's obviously any motorsport is difficult. Well, I imagine this is super difficult. So where are you with this? I mean, as I mentioned, you know, we're still looking for a title sponsor. And that's difficult.

You're managing budgets, personalities, all sorts of things. With the championship, I would agree. I would totally agree with that statement. And I think what can be really challenging when you're a team owner is I didn't turn up in race. You know what I mean?

I know when I look back on all the steps I took, they were well thought out and well planned and logical. I think even when you look at our social background, how we've grown, we've grown organically. We're not putting money into an agency. The reason why we're not doing that is collectively we already had an audience. And I think the way to define our existing audience is dads with daughters and mums with sons.

And that is actually the exact audience we wanted to reach. We want to show boys and girls and mums and dads that our team is a team you know, as a team you trust and that you'll know where to find us. When you support your teams and athletes, you want to love them. And a lot of what we're doing, I think, speaks to parents love their children. And, you know, people want to feel connected to something.

This is new. As again, for the championship, I think there's still a lot of work to do. And it's not where it should be. I think there's many flaws, which is concern for anyone, particularly someone like me, when you're running a business. You know, a race team is a race team, and that's all well and good.

But I think, again, it comes back to a bit of vision. I have a direction in mind for this. This isn't for me, Sekmet isn't just the women's world championship. They're big goals and we're capable of achieving them. And it's finding people who are like mind and also have vision and also have an understanding of how markets change and mature.

You know, if you look at MotoGP, for example, it was probably 2008 to 2015 was its peak, started to decline in 2016, 2017. We had an increase in 2020 because it was Covid and everyone was at home and wanted to watch something. And we're going to see that increase again, I think, in the next 18 months. Yeah. And my goal with our business is to align with that growth period that we know is coming.

I mean, let's put the cards on the table, because, you know, obviously, part of talking to you and continuing to talk to you is to try and help the team if we can drum up some support. I don't like to use that term, but it's a business. And, you know, financially, businesses have to survive and just arrive. You just alluded to Liberty coming into the mix. I mean, how do you see that unfolding?

Personally, I think it's going to be very, very positive. If you look at their track record elsewhere in global sport, it gives you cause for hope, I think. I think so. And I also think people are scared and people are always scared of change. People don't like change.

You know, we all look back on our early 20s and go, oh, it was so good. The sun was always shining. It wasn't. But things change. When I think about the Liberty impact, I think if you like your sport, you'll enjoy liberty.

People who like racing will watch racing. They'll watch two flyers go up the wall against each other and put bets on it. Yeah, it's so ingrained in their nature. 2027, we have rule changes coming in in both World Superbike and MotoGP. What's next year?

25? No, 2026 in World Superbike, 2027 in MotoGP. You know, we'll have a class change. I think it's fair to say that the Women's World Championship is probably a test round for that class change that's coming in World Superbike for sports bikes. We're moving away from the 300 model and that's keeping in line with market trends.

And Liberty's job will be to get eyeballs on their product. Now they have access to the two largest motorcycling competitions in the world. You couldn't have nailed it better if you tried. And on top of that, you have developing championships in the Women's Championship, in the coming sport bike championship. Liberty have an interest in this sport for a reason.

And you shouldn't be upset that people want to come and watch the sport. People get upset about influences and what we would consider important people in society coming to F1. The reality is they're probably coming because going to a motorsport event is epic. And anyone that's gone to one, whether it's a national race or a MotoGP race, knows that fact. And it's incredible to have, I think, what you would consider, you know, 25 year old women with blonde hair and almost the legally blonde type, let's say, turning up to an F1 race going, Oh, I love Lando Norris.

He's so good. And we want that in MotoGP. We need that MotoGP in World Superbike. It's important. We have amazing stories here and real stories.

Your husband rather amusingly on the race podcast a couple of weeks ago pointed out that Lewis Hamilton's dog, Roscoe, I think his name has more Instagram followers than the majority of the MotoGP riders. So to call this sport untapped potential is something of an understatement, isn't it? Exactly. And I think, you know, when you look at our arena, when you look at motorcycling as a whole, it feels like parts of it are dying. Yet in the same breath, parts of it are strengthening.

So if you look at the TT, for example, that sport, despite the fact road racing collapsing around it, the TT is growing in interest. It's growing in strength. It's being remembered, as is Mikael. You know, if you look at MotoGP now, Liberty hasn't come in yet. And when Liberty comes in, things won't change.

But as a viewer, I can guarantee you've seen visible changes in the production of the broadcast, in the interviews, in how they're presenting media to you. That is in preparation. So with all of that being said, how do you see that hopefully positively impacting this championship in terms of WCR and more specifically, you know, as a team potentially? I mean, how do you hope to see these changes positively affecting things? I think the way that I would define it is the W series was privately held and failed.

As soon as you rebranded the W series and put it under the Liberty umbrella and called it F1 Academy, it almost quite quickly grew in respect because you partnered it with a brand you know and trust. And in essence, you were given equal terms to compete on. And I think that is the goal here. I don't know if they're ticking all the boxes to do that, because I can guarantee that the support that we have is probably not comparable to 600 in any way, shape or form in this paddock alone, let alone Moto 2 or Moto 3 and Moto GP. But I again have to say 50% of the globe is female.

27% of current world Superbike viewers are female. I think it's something like 29% of Moto GP viewers are female. That's a large percentage. It's not small. Why are you not selling to them?

And also, you sell to them through your existing product as well. It's a great product. So it's all about integrating eyeballs. And again, if you like racing, you'll watch racing. Yeah.

OK, well, that's really interesting. Is that a good place at which to wrap up for now? Because we're going to keep talking. But I mean, you and I were what's up in a few weeks ago and discussing opportunities for people to come in, you know, from sponsorship standpoint. How do people go about doing that if they're in a position to do that?

You can reach me anywhere. I'm on the Internet every day. I think that the key point with our sponsorship activations, for example, we don't want sponsors to take your money. We want sponsors so we can build out programs for what they are. You know, our business is partnered with the University College of London, just as an example, and Cosmic Shambles.

And we're currently producing a documentary focused on young women in engineering. That's just one example of what we're able to achieve. Little known fact, my writer, Mallory, is a civil engineer by trade. And these are things that, again, comes back to storytelling. And when you're thinking about your brand and who you are and who you're trying to reach, I absolutely know that Cosmic Shambles Network and UCL are looking to reach young women and young men in engineering and encourage them into motorsport.

That's what they're there for. We're partnered with another business called Click Diversity, which is a camera photography training business. And they're getting incredible content out of shooting our writers and getting them published. And it's all things like this. This isn't by accident.

All of these little stories are planned. And it's the same with all of our sponsors and our partners. My other business is I run an agency, I run a marketing and advertising agency. And that's how we've collected another small sponsor of ours called Inquisitive in the Netherlands. And they sell computer software.

And all we're doing through our agency is just marketing them through our team, but also just lining up a few tools for them to use equally as well. And it might be small things, it might be big things. But for a little team with a lot of heart, we're actually more capable than I think people are aware of. Yeah. And, you know, it's a results based business at the end of the day.

But, you know, Mallory had a really good day and Lizzie had a pretty good day, I would say, as well. And certainly she looks very confident in terms of perhaps even, you know, getting into the points in the races this weekend. So, well, I think we've covered most of what I wanted to cover today. Great to talk to you again, Maddie, and catch up from Ms. Katar.

That was February, March time, I guess, was it? All I know is it was the last time I got my roots dyed. It's been a while. She's a busy lady, everybody. It's been a while.

OK, we'll end it there. And well, just hoping the team has a great weekend and we'll keep in touch. Thanks, Maddie.