This year, the finish was even tighter, with Cam Dunker emerging on top after going two places better than last year.
Dunker, who will ride for the Blue Marlin Pools East Racing team aboard a Yamaha YZF-R1 in the 2026 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), claimed victory in Sunday’s third race to take out the 73rd running of the Harvie Wiltshire Perpetual Trophy.
The Harvie Wiltshire Perpetual Trophy is the longest-running perpetual award in motorcycle road racing outside of the Isle of Man TT and world championships.
Run as part of the opening round of the Motul Pirelli Victorian Road Racing Championship (VRRC), hosted by the Preston Motorcycle Club last weekend at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, the Harvie Wiltshire Trophy is a race that dates back to 1951.
While some of the ‘pro’ ASBK riders used the weekend as a valuable test ahead of the upcoming season-opener at Phillip Island on the last weekend of February, the Harvie Wiltshire Perpetual Trophy remains a prize every rider wants to have their name engraved on.
It boasts a roll call of winners that includes some of the biggest names in Australian motorcycle racing such as inaugural winner Maurie Quincey, Ken Blake, Ron Toombs, Gregg Hansford, Andrew Johnson, Robbie Phillis, Daryl Beattie, Shawn Giles, Steve Martin, Anthony Gobert and Glenn Allerton.
The opening six laps saw a four-rider battle at the front, with former Moto3 rider Jacob Roulstone and MotoCity Honda teammate Marcus Hamod joined by last year’s Harvie Wiltshire Perpetual Trophy winner Anthony West (DesmoSport Ducati) and Dunker.
On lap six four became three after Hamod tucked the front into MG Corner, which left Roulstone, West and Dunker to fight it out.
On the final lap, slower riders came into play and created a moment of unpredictability. The leading trio encountered backmarkers at turn one and three before heading into Miller Corner, where West was forced to take evasive action. Dunker braked slightly later than expected, upsetting his bike and forcing all three riders wide, a moment that proved decisive.
While it didn’t take West out of the race, it compromised his track position. The next piece of the
puzzle saw Dunker pass Roulstone around the outside at MG Corner before completing the move into Turn 11. From there, it was an all-out drag race to the line.
Dunker ultimately edged out Roulstone by just 0.022s, with West third, a further 0.071s back — the top three covered by just 0.093s.
“That was a pretty good race for us and I enjoyed it a lot,” Dunker told Speedcafe.com.
“Obviously the racing was good, however, the lap times weren’t really fast, so I wasn’t really happy about how the racing was sort of playing out in our favour,” added Dunker who set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:32.308s on lap three.
“We were here trying to get our bike a bit better. So, at some point in that race, we sort of slowed off a bit and tried to work on myself.
“We were going really well. I managed to close up to the leading three. With the momentum I had a few laps before I tried to pass them with a bit of speed and the momentum going.”
Dunker admitted he didn’t think beating both Roulstone and West to the line was possible. However, a good drive out last corner helped him do that.
“Obviously, the Yamaha sort of lacked a bit of top-end speed,” he said.
“So it was nice to get one over the Honda and the Ducati and win the Harvie Wiltshire Perpetual Trophy as well.”
Dunker is now the 49th different rider to have his name engraved on the iconic silverware.
Being only 18 years old, he acknowledged didn’t really know much about the race’s history.
“We’ve come here for many years as a testing weekend for the start of the ASBK championship,” he said.
“Even back in 2023 I was fortunate enough to win the Hughie Hoare Perpetual Trophy in the Supersport class.
“For me, that was nice and now to have won the Harvie Wiltshire Perpetual Trophy and add my name to the long line of greats before me is a nice feeling.”
Rounding out the top five was Irishman Brendan Wilson and the reigning Victorian Superbike
Champion, Ben Gotch.
The overall round saw Dunker claim the round win on 59 points, finishing one point clear of
Roulstone, with Gotch third on 46 points.
West narrowly missed the top three by just three points, while Race Center’s Will Sharrock completed the top five on 42 points.
The 19th running of the Hughie Hoare Memorial Trophy feature race on Saturday was won by
BCperformance Kawasaki’s newly recruited rider Tom Edwards, who edged out teammate Hayden Nelson by just 0.061 seconds.
Will Nassif crossed the line a further 10.313 seconds back, with Ghage Plowman and Tayla Relph — contesting her first-ever Supersport race — rounding out the top five.
Plowman claimed the overall round with 56 points, ahead of 16-year-old Supersport debutant Ethan Johnson, with Edwards completing the top three.
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