Inaugural round of FIM MiniGP Australia Series hailed a success

2022 FIM MiniGP Australia Series
Round One – Port Melbourne

Images by RBMotoLens

We talk to Wayne Maxwell after the succesful first round of the Australian FIM MiniGP World Series at Port Melbourne on the weekend. The winner of the series will be invited to race in Europe at the end of the year.

Trevor Hedge: “So Wayne the FIM MiniGP Series, I guess this must have been a somewhat scary but also exciting in the lead up to getting this all up and happening last weekend?”

Wayne Maxwell: “Yeah look it is pretty special, obviously not only myself but also for Nick Angelopolous and Dimitrios Papaconstantinou, they’ve put so much work in and this was their dream from the start. They kicked the ground work off on this many years ago, so to be able to join them and be a part of it along the way is really good. The race series part of it has so much work going on in the background, and without the help from so many people and Motorcycling Australia we would never have actually got there.”

Trevor Hedge: “Everything went off relatively smoothly on the weekend for the first run?”

Wayne Maxwell: “In typical fashion the weather threw a little bit of everything at us, rain, all sorts, the track was a little bit tricky, it was pretty greasy in spots. So it was a great test of skill level or resilience for the kids and the other classes a well. You could see how much fun everyone had, and at the end of the day that’s what we do – have fun. So for us that was really really good, we have a pretty good customer base for the Ohvales from people that are older in the Vets class to 10-year-old kids that are into normal GP, so we’ve got the full span of ages racing in the groups. To be able to cater for all those and see everyone had a good time, for us that was much reward for our hard work.”

Trevor Hedge: “And Teerin Fleming came out on top, leaving the round opening with a perfect point score?”

Wayne Maxwell: “Yep Teerin obviously has a good pedigree from dirt track and junior road racing, started off pretty well there, so to see that come through to our class is really good. Also the top three guys that are racing put on a good show within the results Teerin, Plaisted, Harrison, it was really good to see those guys ride together and learn off each other massively.

“Obviously Race 2 for Judd (Plaisted) was devastating , especially seeing the emotion of the parents and the  kid. But also seeing the emotion for him to have a fuel issue, so to run out of fuel was devastating, and then obviously to see the highs and the lows of that, and how a 10-year-old conducts himself, in handling something he’s been dreaming of for many years to be taken away, is a true credit to him.”

Trevor Hedge: “It was a two day event, I see most of the support classes got four races in and the MiniGP only had the two races. Is that something that’s mandated by the world championship, because this is of course a world series, as a qualifier, are you mandated with how many races are to be run with each round etc.? Or is that down to you?”

Wayne Maxwell: “It’s a minimum requirement, the track time, the distances in the races, how long the practice sessions go for and how many. So we went with the minimum with that, so we had to have 10 races in total for the year, and the races have to be 15 minutes minimum.

“So sixteen laps around there was a fair way for the kids, all other classes did 10 laps races, so they got a little bit more, but overall the track time was very similar. We created a little extra practice for MiniGP with an entry session for them, for the kids to be able to get their head around it and it paid off in the end, as the conditions were very changeable.”

Trevor Hedge: “Are they able to cross-enter into any of the other classes and get more track time or if they are in the MiniGP world series,or is that the only thing the category they are allowed to race in that weekend?”

Wayne Maxwell: “At the moment we’ve just kept it in that category and to be honest because it’s sort of the way the age groups work, some kids would get to cross-enter but not all  of them, so it’s a bit unfair. Until we can work out a structure where they all can cross-enter or none, I think it’s better off to keep it at a level playing field.”

Trevor Hedge: “Tell us a little about the machinery used in the World Series category. I guess it’s a control category as such?”

Wayne Maxwell: It is a controlled cateogy so it’s Ohvale GP0 160 cc bikes with 16 hp 65 kg, 10 inch wheel, so their power to weight as a junior bike is about as good as it gets in the categories. When you buy the bike it’s all sealed so everyone has the same engine, same regulation , the tyres are controlled by Pirelli, two sets of tyres per round is included in your entry and yeah it’s pretty much a level playing field being on go-kart tracks where it’s a high tight skill level base. There’s no slip-stream involved, it really showed the level of the riders – where they were at – in comparison to say a big open circuit, where there is a lot of slip streaming.”

