Corney claims the OJC honours at Sydney Motorsport Park

The sixth year of bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup (OJC) competition kicked off at Sydney Motorsport Park (SMSP) on March 22-23 with a mix of new and returning riders.

The two ‘Hunters’ – Corney and Charlett – captured most of the headlines in the ASBK Night Race, with the former claiming the overall honours with a 1-1-3 scorecard and the latter scoring his first class win in race three.

The OJC riders kicked of the racing at SMSP on Friday night, with Corney taking maximum advantage of pole position to win by nearly two seconds ahead of Ethan Johnson, with Nikolas Lazos close behind in third.

bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup round podium (L to R): Hunter Charlett, Hunter Corney and Rossi McAdam

Corney then produced another powerful performance in race two, using his smarts to cross the line first ahead of Charlett and Connor Lewis – the trio separated by less than half a second. Rossi McAdam and Lazos completed the top five.

“I felt like I did good in the race,” Corney beamed afterwards. “I had a two-second lead and made a mistake that enabled them to catch up to me which is where Charlett passed me on a few occasions.

“But luckily, I took him back and crossed the line first.”

Hunter Charlett took out the first two races in a superb performance

In race three, Lewis led until lap three before he was passed by Corney and McAdam — and then spectacularly crashed out.

Corney then looked on track for a three-peat before he erroneously thought the race was over when he was heading into the final lap. He then relinquished the lead and dropped several positions, with Charlett the main benificiary as he claimed his first race win in OJC followed by McAdam, Corney, Lazos and Johnson.

“It felt really good to win my first race in OJC,” said Charlett. “I had heaps of fun this weekend, as I was running around at the back of the grid last year, so to be at the front is a sign of how much I’ve improved in 12 months.”

New Zealander Hunter Charlett rode smartly in race three to grab his first victory in OJC

The 2024 bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup will return for round two at Queensland Raceway on April 26-28 as part of the mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship presented by Motul.