Lady racer: Anja Tom Suden
Lady racer: Anja Tom Suden
By Réhann Coetzee
Anja tom Suden is an accountant and tax consultant from the south of Johannesburg. She has a B Com degree and an honours in Advanced Tax. And she races a motorcycle.
Anja has been racing since 2016 and is totally besotted with motorcycle racing. She also has great support from her husband in the pits.
“My husband doesn’t race, he prefers riding on the roads and doing breakfast runs with his friends. But he is my pit crew and is always there supporting me. All I need to do is teach him to cook for the perfect setup,” says Anja.
Anja competes in the Breakfast Run Class in the Northern Regions Regional Championship series – that follows the SuperGP series and others such as the Extreme Festival and the Redstar Raceway series – riding her Yamaha R6. The Breakfast Run Class is a club championship for motorcycles from 600cc to 1 000cc and is a mixed class with males and females competing against each other for the series championship.
“Practice is very important in two-wheel track racing and I generally do most of my practicing at Redstar Raceway with coaching from my mentors Evert Stoffberg, Paul Pinheiro and Ricky Morais,” says Anja, who is also a race instructor at Red Star Raceway.
Anja’s racing is sponsored by AutObarn and INGCO Tools.
“Anja adds a bit of beauty and colour to our racing team, as well as some organisation,” says Terry Brand, managing director of AutObarn. “Anja is a great lady and is totally committed. We saw a really dynamic personality in her and are happy to have her on board.”
In 2016, her first year of racing, Anja was placed fourth overall in the Breakfast Run class, first in Class C, first for ladies and was also awarded the Rookie of The Year award. In 2017 she finished 10th overall, first for ladies and third in Class B. She was also part of a ladies team that competed in a four-hour endurance race and came fourth overall.
In May she had quite a big crash at the East London circuit. She missed a few races, also because the bike had to be taken apart to properly assess and fix damages. Her first race back was the recent Red Star Raceway Suzuki Club Championship.
“During practice I struggled to get a decent rhythm going and a slight brake fade didn’t make it any easier, which resulted in me qualifying in 14th place for the first race,” says Anja.
“I was determined to make up a few places in the race. I had a good start off the line and managed to make up four places. The 1 000cc riders had better speed on the straights than my 600, but I still crossed the line first in Class B.”
For the second race she started from the 12th position on the grid. Being on the inside of the track was not ideal but she still managed to make up some ground, again finishing first in Class B and ultimately first overall for Class B.
“Overall, we took some key areas from the race where we need to work on before the next race. A big thanks to AutObarn, Ingco Tools, Valet Cafe, XADO, HEL Performance and my other sponsors for all their support. Without all of you, none of this would have been possible and I am truly grateful for all the support,” says Anja.
“We are all glad that Anja is back racing again, she is certainly one determined brave lady. We congratulate her on her class win at Red Star and we wish her all the best for the rest of the season,” says Terry Brand of AutObarn SA.
Anja’s next race will be on 1 September, also at Red Star Raceway, close to Delmas in Mpumalanga.