FIM Oceania has overcome the obstacle of being one rider down to finish a gritty third in the inaugural action-packed FIM Intercontinental Games at Jerez in Spain on Sunday, December 1.
Bringing together the FIM’s six Continental Unions (CONU) of Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania, the event was contested across Supersport and Supersport 300 classes.
With multiple Australian Superbike champion Mike Jones leading the way, Oceania completed the four-race event — two races apiece for Supersport 300 and Supersport on identical YZF-R3 and YZF-R7s – on 166pts, with Europe (257pts) and Asia (243pts) finishing first and second.
Following the withdrawal of Max Stauffer after he crashed in practice and hurt his wrist, Oceania was reduced to a seven-rider combo on race day, with Jones joined by Tom Toparis and Tayla Relph in Supersport, and in Supersport 300 it was Archie McDonald, New Zealander Jesse Stroud, Cameron Swain and Tara Morrison.
Jones was the leading Oceania point-scorer with his 5-2 scorecard, the Queenslander particularly bullish in race two as he carved his way through the pack from ninth on lap one to finish just behind race winner Elia Bartolini (Europe).
Toparis (7-7) also scored solid points in Supersport, while Relph crashed in the opener and was 14th in race two. Race one saw Cezar Maier Neto (Latin America) claim the chequered flag.
FIM INTERCONTINENTAL GAMES RESULTS
Supersport 300 started brilliantly for Oceania with McDonald and Swain second and third in qualifying, and in race one the Aussie duo circulated at the sharp end of the pack in the 14-lapper.
McDonald was third, just 0.261 seconds behind the winning YZF-R3 of recently crowned Supersport 300 world champion Aldi Mahendra (Asia), while Swain was forced off the track in the final stages after another rider crashed. Swain was 13th, three spots behind Stroud, while Morrison was 17th.
Race two saw Swain lead early before he went down, while McDonald and Stroud also crashed. McDonald remounted to finish 16th, while Morrison was 15th.
Nahuel Santamaria’s victory in the second Supersport 300 battle made it two wins for Latin America in the FIM Intercontinental Games – the most of any team, but it was ultimately Europe’s impressive catalogue of top-five results which saw it edge out Asia in the final standings.
Behind Oceania in third came North America (158pts), Latin America (146pts) and Africa (113pts).
The next FIM Intercontinental Games will be held in 2026, with other disciplines scheduled to be introduced as this biennial event becomes more established.
FIM Oceania President, Peter Doyle:
“What a wonderful Games and competition. I’m so proud of FIM Oceania, they battled hard all weekend and we had some challenges today. But in the end we are celebrating our podium finish and it’s brilliant to see FIM Oceania up on the podium with a hard-earned third in this first edition.
“The riders, mechanics and helpers all came together to produce this result which we can be proud of. We had some bad luck out on the track at times, but as a team competition you have the battle to the end of every race, and the team did that well.
“Special thanks to Andrew Pitt for an excellent job as FIM Oceania Team Manager. His experience and expertise made a huge difference and it was brilliant to work alongside him.
“This first time of the ICG has been a huge success in many ways for all involved.”