Records tumble at Fusport FIM MiniGP Australia in Newcastle

2024 Fusport FIM MiniGP Australia Series
Round Two – Cameron Park, Newcastle

Images by RbMotoLens

After just two rounds of the 2024 Fusport FIM MiniGP Australia Series, one aspect of the new season has become blatantly obvious: lap records are not only being broken, they are being obliterated.

The second stanza of the series was contested at the Cameron Park Go-Kart Track on the outskirts of Newcastle (NSW) over the weekend of 12-14 April.

The repeated breaking of 12-month-old lap records over the weekend demonstrates the continual improvement in racecraft displayed by not only the regular runners but also the series’ debutants.

The efforts and improvement are not lost with onlookers, best summed up by Wayne Maxwell who said afterwards, “It’s so good to see and so encouraging for everyone that we are doing something right. The most impressive thing for me is that it’s a credit to the families and the kids for trusting me in the process that we have implemented for the kids to improve, and they are sticking to the plan and not deviating. It’s all a partnership and everyone working together for the common goal and trusting me with the process.”

In the 160cc class, Judd “Rocket Ronny” Plaisted continued his domination of the class, taking out the two 17-lap races comprehensively. The first by over five-seconds, the second race by nearly ten-seconds. The largest winning margin in the short two previous years that the series has been conducted Australia.

At the corresponding round last year, Plaisted was still suffering the after-effects of a brutal off-season crash. This year he demonstrated that he is on a mission to win the title and head to Spain at the end of the year to take part in the FIM MiniGP World Cup final, staged in conjunction with the last round of the MotoGP World Championship at Valencia

In qualifying, the young South Australian took 1.281 seconds off the pole time set by Hunter Corney last year and an astounding 1.816 off his previous best qualifying time. That is stunning around a challenging course such as Cameron Park with its undulations and blind entry corners. He was so happy that he celebrated by channelling Toprak Razgatlioglu and doing a headstand on the podium!

In the races, he took off to lead each race from lights to flag and was metronomic, with millimetre-perfect lines on every lap. This consistency was mirrored in the race time of each 17-lap race, with the difference just 0.109 seconds! You can’t get much more consistent than that!

Additionally, his race times were 27-seconds faster than the same distance race last year!

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Cooper Horne, Isaac and Ethan Ayad, and Joshua White, who are in the class for the second year, all improved their PBs by considerable margins. This was complemented by a couple of the young tackers, Austin Attard and Chaz Williams, both spritely nine-year-olds who have shone brightly in the opening rounds with impressive times and race results.

Williams is a fast learner on the bitumen, finishing second in both races. Third places were split between Cooper Horne and Isaac Ayad, with Attard right with them, although he copped a 10-second penalty for a jump start in the first race.

It was much the same in the 190cc class.

For Bodie Paige, Levi Russo, and Hudson Thompson, this is their second year in the class, and their respective lap times have tumbled as well. While last year’s victor Cam Dunker has moved up to the open class, the likes of Corney, Jake Paige, Riley Nauta, and Archie Schmidt have joined the 190 fray.

In qualifying, Russo was the first to beat Dunker’s 2023 qualifying time before Bodie Paige – who celebrated his 14th birthday a few days previously, claimed the pole with a time of 52.587 sec – over half-a-second quicker than last year.

In the opening leg, Bodie’s bike expired on the warmup lap, forcing him to watch from the trackside. He was pretty upset at the time, but by the time the race was run, and he returned to the pits, he took it on the chin and was one of the first to congratulate the top three in Parc Ferme.

Riley Nauta, from fourth on the grid, grabbed the lead on the opening lap and was never headed, although Levi Russo tried everything to unsettle the 14-year-old. Nauta was having none of it.

Thompson didn’t last long, exiting spectacularly near the end of the second lap while right in the mix with Nauta and Russo. Thompson impersonated Superman as he tried to bring the bike under control after the rear snapped out violently. Such was the crash, Hudson left marks on his front fairing where the bike belted his helmet as they barrelled onto the grass!

Nauta claimed a new lap record on the first flying lap, with the benchmark lowered four times in the 18 laps. Nauta put in his fastest lap on the last lap to hit the line over half a second in front of Russo. Jake Paige third with the race time 23 seconds quicker than Dunker’s time from last year.

In leg two, Bodie had the bike repaired, and it was clear what his intentions were as he broke Nauta’s fresh record on the second lap. It was lowered soon after by Russo as he attempted to unsettle Paige, but whatever he did, Paige shook it off, taking another two fastest laps to set a new lap record benchmark of 52.428 and shorted the race time by a further nine seconds, to take the win by 1.6 seconds from Russo.

Jake Paige was again third across the line just in front of Thompson but, unfortunately, through no fault of his own, was penalised 30 seconds for running with unmarked tyres.

After two rounds, Russo leads the class by 29 points from Bodie Paige, with Nauta third, a point adrift of Paige.

Support Classes

The support classes provided plenty of entertainment with classes for the Veterans and Mini Motard Grom, the Ohvale Pro and Novice class, as well as a Supermoto class with four races of 10 laps for each of the classes.

In the Vets, defending champion Matt Watkins won the day overall, but the biggest cheer went up for Alessandro Fogli, who was the people’s champion on the day.

Watkins won the first leg from Dean Oughtred and Fogli, with Oughtred leading the way home in leg two from Fogli and Watkins, but it was leg three that everyone was cheering from the stands.

Fogli has been a regular in the series since the first meeting back in 2022, but he finally broke through to lead a race in the third leg. He did it in fine form, rocketing off the second row of the grid to lead.

The animated Italian looked to be in a strong position with a couple of laps to go, but in his haste for victory, he had a moment that nearly spat him over the bars, dropping a couple of positions. You could almost hear the cursing as he tried to make up the gap, but he had another couple of near misses in the run to the line to finish third behind the pair.

In the final leg, he was not to be denied as he bolted off the lead, almost taking to the grass in his determination to get past pole-setter Oughtred in the run to the first turn. From there, he was never headed, although the lads made him work for every bit of tarmac – especially Watkins.

With one lap to run, many were wary not to look just in case the exuberance of Fogli came to the fore again. Although Watkins probed for a way through, Alessandro was not to be denied taking his first win by 0.115 sec from Watkins, with Nick Angelopoulos – one of the three promoters of the series – third, to claim his first podium finish of the weekend.

Tyhe Harper won the Motard class from Simone Boldrini and Dylan McElligott.

In the Ohvale Pro and Novice class, many of the Vets cross-entered for more track time, but it was Jai Russo and Cam Dunker who continued their regular battles at the front. Dunker took three wins to Russo’s one victory.

The surprise though was the improvement by a very part-time racer, Adam Banner. He finished third in every outing, but the most impressive aspect was how close he was to the leading pair for at least half of each race, before dropping off the pace more in line with his level of race fitness, compared to his much younger rivals!

Dunker doubled up in the Supermoto class that also had ASBK regulars Lachlan Epis, JJ Nahlous, Marcus Hamod and Wil Nassif having a dip on the weekend. Hamod was there only on Saturday, as he attended his sister’s birthday on Sunday.

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race One Results

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race Two Results

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Round Overall

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Standings

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Race One Results

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Race Two Results

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Round Overall

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Standings

Support Class Standings
Mini Motard / Groms Round Results/Standings

Ohvale Novice Round Results/Standings

Ohvale Pro Round Results/Standings

Ohvale Veterans Round Results/Standings

Supermotard Clubman Round Results/Standings

Supermotard Pro Round Results/Standings