FIM MiniGP Australia Series round three round up from Ipswich

2023 FIM MiniGP Australia Series
Round Three – Ipswich Kart Track

With Mark Bracks, Images by RbMotoLens

The third round of the FIM MiniGP Australia series was held at the Ipswich Kart Track over the weekend (22-23 July), and produced thoroughly entertaining duels throughout the field – encompassing four races across the two main classes.

The FIM Mini GP 160 cc GP-O class for 10-14-year-olds produced two new winners on the day with several ‘if-only’ moments for other competitors.

Hunter Corney from nearby Toowoomba won the opening leg, while South Australian Judd “Rocket Ronny” Plaisted claimed the win in the second race.

In the new class for 2023 – the FIM MiniGP 190 cc GP2 for the 12-15-year-olds – Cameron Dunker continued his stellar run, taking both race wins to move one step closer to the prize of a trip to the end of season shootout in Europe which will be staged in conjunctuon with the final round of the MotoGP World Championship at Valencia (Spain) in November.

A bonus for spectators was the appearance of Moto2 Junior World Championship rider, Harrison Voight in the Open 190 cc GP-2 class. Voight is back in Australia for a mid-season break and took the opportunity for some track time to keep his eye in before his season recommences in September.

Harry put on a master class of riding on the little machine demonstrating what a couple of seasons in the cut and thrust of European competition does to hone a rider’s skills.

The racing may be intense but in the paddock all the kids are mates, joking and playing around doing what kids do, but once they don the lid and get out on track the Jekyll becomes a Hyde as the quest for PBs and getting closer to the front takes precedence over everything. Once they pass the chequered flag the camaraderie returns as well as the banter.

The 1100 metre track featured 13 corners; nine rights and four lefts, including three tight hairpins. Requiring millimetre precision and commitment, passing moves had to be set up a couple of corners before the move to have a real good crack, and we witnessed some excellent late braking moves at the hairpins.

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Race One

The FIM MiniGP 190 cc class was introduced worldwide this year to continue the path available for older teenage riders, providing another avenue on the ‘Road To MotoGP’. They compete on the larger capacity 190 cc GP-2 bike with 12-inch wheels.

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There may have only been seven riders on the grid but that didn’t detract from the action – at times it was as manic as the 160 cc class.

Fifteen-year-old Dunker claimed pole by just 0.035 sec from the ever-improving Levi Russo, with the elder Paige lad, Bodie rounding out the front row.

Others in the field included Hudson Thompson, who is only competing in the MiniGP class this year and not getting anywhere near the track time of the rest of the field, as they also compete in ASBK and State Championships.

Last year’s 160 cc victor Harrison Watts had a hard time finding a suitable set-up in practice and qualifying; the same can be said for Josh Newman and Marcus Hamod who rounded out the field. They may be tiny bikes, but they can be finicky when trying to pinpoint an ideal set-up.

Dunker has been a revelation in the Australian Supersport Championship this year and currently sits second in the points after his third win at Morgan Park the week previous. He brought that form to Ipswich to dominate the two 18-lap races.

In leg one Dunker scooted off into the lead to have a two-second lead over Paige and Thompson after the first lap.

Russo got a shocker of a start down in seventh but attempted a brave move under brakes heading to the final hairpin on the opening lap. Whether he went in a little fast, or the others in front slowed a little earlier than usual as it was the first lap is open to conjecture, but Russo attempted to out-brake Thompson, Watts and Paige but they all came together with Russo going down. Russo picked himself up and rejoined the race some 15-seconds behind, only to retire on the fifth lap with a sick engine.

While Dunker increased his lead to over seven-seconds at the flag, Paige and Watts had a brilliant duel that again came down to the final couple of corners. No quarter was asked or given but at the final hairpin Watts put a move on Paige to push him aside, taking second from a not-so-impressed Paige.

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Race One Results

FIM MINIGP 190 cc RACE TWO

In the second race Dunker grabbed the lead from Paige and Russo off the line, Watts two bike-lengths further back.

While Dunker increased his lead to 2.5 seconds, Russo, Watts and Paige were at it again. Positions changed constantly but Russo nailed second permanently on the fifth lap, overtaking Paige and setting off after Dunker. His lead nearly three-seconds at the half-way point.

Paige and Watts dropped off, again virtually stuck together as they fought to gain any advantage, losing touch with the leaders as their battle slowed them as they put moves on each other at every opportunity.

Dunker appeared to have a comfortable buffer, but no one told Russo who continually put in fastest laps as he hunted down the leader. With five laps left Dunker had a two-second lead but Russo took chunks out every lap.

With one lap remaining, Russo had cut the margin to just eight-tenths of a second. Onlookers were enthralled and very vocal as they saw the chance Russo had established in chasing down Dunker. He got to within a couple of metres of Dunker’s rear wheel, setting yet another lap record at 53.773-seconds on the last lap but ran out of laps, Dunker taking the win by just 0.479 seconds!

One more lap and it may have been a different outcome, but Russo would’ve had a fight on his hands to gain the lead with Dunker’s racecraft now quite finele honed. No doubt Russo has learned that he needs to get off the line better if he is to challenge Dunker.

The battle for the final spot on the podium between Paige and Watts was a mirror image of race one as the pair continued their intense and entertaining stoush, passing moves starting three or four corners before the attempt was made. Or in desperate moves under brakes.

It was exciting, edge of the seat racing entertainment. At the chequered flag Paige had turned the tables on Watts to claim the final spot on the dais by 0.333 second.

The trio of Thompson, Newman and Hamod put on a spirited duel as if they were fighting for the win with 0.266 of a second between them at the flag.

