To prepare for this round I was drinking lots of water and I spent time watching videos of people riding the track because it was my first time riding at Queensland raceway, so it was important to learn all the tricks and braking points of QR.

I was super excited to hit the track on the Friday morning, nice and early for practice. After a few laps around, I started to get a hang of the track. I think my favourite sector of QR was the first one because it has two fast right hand corners meaning I just throw the R15 through them.

It wasn’t my favourite track though, the thing that I disliked about it was the bumps and how it is not as challenging to ride as some of the other tracks on the calendar. My R15 was a bit hard to turn around the tight corners at this track, out of the second corner it was running wide so I couldn’t hold the throttle on as much I could of.

“I’m looking forward to getting back on the track this weekend. I’m having lots of fun this year on track and off track, which is the main thing”…

On the Friday morning I started to feel sick but I thought that is was dehydration so I drank some more water but that didn’t help. On the first session on Friday I had a headache, it was hard to focus and in qualifying I felt even worse because my throat was starting to feel bad.

To be safe, on Saturday I took a COVID test and it said negative so I kept on riding but it was getting worse! Every time I put my helmet on my face would get really hot and and after I was done riding I would need to sit down. On Sunday it was the worst so before the last race we went to race safe and they said I should not ride.

Check out our Guide To Riding Wakefield Park by Andrew Pitt here…

I was a bit disappointed that we had to leave early but I just couldn’t race any longer. It was lucky that we left when we did as when I got home I took another Covid test and it was positive. I had to do seven days in isolation, it wasn’t all bad as all I did was stay in bed and eat pineapple!

Now I’m fully recovered but unfortunately I did not make it to the unofficial test at Wakefield Park, which I was a bit sad about. It’s not a big deal though as I have experience at Wakefield which makes my hopes higher for next round. But, any practice is good practice and the fact I did not get to do the testing will make me fall behind a bit.

I’ve been trying to keep up with the MotoGP this year for some racing inspiration. To be honest, I think that the MotoGP world champion will be Enea Bastianini he seems to be the best at keeping the tyres fresh during the race and he’s already got a good points lead.

I’m looking forward to getting back on the track this weekend. I’m having lots of fun this year on track and off track, which is the main thing. On track I get to race really aggressively and off track everyone is mates! Make sure you head down to Wakefield Park this weekend to see the action. If you can’t get there, check it out on TV or on the live FB feed on the ASBK page. Wish me luck – James #71

Congratulations to the Queensland podium, you can see all of the results for the OJC here… 

My sponsors are: motoDNA, motoCHAMPIONS, Bendix Brake Pads, Bendix Workshop
Series Sponsors are: Ricondi, Shark, Dunlop, Ohlins, IRC Components, DID chains, Yamaha bLU Cru

The post Column: James ‘ROCKET Weaver, OJC appeared first on Racing, Riding, Motorcycle Reviews, Race bikes, Tech Tips, Rider Training....

But my life is mainly all about two wheels! My racing background started at Central Coast Junior Motorcycle Club doing flat track when I was 5. I was riding a CRF50. After that I went up to the KTM Pro Senior 50 class, then I went up to the 65 class then the 80 mod class when I was 8. From there I competed in the Moto Stars series on a Kayo 150 from the age 8 to 11 in which time I graduated to an R15 V2.

In 2020 I was doing my first season in OJC but before the season, while training, I highsided and broke my collarbone and couldn’t do the official test at Phillip Island. At the first round it was my first time riding at Phillip Island and it was a support class to WorldSBK! Amazing! In 2021 I was going to do OJC again but then I got iron deficiency so we had to pull out and just do club events instead, which was still awesome fun, but I was keen to get back to ASBK so worked hard to do it.

The thing that I did to prepare for this year was train on my pushbike eat healthy food plus take my iron pill every morning. In my off season and school holidays I went swimming, jumping off jetty’s, I went to Flip Out with my friends I also went to Aqua Splash.

For those of you not sure, the Oceania Junior Cup (OJC), is a class for kids from 11 to 16. This class teaches kids racecraft and how to go fast, you also learn about media and what to say on camera, and lots more for the future. I am racing this year in OJC because I won the motoDNA motoCHAMPIONS sponsored by Bendix and Motorcycling Australia, so I scored a free ride this year. I can’t believe it and I feel like the luckiest person on the planet right now.

The OJC control bike is the Yamaha R15. You can see our R15 review here. The bike had a top speed of 151km/h on the Phillip Island Gardner Straight. The best thing about the R15 V3 is it is a better step to the R3 cup because the tyres are fatter than the earlier version R15 and the geometry is the same as the R3. The R15 V3 has the same suspension as an older R3 and is faster now too!

Round one at Phillip island was really good, I was fast in practice, I got top three ,but when it was qualifying I didn’t get out with a group of people so I qualified ninth. This made me learn that to go fast in this class you have to be in a slipstream, so I will definitely need that this weekend at QR!

For any young riders that want to start in this class I would suggest getting a little bit of time on a road bike before jumping in this class don’t go from a dirt bike straight to the Oceania Junior Cup. This year I would like do my very best to make my sponsors proud and my goal is to finish top three. I’ve just arrived in Brisbane for Round Two, so wish me luck and talk soon! James #71

My sponsors are: motoDNA, motoCHAMPIONS, Bendix Brake Pads, Bendix Workshop
Series Sponsors are: Ricondi, Shark, Dunlop, Ohlins, IRC Components, DID chains, Yamaha bLU Cru

The post Column: James ‘Rocket’ Weaver, OJC appeared first on Racing, Riding, Motorcycle Reviews, Race bikes, Tech Tips, Rider Training....