SHE'S as happy in a pair of greasy overalls with a set of spanners as she is on the catwalk. Model Rose Halfpenny is also a stock car driver and Jason Bunyan's girlfriend.

The 22-year-old met the Stoke Potters' number one-ranked rider five years ago when he was riding in New Zealand.

"It was me who was racing when we first met," she recalls. "I think he was fascinated when it turned out to be a woman who crawled out of a stock car that had been shunted into a concrete wall.

"We got talking and things blossomed from there. Now I make time to come over for about five months of the year and Jason comes out to New Zealand as soon as the speedway season is over.

"We have been together quite a few years now and the relationship is good, despite the distances involved."

Rose grew up in Auckland and while in school represented her country at hockey. Sport played a huge part in her formative years, but racing stock cars wasn't in the original plan.

"Hockey was my big game, but I enjoyed any sort of sport and living about 20 minutes away from the beach I also enjoyed being in the water," she said.

"I'm quite competitive, so when I got the chance to race a mini-stock, I just went for it. I was about 14 at the time and I was driving something like a Datsun 1600cc with a steel roll cage and side rails.

"It was great fun and I just stuck at it and progressed from there to driving the Super Stox. They are the big class of racing and quite something for someone of my size to throw around.

"I think there are three other females racing, but it is certainly a male-dominated sport and the guys do try to faze me out.

"It was a bit of fun to them at first, but the better I got, the harder it was for them to get beaten by a girl. Although I can handle myself, meetings can be pretty tough." Rose's season runs from October to April and comprises at least 25 meetings on both North and South Island in New Zealand.

There are national and regional competitions, plus championships for the North and South Islands. Last year Rose finished 19th out of 140 starters in the North Island championship and was second in the competition run by the Auckland club of which she is a member.

As in speedway, the cost of racing stox is high.

"The cheapest budget I can work to is about £4,000," Rose said. "I really don't earn out of this form of racing, but I hope to get into the midget class where I might start making some money."

In the meantime, Rose supplements her income by doing some modelling.

"I have been travelling to London fairly regularly since I came over to do a few modelling shoots for magazines, etc, and maybe that is a way forward for me," she said.

"I have been modelling back home for quite a while and represented New Zealand twice in China in the Miss Bikini International competition.

"I did some beauty pageants, but they are too much of a rip-off in my eyes and I don't get into that any more.

"Jason is very supportive of what I choose to do with my life and I am trying to get into modelling that is commercial and pays.

"The same goes for me in terms of supporting his lifestyle, and while I admit my heart is in my mouth when he is racing, there is no way I'd even think of asking him to stop.

"We might not have an orthodox relationship. But it's pretty cool and we're just making the most of supporting each other in whatever way we can."

In fact, Rose is far more than just a pretty face as she follows Bunyan around the UK speedway circuit.

"I do a lot of the work on his bike during meetings," she said. "I have quite a decent mechanical knowledge and we work pretty well together.

"It's all business at the race track, so I do most of the stuff so Jason can relax.

"There is a mixture of emotions on race night, ranging from tension, concentration and frustration through to huge adrenaline rushes.

"I watch all his races and he scares me half to death at times with the moves he makes.

"Deep down, I know he is a safe rider. But speedway is high octane compressed into four short laps and riders are often right on the edge because they have just a minute or so to score the points. We talk a lot on the way home and though it's very much a man's world, I'm quite happy in it.

"It's the same when he comes over to New Zealand. He comes to support me and though the onus is on me to make things happen on the race track, he can see things from the pits area which he passes on to me.

"We're cruising along right now and it's pretty good. He's very happy racing his bikes, but, you never know, he might try his luck in the cars one of these days."