Trevor Hedge: The support categories, one is GP 0 one is GP2, can you explain the differences between the two? ”

Wayne Maxwell: “Ohvale GP-0 comes in basically a 160 cc four-speed, and a 190 cc four-speed, so the GP0 class was the 190 and that was 14 years and up, and the GP2 class was the 190 cc four-speed with the 12 inch wheels instead of 10. ”

Trevor Hedge: “It looked like a lot of older guys were in there, perhaps cross-entered from the Veterans? ”

Wayne Maxwell: “We’ve seen old mate Scotty Charlton taking victory in the GP2 and Veterans class, so it was good for him and that’s the perfect thing about it. He had to go to work last night, so for him to be able to be racing all weekend and have fun, hang out with mates and get a bit of his ol’ [racing] addiction out of his system and get back to his normal life quickly, without having to worry about it, it’s just that style for those guys. ”

Trevor Hedge: Scotty was a bit of a wheelie merchant when he rode the big road race bikes, did he do any wheelies on the MiniGPs or are they not as easy to get up? ”

Wayne Maxwell: “He hasn’t mastered that yet I think he needs a little bit of practice, I think it’s a little difficult to get to the rear brake on one, so I’m sure he’ll get too it, when he wins a few more races and has to pull out something good.”

Trevor Hedge: “Any other standouts in the World Series competitors, of course Fleming winning the two races on perfect points ahead of Harrison Watts and Levi Russo, tell us a little about those guys.”

Wayne Maxwell: “I mean it was really good, Harrison rode exceptional. He’s a little bit older than the other boys so he’s probably matured a bit more, so he seemed to have a little bit on the straights with the speed, but his ability to stay calm and get the best out of the result was pretty good. I was impressed by him. Levi Russo basically just turned up on the weekend never having ridden an Ohvale before so that was really impressive from him.

“Our only female competitor Ella McClausland started riding at our weekly events a couple of years ago on a mini motard and seems to have progressed to Ohvale and to see where she has ended up with some help from Tayla Relph and training with those guys, it’s really really good. It’s great to have that, obviously the male and female thing and see her ability. Then just the kids to be honest, it’s just so good to see them there, and I can’t wait to watch the year go on and the kids improve week in and week out. The commitment from them and their parents – we know what it takes to be a committed to go racing – so I can’t thank them all enough for that. So I think as the year goes on the field is going to close up and we’ll see some red hot races.”

Trevor Hedge: “Obviously you’ve got a lot riding on this series opener, anything you think you got wrong or want to tweak for the events ahead?”

Wayne Maxwell: “There’s plenty, I’m highly critical of myself, I want to set a high standard and get to the top of the tree. We landed kind of in the middle of the tree and the feedback has been really positive, so we’ll have a bit more of a debrief as the days go on and try and improve the standard and bits and pieces. But we’re really happy with it, and it’s a great platform now to build on for the remainder of 2022 and beyond.”

Trevor Hedge: Of course the winner of the Australian Series, gets a berth at the end of the year at a race in Europe.”

Wayne Maxwell: “They do, so the winner of the MiniGP will go to the world final which is held at Valencia on the Wednesday and Thursday of the final round of MotoGP – the go-kart track, so look it’s  going to be an amazing experience for one of the kids. At this stage we haven’t confirmed if we could possibly take two, but well definitely take one. It’ll be a great experience not only for them but for us as Ohvale try and grow and build in that gap, in what we need to do to change Australian racing.”

Trevor Hedge: “As you mentioned, the power to weight ratio sounds pretty damn decent, 65 kg and 16 horsepower, I’ve ridden that little track at Port Melbourne and I’d imagine 16 laps around there in the heat of battle would be a pretty intense experience.”

Wayne Maxwell: “It definitely is, we sort of run 10 minute sessions at our events, and even when I ride in those 10-minute sessions I’m thinking, “When is this 10 minutes going to end?” So it’s a physical, tight little section, the little infield section, and look it shows, all the competitors rode through, they were on slicks in the first race and it was drizzling rain, and they all managed to get through it pretty well, I’m so impressed. Kids are so adaptable and I think over the journey this is going to be able to hopefully close that gap to overseas.”

Trevor Hedge: “You’ve tucked into one of these yourself over the last 18 months, do you think it’s helped you riding on the superbike?”

Wayne Maxwell:  “It definitely has, I think the only time you get to ride with someone of your level on the superbike is in the middle of the race, and the bikes are so different, so it’s easy to say well Herfoss has got more grip as he’s on a different tyre the past few years, or this or that. But right now when you’re on the same bikes as the guys next to you, you say jeez you’re really good at corner speed, he’s good at braking, he’s really good off the corner, even people that aren’t at the same level, some of the young kids we’ve been training, there’s always one corner or section of the track that they look at differently. You think, “Far out he’s really good there,” and I learn something new there. It’s 100% helped, its reinvigorated my riding, so hopefully as it goes on we can do some more training and have some fun.”

Trevor Hedge: “Well congratulations on the successful first running and the rest of the series and I’ll see you at Queensland Raceway weekend after next for ASBK.”

Wayne Maxwell:  “Thanks mate.”

FIM MiniGP Race 1 Results

FIM MiniGP Race 2 Results

FIM MiniGP Standings/Round Points

2022 FIM MiniGP Australia Series Support Class Results:

OHVALE GP-0 Results – Round Overall

OHVALE GP-2 – Round Overall

VETERANS – Round Overall