IWD: Women making waves in SA

Thursday 07 March, 2019

South Australia has seen an influx of women join Modern Regularities, with a few dominating the sport.

In most competitions around the country, there are specific lady competitions designed to increase female participation in the sport, however in South Australia’s Modern Regularities, the women of the sport hold their own.

More than 100 competitors took part in South Australia’s Modern Regularities across 2018 and at the end of the year, three of the top 10 were females including the outright champion, Sandy Watters.

While Watters has dominated the sport in recent times, including claiming a victory in the most recent round at Mallala in February, other females have made their own mark in the sport, including Kristen Bailey.

For six years, Bailey has competed in the sport and while it was just her and Watters competing at the start, more inspired females have since joined the ranks.

With a record number of females competing last year, Bailey puts it down to the support network of the category manager and Watters’ father Darryl Brigg.

“Darryl Brigg has been a fantastic contributor to the increase of female participation by making two or three cars available to ladies,” Bailey said

“This helps because a number of women don’t have the expense of having their own car, they don’t know how to get a car going or have the funds to run a car.

“These cars available to females mean there are no barriers in the way for them to have a go and now these dozen of girls are quite competitive.

“Last year we had a bit of a joke that maybe in 2019, we could create a men’s trophy because the women are dominating it.”

Despite Bailey and Watters providing the inspirational figures by coaching and passing on advice to their fellow competitors, Bailey believes that the club itself is what makes the competition such a positive environment.

“We are really lucky in South Australia that the Modern Regularity community is like a really big family,’ Bailey added.

“If any of us are struggling with something in particular, then everyone just rallies around each other regardless of if they are female or male.

“We also have a rookies competition for juniors and drivers competing for the first time because this series is all about getting everyone together.

“We are all about encouragement and everyone just bands together to coach, pass advice and help each other out.”

Kristen Bailey was recently appointed as a member of the newly formed CAMS Australian Women in Motorsport Commission and was part of the historic first meeting that took place recently.

This feature is part of a series highlighting the success and contributions to motor sport from women around the world in celebration of International Women’s Day 2019.