A Redcar teenager is showing true girl power by beating older boys at their own game.

Thirteen-year-old biker Kay Hawthorne, from Kent Close, was crowned winner at the Junior Motorcycle Racing Association's British Championships held near Blackpool at the weekend.

Not only was Kay, who has won 11 out of her last 12 races, the youngest competitor, she was the only girl taking part.

The West Redcar School pupil said the best thing about the competing was beating the boys. "It is a boy's sport but I am a tomboy. My friends think it is brilliant and the boys at school think it is good there is a girl racing," she said.

Next year Kay plans to compete in the national competition and in the motorcycling version of the British Grand Prix. She hopes to become a professional motorcyclist and does not think the fact that she is female will get in the way of achieving her ambitions.

"There is a market for women motorcyclists," she said