Elijah Andrew (#18) in action during the ASBK round at Phillip Island.  Photo supplied.

13-year-old Elijah Andrew (Marayong) had a mixed round at Phillip Island, in the penultimate round of the 2023 bLU cRU Oceania Blue Series.

“ I had a blast with the @oceania_junior_cup crew over the last two weekends, coming off my best race finish in 6th place, and placed 9th overall for the MotoGP round.

“Then, in last weekend’s ASBK round, I had a great start, getting P3 in practice, with a PB lap time. Unfortunately, qualifying didn’t go so well, as I lost the group and any chance of slip streaming, qualifying back in 18th place.

“In Race 1, I got up to P16, and then P14 in Race 2. Race 3 had to be the closest OJC race ever with the top 15 riders finishing within 0.341 seconds.

“I worked my way from 18th to 8th place by turn 10 on the last lap, then gave it my all coming out of turn 12 and I got into the lead as we hit the straight, but ran out of legs and the pack passed me over the finish line and I finished in 12th place, just 0.267 seconds behind the winner.

“I had a blast racing in the lead pack and continue to learn a lot about race craft. Looking forward to our final 2023 round at The Bend in 4 weeks. You can follow me at #18 @ElijahAndrewRacing.”