Recapping the 2024 FIM MiniGP Australia Series opener

2024 Fusport FIM MiniGP Australia Series
Round One – Oakleigh Go Kart, Victoria

With Mark Bracks, Images by RbMotoLens

The first round of the 2024 Fusport FIM MiniGP Australia Series was held at the Oakleigh Go Kart track in South-east Melbourne on the weekend of March 2-3.

There are two classes for the FIM MiniGP entrants: the GP-0 for 10-14-year-olds riding the Ohvale 160 cc machines with 10-inch wheels and the GP-2 Ohvales of 190 cc with 12-inch wheels for 12–15-year-olds. The 190 cc class was introduced last year to extend the pathway for the teenagers to remain in the class.

This year also sees the addition of a series sponsor with Australian boot manufacturer Fusport coming on board as naming rights partner.

In the 160 cc class South Australian Judd “Rocket Ronny” Plaisted took two dominant wins.  Last year’s runner up in the 190 cc class, Levi Russo, overcoming the threats of Jake and Bodie Paige to take the two wins. That’ll provide the perfect preparation for his second year in the Asia Talent Cup that commences this weekend in Qatar.

As with any junior racing series there is a yearly turnover of graduates mixed with new recruits to join the fray, all with the same dreams.

To compliment the MiniGP ranks there were three other classes each running four races. That saw the Ohvale Pro/Novice classes for those too old for the FIM MiniGP classes. Plus a mini-motard and “Grom” machine class and the well-established Veterans class for the very big kids.

Many of the Vets also cross-enter in the Pro/Novice class, which gives them eight races over the weekend to ensure they sleep like babes on Sunday night. The go-kart tracks the competition is held on are tight and demanding, especially considering how hard they are ridden. Conversely, the harder you push these little bikes, the easier they are to ride.

The 160 cc class had a field of 13 starters, slightly down from last year’s numbers. The prestigious Bathurst Long Track Championship was being conducted on the same weekend so no doubt the date clash affected the entries in both classes.

In the 160 cc class, Judd “Rocket Ronny” Plaisted – who finished third overall last year – was in dominant form, claiming pole position, two race wins and a qualifying lap record.

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The top three place-getters in the GP-0 class from last year – Rikki Henry, Jake Paige and Hunter Corney – have moved up to the 190 cc class. With the vacancies left by “ageing out”, there were five from last year’s class joined by eight debutants competing on the weekend.

A brace of these rookies are the sons of Australian road racing guns from the past. Jai Strugnell is the son of Willy, who won an Australian 125 cc championship, while Austin Attard is the son of Ben, who was a top runner in a number of Aussie championship classes. Austin is only nine years old, but due to his riding experience, he has been granted special dispensation to compete, although he cannot claim points until he turns 10 later in the year.

In the 190 cc class, Levi Russo led across the line in both races, but these were more hard-fought affairs.

FIM MINIGP 160 cc

In the inaugural 160 cc series in 2022, Judd was aged 10, and he finished fourth overall. Last year he was one of the short-priced favourites, but a serious off-season training crash forced him to miss the first round. In the second round he crashed while in a battle for the lead in the first race but from then on was a regular podium visitor to finish third overall. Without the interrupted start to last year, he could well have been on a flight to Spain

Being fully fit this year, he is the odds-on favourite to take the title and finally secure that elusive trip to the World Final at Valencia at the end of the MotoGP season in November.

The fully fit Plaisted showed the rest of the field his intentions from the first lap of practice. He claimed a new qualifying record, and in the opening 160 cc race of the year, he grabbed the lead from the lights and was never headed. The lead was a second after one lap and stretched out to nearly seven seconds by half-race distance, a gap he maintained for the remainder of the race.

The battle for second raged on as Ayad led for most of the race until the last lap, when Horne made a determined move at the second-last corner to force his way into second in a clean overtake. He won the drag to the line over Ayad to claim second.

It was a different story in the second leg. Ayad and Horne really took it to Plaisted, who again won the drag to the first corner. “Rocket Ronny” led for the opening two laps, but then Ayad muscled his way into the lead and put on a determined mood to take the lead for the next three laps. Plaisted stalked him, with Horne looking for a way through.

During the race while Plaisted was in the lead, a few drops of rain hit the visors, so Plaisted played it safe backed it off a little to allow Ayad to lead. Ayad didn’t let a few drops of water dampen his determination and all three took turns at recording the fastest lap of the race.

