Recapping the FIM MiniGP Australia action from the Melbourne final

2024 Fusport FIM MiniGP Australia Series
Round Five – Port Melbourne

Images by RbMotoLens

FIM MINIGP 160 cc & FIM MINIGP 190 cc

The final round of the 2024 Fusport FIM MiniGP Australia Series was held at the Port Melbourne International Karting Complex situated adjacent to the West gate Bridge last weekend.

The victors in the two classes may have been decided at the previous round, but there was still plenty to play for, with the end of season shoot out at Valencia in November the carrot. With one further place in the 160 cc class to be won, as well as two spots in the 190 cc class still up for grabs at this final round.

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race One

In the Fusport 160 cc class Judd “Rocket Ronny” Plaisted had grabbed the championship title at the previous round at Monarto (SA) back in August. He was out to maintain his record of being unvanquished in all eight races, as well as extending his lap record setting trend at every track.

With just one spot up for grabs and 10-year-old, Chaz Williams went into the Port Melbourne round in the box seat having a 12-point lead over Cooper Horne.

By the end of the two practice sessions seven kids were under the existing lap record and by the end of qualifying Plaisted had smashed Isaac Ayad’s lap record by nearly two-seconds. The top six of Cooper Horne, Chaz Williams, Austin Attard, Nik Lazos and Isaac Ayad all under Ayad’s lap record from 2023.

Come the first race and from Pole Position Plaisted did his usual rocket start and rapidly set up an ever-increasing lead over Williams and Horne – smashing another lap record in the process. However at half-race distance Lazos launched his Ohvale into the weeds with him following closely behind it, bringing out the red flag.

Nic was knocked around a bit but, thankfully, was soon on his feet and repairing his bike for leg two

The restart was reduced to a new race of seven laps and the start was a mirror image of the first, with Plaisted bolting off the line as the rest followed.

The gap to the battling duo of Williams and Horne increased and soon a three-way battle ensued with Attard joining in.

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As Plaisted went within 0.003 of breaking his freshly established lap record and with all onlookers wondering by how much the winning gap would be between Plaisted and the rest, the unexpected happened.

Plaisted crashed out with a lead of over two seconds bringing his unbeaten run to an end. The only one to beat Plaisted this year was himself.

With the champion on the sidelines the pace upped for Williams, Horne and Attard for the remaining three laps as they all sniffed their first win of the year. Williams and Horne swapped positions for the lead while Attard grabbed second momentarily as it came down to a last lap drag to the line as the trio hounded each other.

In the end Horne claimed the win by just 0.227 from Williams with Attard 0.315 away and a fast-finishing Isaac Ayad a further half second adrift. All the top runners repeatedly breaking the old lap record.

Plaisted may have booked his trip to Spain, and Chaz Williams had strengthened his claim for a seat by heading into the last race with a 17-point gap to Horne.  Ayad a further eight points adrift. Nothing was certain for the trio, as Plaisted proved with his whoopsie.

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race One Results

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race Two

The final 17-lap race of the year started off intensely. Attard from row two shot off the line but as he took the wide line he was forced onto the dirt. He kept it pinned and was soon back on track to begin his fight back to the front.

Plaisted did his usual and soon had a commanding lead as Williams settled into second with Ayad third. Plaisted lowered his own lap record as the field began to spread out.

Horne’s chances evaporated when he had a moment at half race distance, dropping down the field. That ensured that 10-years-old Williams booked his spot to Valencia when he finished second.

There was a five-second gap back to Ayad in third, Attard – another rapid 10-year-old – finished fourth. Attard must be a favourite for honours in next year’s competition.

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race Two Results

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Round Overall

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Standings

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Race One

Levi Russo claimed the title at the previous round, so there were still two positions up for grabs with Jake Paige, his brother Bodie, Hunter Corney and Hudson Thompson all with a shot of a trip. The quartet separated by just nine points.

Russo claimed pole, breaking his own lap record from last year in both sessions, to lead the grid from Jake Paige, Bodie, Hunter and Hudson. Archie Schmidt was getting to grips with the smaller machine fresh from his outing the previous week at the ATC (along with Russo).

The first race witnessed drama from the first turn when Bodie Paige and Russo collided, with both hitting the deck, although both remounted.

The incident handed the lead to the younger Paige brother who settled into a groove to lead every lap as Thompson moved into third, Corney right on his tail.

Thompson clung onto second until the 15th (of 18) lap when Corney relegated him to third, setting a new lap record in the process.

Paige was inch perfect the entire race to hold off a fast-finishing Corney by two tenths at the flag, Thompson a further two seconds adrift.

Russo and Paige finished fifth and sixth respectively, Bodie trying to salvage as many points as possible in search of his spot to Spain

With one race remaining, 16 points separated four riders in the battle for the two remaining spots.

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Race One Results

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Race Two

The final race of the year was a fitting finale to the season’s action.

