Words: Russell Colvin

Image: Russell Colvin.

The inaugural running of the FIM MiniGP Australia Series fired into life last weekend at the Port Melbourne kart track, where 11-year-old Teerin Fleming clean-swept round one of the 2022 season with pole position and two race wins.

Race one saw Fleming lead from start to finish in a shortened 14-lap race due to an incident involving William Hunt and Joshua White.

It seemed like it was all smooth sailing for the Victorian, Fleming, who built up a comfortable lead in the early part of the race, however, with seven laps to go, Judd Plaisted and Evolution Sports Group’s Harrison Watts started to reel Fleming back into their sights.

The pair eventually caught Fleming, with Plaisted the only rider to have one go at Fleming, which saw him dive up the inside at the final corner, only to run wide on the exit. The end result saw Fleming beating Plaisted by 0.306s, with Watts 0.685s behind in third place. Levi Russo and Ella McCausland made up the top five.

The second race saw Plaisted jump out of the box and take the holeshot with both Fleming and Watts right behind him. All three riders held station until lap four when Watts made a move under Fleming at turn 12 for second place.

With eight laps to go the fight for second place came alive with Watts and Fleming changing positions two times around the 1.005km circuit. The only mistake Fleming made throughout the full 16-lap journey was on lap 11 when he locked the front-end heading into turn 12, which forced him to run off the track.

This allowed Plaisted to pull out a lead of 2.1s over Fleming and seemed as if it was his race to lose, however, drama struck for Plaisted with four laps to go when his bike suffered a mechanical. Fleming ultimately went on to win race two, beating Watts by 2.998s, with Russo third, as Jedd Fyffe and Issac Ayad completed the top five.

Fleming will carry a 14-point championship lead over Watts heading into round two, with Russo in third on 29-points, Fyffe in fourth, six points behind Russo with Ayad in fifth on 20-points, tied with Plaisted in sixth position.

In the support classes, Penrite Honda Racing team truck driver Scott Charlton was victorious in both the Ohvale GP-2 and Veterans classes, while Alex Phillis conquered the Ohvale GP-0 category in taking four wins from starts and Ritchie Abolins took out the Mini Motard/Grom class.

Round two of the FIM MiniGP Australia Series heads to Eastern Creek’s Sydney Premier Karting Park in New South Wales on 14-15 May.

Detailed results