Meanwhile, class debutant Chaz Williams from Queensland proved that he is a fast learner and will be a real threat in future rounds along with Ayad and Horne

In the first race he finished fourth just over 14 seconds off the lead, but in leg two he was right with the leaders and wasn’t worried about showing a wheel in his attempts to get past – which he did momentarily as he muscled his way onto third. Ayad displayed his race craft to regain third with a well thought out move under brakes however.

Horne and Ayad demonstrated that after the experience of previous years, they will be the two major threats to Plaisted and no doubt will take plenty of confidence from the weekend as the improvement in their race craft is obvious.

The racing in both legs was sensational with some very close battles that saw paintwork and tyre rubber swapped on the bikes. The maturity and respect for each other on track is very impressive but once the helmets come off, they are all good mates who interact and joke around between bouts on track.

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race One Results

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race Two Results

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Round/Standings

FIM MINIGP 190 cc

Last year’s class victor Cameron Dunker has moved up to the Pro category after aging out of the junior ranks, while Jake Paige, Riley Nauta, Archie Schmidt and Hunter Corney have stepped up to the larger capacity class, to join Levi Russo who finished second in last year’s title.

Bodie Paige is another who raced the class last year, and now he is joined by his younger brother Jake, so the sibling rivalry has added another intriguing ingredient.

Russo claimed pole position, although Dunker’s qualifying record remained intact. Younger Paige, Jake, was second fastest from Schmidt, Bodie Paige, Hudson Thompson, Riley Nauta, and Corney, 0.581 seconds separating the seven.

As in the 160 cc class, the running of the Bathurst Long Track the same weekend affected numbers.

In the opening 21-lap race, Jake Paige took the lead from Russo, Thompson, Schmidt, Nauta, and Bodie Paige.

You wouldn’t know that it was his first race on the larger machine as Jake led the field for over eight laps but in turn four on the ninth lap, he tagged a kerb which put him off-line and down. It didn’t take him long to remount, but in his enthusiasm to close the gap to the leaders, he crashed again!

After Jake’s demise, Russo inherited the lead and went on to gap the field, scoring a new lap record along the way, to take the win from Bodie Paige by nearly three-seconds.

Thompson was in third a further three seconds away, although 14-year-old Schmidt was right on his tail hunting for a way through for the entire race.

The second race was a ripper, with the two Paige boys really giving it to Russo. For the entire race Russo was in the Paige sandwich as the trio were glued together scheming for a way through.  It wasn’t until there was just under two laps remaining that Russo pulled off a move under desperate late braking to take the win by just 0.093 seconds. Bodie a bike length away from Jake in third.

Schmidt was in fourth until the 12th lap when his over exuberance saw him hit the deck, although he remounted to finish the race to grab valuable points for the season ahead.

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Race One Results

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Race Two Results

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Round/Standings

Supports: Pro/Novice/Mini-Grom/Veterans

In the GP-2 Pro class the elder Russo – Jai took the day with two wins and a brace of second places. Dunker won the other two races along with a second place, but let himself down in the second race when he crashed during his battle with Russo. In a rare occurrence he too crashed twice in the same race trying to play catch-up.

Hats off to Russo, who has had next to no track time in the past 12 months compared to the racing and success that Dunker has achieved in the Aussie Supersport championship. At just 16 years old, Dunker became the youngest champion in the class’s history.

In the Veterans, Paul Watkins claimed the round win with consistency, scoring a win and three second places. Last year’s Veteran class victor and Paul’s older brother, Matt, was second overall, paying the price for a crash in one of the races. Co-promoter of the Australia series Nick Angelopolous won the last race with a desperate last lap under brakes.

Nick also took out the crash card with seven stacks over the two days! Nick bounces really well and is never fazed, which was demonstrated by his tenacity in the last race with his “win or bin” attitude. Thankfully this time, he got the win and not the bin!

In the Mini Motard/Grom class, Justin Donoghue on an immaculate GASGAS MC85 two-stroke machine, had a perfect card of four emphatic wins from Benjo Mendoza on his (Benelli TNT) and Miko Montano (Braaap) second and third respectively.

Levi Russo and Archie Schmidt’s next stop is round one of the Asia Talent Cup at this weekend’s Qatar MotoGP. Last year’s 160 cc class winner Rikki Henry is Australia’s third representative in the championship.

Support Results – GP-2 Pro/Novice Overall

Support Results – VETERANS Overall

Support Results – Mini-Moto/Grom