Courtesy of Maria Costello PR

The Northampton racer followed up her recent record-busting performance at the Ulster Grand Prix to finish within a whisker of third place in the Manx Grand Prix Senior Post Classic race on the Isle of Man on Monday.
 
The former Isle of Man TT female lap record holder was riding superbly in third place and was set for another podium finish when the steering damper of her Suzuki XR69 snapped off forcing her to reduce her speed.
 
However, despite the damper failure Costello was thrilled to have ridden so well in a race won by Michael Dunlop in a record time of one hour 18 minutes 6.23 seconds. Costello had entered the last lap behind Dunlop and runner-up Michael Buckley dreaming of her second Isle of Man podium following her 2005 third place in the ultra lightweight category. But the snapped steering damper meant her final lap time of 22mins 46.13 seconds was not enough to prevent Geoff Martin and Chris McGahan overtaking her.
 
“I’d not even considered a place on the podium, so when I saw the boards around the course with ‘3’ on them it was like, ‘me, third?’,” said Costello, who will be signing copies of her autobiography, Queen Of Bikers, at the Northampton branch of Waterstones later this month.
 
“Of course it was disappointing to lose out on the podium because of a problem beyond my control, but I’m still over the moon that I managed to get the big old Suzuki back across the finish line without a steering damper.
 
“The Suzuki has been a real challenge to ride but I’ve had an amazing Manx Grand Prix and I’m looking forward to returning next year on another Post Classic machine. I can’t thank the ‘dream team’ of Steve Wheatman [owner of the Suzuki XR69], Jon Sims [who built it], Mick Grant [TT legend and my mentor] and Paul Boulton [top spanner man] enough. This Manx Grand Prix has been one of the best experiences of my life.”
 
Image: Maria onboard the Steve Wheatman Suzuki XR69 at the famous Creg Ny Baa corner. By Dave Kneen www.ManxPhotosOnline.com