Portslade rider Cath MacDonald is making waves in a male dominated sport.

The 25-year-old has stepped up to contest the MRO and BEMSEE Supersport 400 classes this season after impressing in her debut year.

Now she is making a few of her male competitors edgy.

There are not many women in bike racing, although MacDonald does find herself up against Juliet Manning from Crawley.

When she started racing, it was to everyone's surprise but breaking down barriers is what MacDonald is all about.

She said: "I had ridden a bike for a couple of years and I had a couple of friends who were racing. I used to go along with them to race meetings.

"I worked for a short while for Jordan GP at Silverstone. They had a Honda and arranged an afternoon at the Ron Haslam Racing School. I went along to that and got such positive feedback that I thought I would give it a go.

"I didn't tell my friends. I borrowed a bike and borrowed some leathers from the race school and did it all as a surprise.

"It was the end of 2001 at Silverstone. I just turned up and my friends said, 'Who's riding that?' I told them it was me. I crashed but someone else leant me a bike for the second day and I at least finished that race.

"I did those races to see whether a liked it and see whether I liked the competition and the grid."

MacDonald, who is now working in Cambridge, bought a ZXR 400 from a friend and contested the BEMSEE Rookie 400 series last year with good results.

She had one podium finish, six finishes in the top five and 18 in the top ten, which enabled her to take 11th place overall in the championship.

"That was my learning year because I had never done any track days," she said.

"Every time I went somewhere it was completely new to me so I was learning the circuit as well as the bike.

"This year I have been to all the circuits before so I can start to play with the gears, the suspension and that kind of thing. Now the bike is the weakest link rather than me.

"My confidence is good, I am improving my lap times and that means I am climbing up the field. I am starting to get top ten finishes."

MacDonald is friends with Andrew Ballard and John Evans, both from Portslade, who also race in the MRO and BEMSEE classes.

Other people are now taking note and she has been invited to test ride a Yamaha R6 for the Crawley-based Dot.Com Racing team. Another offer could be in the pipeline and it is clear MacDonald's gender is not holding her back. She says she has not met with prejudice.

"Juliet Manning had some problems when she started but she started before me. Generally everyone is okay and quite encouraging. There is banter but only the same as in any school playground.

"When I first started friends said, 'What are you doing racing? You should do track days first.' But my personality is not set up for track days.

"The thing I have noticed, when I finish high up the field I get back into the paddock and all the guys are doing things with the bike and shaking their heads as if to say there is something wrong with the bike!"