The bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup series began the 2022 season on the weekend, at the home of Motorcycling in Australia, Phillip Island.
The young riders were in great company on the weekend at the opening round of the Australian Superbike Championships, with the running of the Yamaha R3 Cup, Supersport 300, Supersport and culminating with Australia’s best riders competing in the Superbike category.
12-year old William Hunt (Mulgoa Rise) was competing in the OJC series opener and returned home full of confidence, following strong performances in three race starts over Saturday and Sunday.
William qualified for the weekend’s races in 11th out of 20 riders, which was a good effort.
In Race 1 on Saturday, he got away to a nervous start and dropped 2 spots, before working his way back to 11th by the end of the race.
In Race 2 on Sunday morning, William got a brilliant start, working his way up to 2nd before a red flag (for Geese on the track) stopped the race. Unfortunately, the results went back a lap, which classified William in 10th for the restart.
Race 2’s restart was run over 3 laps and once again, William got a brilliant start from 10th and fought hard in an effort to move up the field. At the end of lap 2, William was still in 10th spot but took advantage of a slipstream and a bucket-full of determination, riding around the outside of everyone at turn 1 to come out the other side in 1st spot. Unfortunately, by the time he crossed the finish line he had dropped to 9th due to a little inexperience and the slipstream.
During this race William clocked a time of 2:09.603, which was 2/100th’s of a second off the OJC Lap Record.
For Race 3, William started in 11th on the grid, again working his way up to 3rd spot before a serious crash on lap 3 saw the race red-flagged. Once again, the results went back a lap and William was classified as finishing 9th.
For the weekend, William finished 9th overall, which is a great start to the year with so many good things to take into the next round in QLD on March 18-20.
Following a 2-day training session for the OJC squad at Winton this week, William has been invited to compete in the 2022 FIM MiniGP Series in Port Melbourne. The FIM MiniGP Series is run world-wide and the winner of the Australian series will travel to Spain for the World Championships.
Motorcycling Australia and Ohvale Australia have worked closely over the past 12 months to secure Australia’s involvement in the 2022 FIM MiniGP World Series, which is a ‘Road to MotoGP’ initiative between Doma, FIM and Ohvale.
