2024

Corney’s crown as 2024 Oceania Junior Cup unearths more stars

By MA Media 0

The bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup’s mantle as the breeding ground for the next wave of circuit racing superstars has continued in 2024, with another season of fast and furious action coming to an end at The Bend in South Australia from November 8-10.

As expected, 13-year-old Queenslander Hunter Corney is the latest champion in the FIM-backed and Dorna Sports-endorsed Road to MotoGP pathways program, which has enjoyed heightened Australian championship status for the first time.

Hunter Corney was the star of the OJC show in 2024

Corney’s five-second win in race one – a gargantuan margin in OJC terms – on Saturday guaranteed him championship success, and he went onto win the round with 1-5-2 results ahead of Connor Lewis (5-1-4) and New Zealander Haydn Fordyce, the latter making a one-off OJC return to help bolster New Zealand’s stocks in the corresponding FIM Oceania Trans-Tasman Challenge.

To underscore the developmental credentials of the OJC, Corney also competed as a wildcard in the final round of the 2024 Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Asia-Pacific Championship at The Bend, embracing the challenge with round-winning first and second placings!

Meanwhile, back in OJC pastures, Lewis and Rossi McAdam won their first OJC races to round out The Bend program – and in much more familiar wafer-thin winning margins for the Yamaha YZF-R15 riders.

Connor Lewis grabbed his first OJC win in race two

Hayden Fordyce flew the flag for Team New Zealand

The final standings saw Corney a runaway winner on 411pts from Ethan Johnson (319), Hunter Charlett (267), Nikolas Lazos (249) and McAdam (246), while Australia won the FIM Oceania Trans-Tasman Challenge over New Zealand by 42pts (257 to 215).

The bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup will return in 2025 for a seventh year of competition. For more information on the program, click here.