Words: Keisha Edwards

Fresh off his maiden R3 bLU cRU World Cup victory last weekend at Magny-Cours, we sat down with 16-year-old Cameron Swain to discuss the win, his life between Europe and Australia, and more in this Conversation feature.

Cam, talk us through the win…

When I was sitting on the grid I was just telling myself to take it easy on the first laps. I didn’t want to get caught up in anything, the conditions were so rough. Luckily I managed to stay out of the first lap scrap and take the lead. It wasn’t until about five laps to go that I saw my pit board and saw I had a five-second gap so I backed off the pace a little bit, I knew if they were to make up a second a lap, I’d still be able to hold them. Those last two laps I was just so nervous and scared not to crash, it’s so easy to make a mistake in those conditions. You slip off the line just a little bit and it can be all over. Coming into parc ferme, it was like disbelief. I was sort of expecting a solid result, I felt solid in the wet but to get the win, I was just in shock.

You’ve been travelling back and forth from Australia to Europe between races, has that had an impact on your season in terms of preparation and training?

It definitely has a disadvantage, travelling back and forth because you’re always out of whack with the time zones and being in Australia you don’t get to ride as much as these guys. The level of competition in Europe is so high and they’re training regularly at the tracks that we’re racing on. For most of the tracks on the calendar, race weekend is the first time that I’m riding at these tracks. I have one 25-minute practice session and then go straight into qualifying. Spending most of the weekend just trying to learn the track.

You’ve been under the mentorship of Troy Corser this year, what’s that been like and what kind of influence has that had on your season?

The training that I’ve been doing with Troy is a lot more intense than what I’ve been doing in the past. Doing more physical training and also working with his old trainer on my nutrition as well. He’s also helped me alter my riding style a bit as well to make it easier to ride the bike so I don’t get worn out as fast. Troy has got a very laid-back nature and is very calm and I feel like that’s worn off on me. I feel pretty calm at the races and don’t get flustered, I just keep pressing on.

You’re having a great year this year, where can we expect to see you in 2025? Could there be a jump-up in categories?

I definitely want to keep racing overseas and stay in the WorldSBK paddock, ideally, I’d like to move up to ride in the SuperSport 300’s. I’m talking to a few teams, so we’ll see.