Cath MacDonald has been signed up to race for the Crawley-based Dot.COM Racing team in 2004.

MacDonald, 25, from Portslade, impressed team bosses during a testing session at Mallory Park last week.

Teenager Oliver Merrilees, from Crawley, already races for the team in the MRO Championship and the new addition reflects their ambitions for next year.

Team owner Paul Merrilees said: "We are looking forward to working with Cath and helping her all we can.

"I feel she is probably the best female rider in the country at the moment and I am convinced she will go well in the 600 class."

MacDonald, who currently contest the Supersport 400 class in the MRO Championship and BEMSEE club series, said: "I feel this is the best option for me as at the moment I am doing all the machine preparation myself as well as having to race the bike and it gets very hard going.

"Working with the team will allow me to concentrate on my riding."

Testing at Mallory Park went well with MacDonald cutting her lap times from 1.18 to 1.03, which is a considerable drop.

MacDonald, who is now working in Cambridge, said: "This machine has so much more power and it delivers it in such an easy way through the rev range.

"Once the machine is set up to my riding style I know I can go a lot quicker."

Merrilees added: "I have been approached on a couple of occasions by Cath expressing an interest in working with the team and moving up to 600 level.

"I have been following her performances over the last couple of seasons and there is no question or her progression, commitment and ability in the sport so I felt it was time to give her a go on a more powerful machine.

"I was impressed. Catherine settled on the machine very quickly considering the bike was set up for Oliver's riding style."