Teenage rookie Cameron Dunker believes he’s cemented his place in the premier class after scoring a career-best top five at Morgan Park’s fourth round of the 2024 Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) on Sunday.

The Penrite Racing SBK rider, just 16 years of age, made a shock move to the Superbike category for this season after clinching the Supersport title in 2023, becoming the youngest person to do so.

His debut campaign started with 8-7 overall results to open the season, however a challenging outing at Queensland Raceway’s third round that produced a P10 finish had him questioning the move.

“After the first two rounds I was quite competitive, and then a difficult round at Queensland Raceway definitely had me doubting whether I should be here or not,” Dunker told CycleOnline.

“But I guess after today’s performance, I can pretty confidently say that I belong here – which I’m very, very stoked about. Hopefully we can just keep the momentum going into Phillip Island.”

The New South Welshman was highly impressive at the weekend’s stop in Queensland despite an incident-filled qualifying seeing him start from 10th on the grid, although he was able to put his race craft on display to make a number of passes across both outings, registering a 5-5 scorecard for fourth overall.

“I was very confident after FP4 doing quite a few fast laps – my fastest of the weekend. Unfortunately, I stuffed up my two laps on my first tyre, which didn’t give me a good enough banker, and then obviously it was unfortunate with the two red flags.

“It put me on the back foot I’d say in both races, but I’m really happy with the way I was able to manage that coming through quite a few people – it’s definitely my best performance to date in the Superbike class.

“Results like these definitely build confidence for me just knowing that I can pass on a Superbike now around a tight track like this, I’m really pleased about it.”

Dunker is now ranked sixth in the championship standings as the series returns to Phillip Island on 7-8 September for round five of the series.