A piece of Australian motorcycling racing history was created on February 13 at Winton Raceway in Northern Victoria when the first ever official tyre testing for junior road racing took place to evaluate options for the control tyre for the 2017 GP Juniors Cup, which will feature the Yamaha R15.
The test was organised by Motorcycling Australia, GP Juniors Australia and Yamaha Motor Australia and featured six different tyre brands for evaluation by three junior riders. 2016 Australian 160cc Champion, Ben Bramich was joined by talented young guns, 14-year-old Jack Cousens, who finished third in the 160cc titles last year and very rapid 12-year-old, Luke Power.
A final decision on the successful tender will be made shortly.
Ben Bramich – 2016 Australian 160cc Champion
It was an awesome day and pretty cool to come in swap tyres and go back out again. I’ve never done that before and I learnt so much today in what different tyres do. It was good to see the strengths and weaknesses of different brands as they all have something. I had a great day and glad that I could help in deciding a tyre.
Jack Cousens – 3rd 2016 Australian 160cc Championship
It was a great day and I’d like to thank everyone involved for inviting me to take part in such a special occasion. We had a handful of tyres to test
I’d love to help the future juniors. Having so many tyres to test was great as it gave us so much track time! Also riding the R15 was a great experience as it is such a good bike and I think with a lot of them on track we are going to see some great racing. They are not slow in a straight line and they handle well. It’s going to be an exciting year for me on these little bikes.
Luke Power –
“It was a fantastic day and I learnt so much about how different some tyres are. A great experience. They all had so different characteristics but they were all good tyres just some were better than others. It will be a hard decision.
I love the R15. I reckon they are a great bike and when we get out there with a few of us it is going to be so much fun. I can’t wait. It is a perfect machine for learning on.
Thanks to everyone for the opportunity. ”
Mark Bracks
The most impressive part of the day for me was how professional Jack, Luke and Ben were in the feedback they were giving. It is hard to believe that they are so young in how they can analyse every tyre after just a few lap on each one and provide the feedback that will be extremely valuable in assisting in the decision.
Also, for all the major tyre brands to be here with technicians turning up to make sure everything was running right was excellent. The day showed how serious everyone is about rekindling junior road racing and this is going to be a great stepping stone from the 70cc and 85cc machines on their way through the classes as they chase their dreams.
