5 Minutes With … Cameron Fraser

Current reigning Quattro Group British GP2 Cup Champion Cameron Fraser is making the switch in class for the 2024 Season, I caught up with him before his season announcement to chat about his racing so far.

SBN: How did you get into racing?

Cameron: When it comes to racing it’s something that I have always had an interest in literally from the age of 3 years old and it probably started from my Dad who has always ridden bikes, more on the road than on the circuit. I always saw him going out on his bike and thought, yeah that looks cool. I think I was about 5 years old and my dad was doing track day on his Ducati S749, me and my sister were taken to Cadwell Park and I remember specifically watching all the bikes going over the mountain and that’s where it all began, I knew then that’s what I wanted to do. After a few years of nagging and convincing my parents,  I finally started racing when I was 11 years old. I spent hours researching the mini bike championship, all the tracks they raced at, the dates and presented it to my parents and basically said, this is what I want to do and the bike I needed to do it on (mini moto) I think because I had put the time into my research it showed that I was so  keen on doing it, my parents finally backed me and off we went racing. I did the full FAB racing series in 2012.

SBN: What’s a good memory from that early racing?

Cameron: My very first race, I remember it like it was yesterday. We were at a track called Llandow Circuit in Wales and it was raining. I hadn’t had much time on the bike, think it was my second time riding it. When I first started, I didn’t understand that you couldn’t ride as fast in the wet as you could in the dry, so everyone on the grid was riding not quite as fast as they normally would and I just went out and rode as fast as I could. I started the race about 18^th and finished either 4^th or 5^th – where people were slowing down I was just pushing as hard as I could not really considering the conditions on track. Towards the end of that year, I managed a few podiums.  We then made the move to a 2 stoke GP style bike, still on go kart tracks in the UK. I was a lot older than a lot of the other riders at the time, so needed to progress through the classes quickly.

SBN: Moving to the big tracks?

Cameron: We moved up to the Aprilia Superteens championship with Thundersport, who at the time had riders like Rory Skinner and Charlie Nesbit racing in it. I only did it for 1 year, by the end of that season I was fighting for podiums and the wins. My last race of that year I was on for the win but unfortunately my chain snapped, which was frustrating but that’s racing sometimes. From there we moved to the KTM British Cup in the British Superbike paddock in 2015, it was the first year that it ran. I had a lot of success straight away in that championship. At the end of the year we also took part in the world event, where the top 5 riders of all the the national events raced at Silverstone and I finished 6^th in the world for that round. It was such a great experience and there were so many riders that you’ll be familiar with who were also racing, such as Brandon Paasch.  I can also say that I am a lap record holder around Silverstone GP on a KTM RC390 which unfortunately won’t ever be broken again as they no longer race these bikes.

SBN: Moving to British Superbikes, you started out on the 600?

Cameron: Yes we moved over to BSB in 2018 to compete in the Stock 600 class, it was the year that Ryan Vickers won it. It was great, the more competition that you have around you like that really brings you on as a racer. In my second year we had some good success and got on the podium and battling at the front. At the end of that year I finished top Yamaha. Having run the Yamaha for 2 years at this point, we decided to move to the GP2 class and seeing as the bike would be running a Yamaha engine it should feel similar to what I had been riding. At this point there were a few riders who had done well via the GP2 route such as Kyle Ryde, Josh Owens, so it was the thinking at the time it would help propel me along and provide a bit of a path into the Superbikes.  Same as the stock 600, my second year we had some really good results and the 3^rd year is where I was challenging every round at the front of the GP championship. In the 3^rd year, being 2023, I won the GP2 championship. I was on the podium every round apart from the last round, it was pouring rain and I only needed to finish the race to win so decided to take that one easy and bring the bike home safe.

SBN: Gin…. You have a side Hussle, tell us more about it.

Cameron: One big way of funding my racing is through working, I have a full time job in sales in the technology world. The other Gin, we have a drinks brand called GYN, it’s a hard seltzer, being alcohol that’s combined with sparkling water and infused with flavours. Our product has added vitamin and minerals and 10g of vegan protein together with no added sugar. The main aim of hard seltzer is that they are aimed at more healthy individuals, therefore our drink it 85 calories. There isn’t much on the market in terms of any other added benefits, especially if you are only having a few drinks while socialising and still routinely working out.  Hence why the Bran name GYN, bit of a play on the word GYM. With the added vitamins and protein, you are getting some benefit while socially drinking but still health conscious.

SBN: DO you have any other exciting sports or hobbies?

Cameron:  I am lucky that my family are quite active and my parents had me doing all kinds of sports from the age of three, one being a bit of sking which is great and quite recently snowboarding. I have always been an ok skier and I decided to give it a go, I wasn’t initially great at it but I would say I am as good now as I am at skiing.  Fitness wise, I love running.  I really enjoy longer slower runs, I tend to put a podcast on while I am out.  I also play the guitar, I have played since I was 11. I don’t have lessons any more but I really enjoy picking it up and having a bit of a jam every now and then.

SBN: So your plans for 2024?

Cameron: For the 24 season I will be competing in the Supersport class, again as a privateer outfit. The  class looks absolutely stacked with talent and I’m really looking forward to it. We don’t have all the details in place yet, but that is our plan. I will be riding a Suzuki GSXR750, we saw a lot of riding on it last year and liked how competitive it looked. The issue with Supersport bikes at the moment is that if you want the top notch bikes it was going to cost too much for us, so this bike allowed us to be competitive at a slightly cheaper cost.  Go Racing Developments will continue to help us with set up throughout he season.

SBN: What’s the one food you couldn’t live without?

Cameron: It would be one of two I think, either Spaghetti Bolognaise or Pizza…. Lets go Spaghettis Bolognaise, I can throw in loads of veggies and be a bit healthier!