ROUND 03 MiniGP | Road to MotoGP

A home run for local lad Judd Plaisted was redemption for Melbourne mistakes

Judd Plaisted and Chaz Williams both took a clean sweep in their respective 190cc and 160cc classes after the latest instalment of the FuSport FIM MiniGP series held at Monarto Go Kart Track near Adelaide on 17-18 May.

South Australian Plaisted arrived at his home track with a point to prove after several costly mistakes at the previous Oakleigh round. He responded with pole position, but was joined on the front row with formidable opposition in the form of Jake and Bodie Paige.

The opening race began with chaos resulting in Phoenix O’Brien hitting the deck after being stuck just after the start. O’Brien’s incident was cleared quickly and Plaisted was setting the pace, leading Jake Paige by several tenths with brother Bodie just over a second away.

By mid-race, all three front runners were consistently under the old lap record, with Plaisted’s gap to Jake Paige blowing out to over a second. At the line, Plaisted pushed to a stunning victory of almost six seconds, with Jake Paige second and grabbing bragging rights with the fastest lap. Brother Bodie was third, with Isaac Ayad and Nic Lazos completing the top five.

Several laps into the second encounter, Jake Paige went down with a brake issue and, although he would remount, it meant his championship lead would be gone. Out front, Plaisted had established an early buffer over Bodie Paige, then doubled down with a series of fastest laps to reclaim the lap record.

Plaisted was simply untouchable, reeling off consistent laps to take the win by just over 11 seconds. “I really wanted to make a statement this weekend, getting the lap record and the race wins,” Plaisted revealed from the top step. Bodie Paige and Isaac Ayad completed the podium while Jake Paige was able to recover to fourth.

In the 160cc class, Chaz Williams stamped his authority on the opening race early on, surging to a five-second lead over chief rival Cooper Horne 10 laps in. Williams extended that lead in the second half of the race to eventually take a stunning 18sec victory. “I got a really good start and put my head down, trying to be as consistent as I could. I saw I had a pretty big buffer and in the last couple of laps I started calming down a little bit,” Williams said.

Horne consolidated for second, with local Ryder McKenna holding off the trio of Huxley Nolan, Archie Pope and Josh White.

The second race began in much the same fashion, with Williams establishing a healthy early lead of seven seconds at half race distance. Solid lap times in the second half of the race saw the winning margin blow out to 17.7sec for Williams, with Horne second and Archie Pope getting the better of McKenna for the final podium spot. “I started chipping away at the lap times while staying as consistent as I could and that let me pull a decent gap again,” Williams said later.

It was a challenging weekend for Austin Attard, with the Queenslander breaking his arm in training several weeks earlier. Riding for points, a mechanical problem thwarted a strong result in the first race but he was able to finish seventh in race two. “I was in pain under braking and trying to find other ways to keep the pace while riding a safe race and listening to my body,” Attard said, after removing his arm from a sling for the first time in weeks before the opening practice session.

As always, the support classes provided excellent racing, with Alessandro Fogli and Nick Angelopoulos taking out the Mini Bikes Feature Race, with Fogli also taking the Veterans round win, with Angelopoulos runner-up.

Cam Dunker and Levi Russo turned it on in the Mini Bikes Pro category, with Dunker taking all four wins and Russo second with younger brother Jai third. The dominant result from Dunker belied the action, with Russo pushing the Novocastrian lap after lap in what has become one of the must-watch rivalries in Australian road racing this year. “It’s good for the kids to watch myself and Cameron; they can learn a lot from our lines and overtakes,” Russo said after a close third race. In that event the pair traded the lead many times, with Russo just losing out in the final turns. “On the second last lap I had a bit of a moment, so I was on the chase. On the second last corner I missed a gear, which meant I had to go deep after losing drive. It was close!”

The series will now shift north, with the next round to be held at Ipswich Go Kart track over 16-17 August.

FIM MiniGP 190cc Round 3

Standings after 3 of 5 rounds
J Plaisted 122, J Paige 116, I Ayad 92, P O’Brien 90, N Lazos 74

FIM MiniGP 160cc Round 3

Standings after 3 of 5 rounds
C Williams 150, C Horne 95, A Attard 85, E Ayad 84, A Pope 66