The look of despondency on the faces of some when their race hasn’t gone to plan is palpable. Words of comfort support and encouragement are heard but it doesn’t change their state of mind.

These kids are aiming for the top and the level of commitment on the smaller bikes on the kart tracks is just as intense as when many of them are racing in the ASBK classes.

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Race Two Results

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Round Overall

FIM MINIGP 190 cc Standings

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race One

Hunter Corney took Pole Position from Judd Plaisted and 11-year-old Jake Paige, the trio the only riders to record sub-57 second laps in the two qualifying sessions that determined the grid for the pair of 16-lap races.

From lights out in race one Corney grabbed the lead in the mad scramble for turn one and from there was never headed. He had an astonishing lead of over a second after just one lap and that steadily increased to be over three-seconds by the end of the race.

While Corney was a lonesome figure at the front, it was far from processional behind him. In the early laps, Paige, Isaac Ayad, round two victor, Rikki Henry, and Plaisted swapped positions in the battle for the podium before it became a two-rider dogfight between Plaisted and Paige.

There were some big moves between the pair, but Plaisted prevailed when he won the final braking battle – the pair coming together fighting for the same piece of bitumen with three corners to go, Plaisted taking second by 0.257 from Paige and claiming the lap record in the process at 56.577s.

Henry was fourth, holding off a fast-finishing Ethan Johnson by 0.251 sec, missing a podium finish for the first time this year.

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race One Results

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race Two

The second leg will be remembered as one of the races of the year. It was a bottler! Four very talented young riders went at it like a pack of malnourished seagulls fighting over a sun-baked chip.

Plaisted won the run to turn one to take the line off Corney with Henry and Paige in tow, three wide into the left-right first turn esses. Their pace and intensity soon gapped the rest – which was led by diminutive 11-year-old Jackson “Dani” McDonald, the tiniest tacker in the field, in fifth.

For Johnson, after a promising race one, it all fell apart on the start of the second lap when he had a coming together with another rider in the pack at turn two and crashed. He remounted to gain a few points in 13th place.

Position changes between the leading quartet were constant and enthralling, the gap between them stretched and shrunk, positions swapped numerous times a lap, as they displayed their strengths in different parts of the track. Be a little off-line and “bang” there was room for a pass, and you’d be hung out to dry.

In typical last lap mayhem, Henry had a lunge at Plaisted to take the lead in a desperate late braking move but in the switchback of the final turns, Plaisted held his line and gained the advantage for enough of a gap to win the drag to the line by 0.611.

Right behind them Corney and Paige were a little too far away to make an impact on the contest for the win, but their battle for the final spot on the podium was manic, and, again, it came down to the third last corner hairpin turn.

Paige won the run across the line to be third, but the purple protest flag was soon waved for passing under a yellow flag. The protest was upheld and the positions between Jake and Hunter were swapped, thwarting Paige’s second podium on the day and the loss of three-points that may prove vital. There was evidence on the fairings of the intensity with paint and rubber swapped between them over the 16 lap journey.

The scenes in Parc Ferme were quite impressive – Plaisted and Henry have raced against each other most of their young lives and demonstrated their friendship with some great respect and emotion between the pair as they embraced each other.

It was a fitting result for Plaisted as he has overcome some nasty injuries in the past six-months that forced his absence from the first round back in March and Ipswich proved he is back to his competitive best.

Plaisted took the round win from Corney, with Henry third. Paige was fourth overall from Macdonald who scored his best results in the class to be fifth overall on the day.

Macdonald recently celebrated his 11th birthday and it won’t be too long before he’ll be in the mix for the leading spots.

Henry now leads the series from Paige by eight-points, with Corney four-points further adrift in third.

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Race Two Results

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Round Overall

FIM MINIGP 160 cc Standings

Supports: OHVALE GP-2/Veterans

There were two support classes on the card with a Ohvale GP-2 class for riders too old for the FIM MiniGP class, as well as the Veterans class – for those older kids cross-entering to have eight races over the weekend.

It was a bit of a family affair with Matt Watkins on track with his son, Oliver, and brother Paul. One of the promoters in Nick Angelopoulos was also on track with his brother, Chris.

In all, across the classes there were six sets of brothers competing; the others being Levi and Jai Russo, Bodie and Jake Paige, Isaac and Ethan Ayad, allong with Oscar and Connor Lewis.

It was a buzz for the riders to be sharing a track with Harrison Voight as he kept his racing eye in while back home.

The closest they got to Voight was on the start line, as he put on a masterclass of rapid fluid riding using every bit of the track and then some as he completely dominated the class taking four wins in a canter.

He won the first 10-lap race by over 17-seconds and took nearly two-seconds off the lap record. Voight won the next race by over 18-seconds, and the remaining two by over 11-seconds. As an understated Trev would normally say, ‘he goes alright‘…

The elder Russo – Jai, was second on all occasions with Matt Watkins third in all bar one race, where Adam Banner claimed that place in the third leg.

It’s a pity Voight is just slightly too old for the FIM MiniGP 190 cc class as it would’ve been magnificent to see him and his good mate Dunker duke it out on track together. They raced each other on the dirt for many years and were pitted next to each other, so if they had been on track together it would’ve added that little extra ingredient.

Voight will be doing as many track days as possible before he returns to Europe in September but did say that he will be a starter in the final round of the ASBK at the Bend in November. Whether that is on a Supersport or Superbike we will have to wait and see.

The next round of the FIM MiniGP will be held next month (26-27 August), at the Monarto Kart Track, near Murray Bridge in South Australia.  As Molly Meldrum uttered once or twice; “Do yourself a favour!”

Support Results – OHVALE GP-2 Overall

Support Results – VETERANS Overall

Support Standings – OHVALE GP-2

Support Standings – VETERANS