Cam Dunker to MotoGO Yamaha
Unlike many of Australia’s young road racing talent who have immediately looked to Europe to further their ambitions, one of our brightest young hopes, Cam Dunker, has been earning his stripes here in Australian Superbike this year.
Like so many of the best Aussie road racers Cam Dunker got his start in Dirt Track. He already had a stack of Junior Dirt Track Championships under his belt in that discipline before turning a wheel on the tarmac in a one-off ride in the Oceania Junior Cup in 2019. Dunker then made the full-time switch to road racing in 2020, finishing third in the OJC that year.
Dunker also raced the Aussie Flat Track Nationals last weekend and was only headed by our two top Flat Track Internationals, Tom Drane and Max Whale.
At 14 years old Cam Dunker won both the Supersport 300 and YMF R3 Cup crown, then backed that up the following year to become Australia’s youngest ever Supersport champion on his 16th birthday!
Dunker is a pretty laid-back lad, often joking around the pits with good friend and training partner Max Stauffer, who is also his Penrite Yamaha team-mate.
Dunker’s Yamaha YZF-R1 has been built by Heath Griffin, tuned by Jamie Stauffer, and is fettled over the course of the race weekends by Glen Richards, who also fine-tunes the YEC electronics in conjunction with Heath. Cam’s dad, Mark, also spins spanners throughout the course of a race weekend.
This season, Cam has been a quiet achiever, plugging away and notching up good results ahead of some class riders. Last time out at One Raceway, he qualified on the front row and secured a podium.
Dunker got caught up in someone else’s crash in the second bout at One Raceway but still lies sixth in the championship with 149.5 points. Ahead of the likes of Anthony West, Arthur Sissis and Glenn Allerton.
During the races Cam is somewhat of a slow burn. In fact if ASBK races were longer his results would have most likely been even higher, as it is in the second half of the races that he generally does his best work. Quite often gaining four positions or more over the final few laps.
It may surprise some of you to know that, despite the Penrite Yamaha Racing squad having some very experienced heads in their garage, Dunker has had only one bike all season. Thus, he has had to play it somewhat safe during the race weekends.Â
Apart from a couple of small front end loses in practice, he hasn’t crashed of his own accord in a race, only getting caught up in a couple of other riders’ incidents. Otherwise he has kept his nose clean and the crash damage bill low.
Patrick Li’s MotoGo Yamaha has already signed youngsters Will Nassif for Supersport and Jonathan Nahlous for Superbike, and the Victorian motorcycle dealer has now added Cam Dunker to his youthful line-up for ASBK 2025.
Cam Dunker
“I’m really excited to be joining the MotoGoYamaha team for next year’s Australian Superbike Championship. I can’t thank Patrick enough for this opportunity, and I can’t wait to get my second year in the Superbike class underway.”
MotoGo Yamaha plans on preparing two Superbikes for Dunker. Some team internal appointments are still being finalised, but the team will have YRD support.
Patrick Li – MotoGo Yamaha Racing Team Owner
“I’m very excited to have Cameron Dunker on board with our MotoGo Yamaha Racing Team for the 2025 ASBK Season. I’ve always been motivated to offer opportunities for young riders to show their potential in the premier class of ASBK. Cam has shown this year that he has the maturity and ability to succeed on a Superbike. He caught my eye with his outstanding racecraft. We’re proud to be a part of his career progression on his way to no doubt even bigger and better things in the years ahead.”