Bodie Paige had some wretched luck during the year with a few DNF’s curtailing his charge to the top of the points and knew what he had to do.

His brother Jake led the first lap from Bodie, Russo playing it cool in third. Bodie hit the front on the second lap and was running a good pace until the ninth lap when the back end snapped out on him as he grabbed a big handfull.

He was flung out of the seat doing a ‘Superman’ but somehow managed to plant himself back on the saddle and keep on the pipe.

Russo took advantage of the misdemeanour to take the lead as Bodie settled for second. Corney was trying desperately to claim a spot to Spain. In last year’s series Corney missed a trip to Spain in the 160 cc class by a couple of points and he so desperately coveted to make amends in the 190 cc class.

Russo won the final race by over two seconds from Bodie with Corney third, Jake Paige and Thompson fourth and fifth respectively, the trio separated by four-tenths of a second.

With that result Jake Paige finished second in the title chase, nine points in front of his older sibling in third. Corney again so desperately close he could almost taste it, a tantalising two points off Bodie and the Valencia spot.

Both joy and heartbreak were palpable in Parc Ferme after the race. There were plenty of tears mixed with the celebrations.

There is so much talent in the junior ranks and the level has risen dramatically. The five Aussies that are heading to Spain will represent Australia proudly and they will give an extremely good account of themselves.

Levi Russo and Jake Paige took part in the shoot-out at Valencia last year and will be all the better prepared for this year’s event, having plenty of knowledge and tips to pass on to the others in the team.

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Race Two Results

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Round Overall

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Standings

Support Classes
Novice/Open

At the final round there were two support classes: one for the Novice/Pros and one for the Veterans.

As usual In the Pro/Novice class, there were some very entertaining duels, but no one could come within a bulls roar of Cam Dunker as he won the four 10-lap races in emphatic style, crossing the finish line well over 10 seconds in front of his nearest rival which was Jai Russo – running second in every race.

Russo also had to borrow a bike over the weekend after his expired during Friday’s practice day.

Third overall on the day was the ever-improving Adam Banner who has advanced his speed and racecraft dramatically from last season to this.

To be fair to the others in the class, they do not have the advantage of the track time that Dunker has, nor are they a current Australian Supersport Champion and novice of the year in the ASBK Superbike championship. All at the princely age of 16!

For the year’s overall, the top three were exactly the same as the weekend top three.

In the novice class Sydney-sider Mohamad (Mo) Aizuddin, who migrated to Australia from Malaysia many years ago, took the weekend and the silverware from James Wrigley, with Aaron Beurle third on the day but Fahmi Amirul third overall for the year.

An interesting sidenote at Port Melbourne on the weekend was the appearance of one of Australia’s better known basketball players. Not as an onlooker but as a rider in the Novice, having his first race.

Mitch Creek has played for the Adelaide 36s, the South-East Melbourne Phoenix, and in the NBA for the Long Island Nets, the Brooklyn Nets and the Minnesota Timberwolves. He is still playing in a number of comps around the world as a ‘gun for hire’. Not a bad CV!

And he showed that he certainly knows how to ride a bike.  Mitch has done track days at the island on his R1 and was not too far off the pace of his more experienced (and shorter) rivals, but the most impressive feature was how he managed to origami his 196 cm, 102 kg frame onto a bike the size of an Ohvale and record the lap times he did. Very impressive!

Veterans

The Veteran class for the big kids aged 35 and over featured entertaining duels at every round, and Port Melbourne was no different.

Another rapid improver, Alessandro Fogli has advanced in leaps and bounds this year to be a consistent front runner battling for the lead.

He had a perfect weekend with pole position and four wins to leapfrog last year’s vets champion Matt Watkins who appeared to be in a good position to defend his title.

Watkins battled with him in all four races but crashed out of the second leg and claimed three second places over the weekend, with co-promoter of the FIM MiniGP Australia Series, Nic Angelopoulos, third on the day and third overall in the series.

Ohvale Pro Class Results/Standings

Ohvale Veterans Round Results/Standings

Ohvale Novice Round Results/Standings

Footnote

During the course of the five rounds co-commentator Phil Harlum and I are fortunate to be loaned bikes so we can get out on track during the lunch break to wobble around and sample the bikes on the tight go-kart tracks.

We are way off the pace, but it gives us a great insight into the nature of the bikes around these little tracks and a much more intense appreciation of how hard the youngsters and the big kids circulate so damn rapidly!

Especially at Port Melbourne as it is the tightest track out of the five we visited during the year.

We’d  like to thank Wayne Hepburn from ESG, Matt Watkins and James Wrigley for trusting us to bring their bikes, that they are racing, back in one piece.

It’s very much appreciated and hopefully we can do it again next year.

Huge kudos for Wayne Maxell, Nic Angelopoulos and Dimitri Papaconstantinou for the hard work and commitment they continue to demonstrate in their efforts to advance junior road racing in this country, creating opportunities for youngsters that dream of competing in Australia and graduating to the world stage.